Lesser Florican - August 2023

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Thursday 5 October 2017

Isles of Scilly 5/10/17

After a very long week at work with plenty of sleep deprived nights thrown in for good measure, last night I landed at LGW and drove straight down to Penzance to catch the Scillonian III over to the Scillies.

The crossing was quiet with just 2 Storm Petrels seen and was increasingly uncomfortable as the journey went on.

Once docked, myself and others quickly boarded the boat to St Agnes and briskly walked over to the other side of the island where we were rewarded with good views of the CEDAR WAXWING. Being in juvenile plumage I was surprised on how striking it looked, a real stunner. Whilst watching this, a Yellow-browed Warbler dropped in from who knows where and joined the Waxwing for a short time before carrying on elsewhere.

Having had good views I left the island to twitch a Vagrant Emperor, a new species of Dragonfly for me. It was a long walk but upon arrival an Emperor was on view, with later on a second Vagrant Emperor joining the first.

With Ian, we walked around the other sites that held a Cliff Swallow, Isabelline Wheatear and an American Golden Plover.

An excellent day but now just looking forward to chilling out tomorrow walking around the north part of St Mary's in the hope of finding a mega yank.

Unfortunately the mega yank didn't materialise, or anything for that matter. A real hard slog around the north of the island produced hardly anything, with the most notable birds being two Merlins and a couple of Firecrest. However the weather was superb and it was nice to walk around in pleasant conditions.

My last day was much the same but with drizzly weather. With regret I caught the Scillonian Saturday evening seeing singles of Balearic and Sooty Shearwater. The journey back home was good and I made it back in 4hr 40mins alongside Jamie Partridge who's flight had been cancelled and had no way back of getting back towards London. A very successful three days, and with now a stonking male Siberian Blue Robin on Orkney, who knows what's next.


 juv Cedar Waxwing on St Agnes
Vagrant Emperor on St. Mary's. A real surprise and added bonus to my three days

Cliff Swallow on St. Mary's - my second in the UK and almost in the exact spot I saw my first.
Isabelline Wheatear on St. Mary's
Merlin on St. Mary's. After walking around the island for most of the day I had a little nap on a headland, and then woke up to this beauty next to me.
 Yellow-browed Warbler on St. Mary's
Spotted Crake on St. Mary's