Porthellick, St Mary's - Blue winged Teal once more!

I was hoping for better views of the Blue-winged Teal today and bit more 'Blue' today and whilst there were no complaints about close views, the blue view was always distant!

But, having skulked in the reeds for nearly all it's stay, it paddled across the pool!!

Literally under the hide at one stage!

Having paddled back to the far side, at least I got another glimpse of blue...

As it flew down to the seaward end, and back in the reeds...

Porthellick, St Mary's - Blue-winged Teal

My shortest stop on St. Agnes! Ever!! After misguidedly taking the early boat in search of the Blue-winged Pool on the Big Pool, there was a collective groan as the radios announced " Blue-winged Teal on Porthellick Pool"!

Virtually all the early crew took the returning 10.15 boat and we were soon at Porthellick courtesy of a kind soul who had pre-booked a taxi :-)

Showing a little hint of blue...

A bit more...

And then wow!!

No doubt about the credentials of this youngster and I've been 'had' by hybrids before...

The American birds keep coming and a Red-eyed Vireo was about to announce party time!

Porthellick, St Mary's - Garganey

A pretty lean day after devoting much of it to the Blue Rock Thrush which went AWOL during the afternoon! Thank goodness I went to Porthellick first where the Garganey reported first thing was still there!

Nearly always in the company of a Teal, making a nice comparison...

Initially in front of the Seaward hide...

It soon relocated in front of the Stephen Sussex hide where it briefly parade on the mud in all it's finery!

Yes, the afternoon was all downhill... I'm gonna have a hard time relying on the BRT for images!!

Porthellick - Ruff duo

A bit of strimming of the reeds had worked wonders at the 'Sussex hide' end of Porthellick Pool and the waders were now roaming up and down the margin!

Two Ruff gave some fantastic views... Here's the smaller female

Followed by the larger male...

Then both together...

And as I tweeted, that's the size difference sorted then!

Porthellick - Painted lady

Painted Lady butterfly, first one a bit worn, feeding on Purple Loosestrife - a perfect combination...

Quite attractive cryptic underwing pattern too!

Porthellick - Ruff plus a few insects!

Spent a bit of time on terra firma today and this Ruff is spending quite a lot of time at Porthellick pool but was always distant as the pic will testify!

The Speckled Woods here (Pararge aegeria ssp insula) are more striking then on the Uk mainland with a much more 'orange' colour to them...

The Scilly Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina ssp cassiteridum) is another Scilly special.

Lucky to have this Emperor Dragonfly perched outside the Sussex hide (good spot Richard!)

And getting past their best, male and female Common Blue...

Nice to have the sun shining too!

St Mary's - Porthellick - Barred warbler

Spent most of the morning with Martin Grant again, staking out and hoping to get decent views of the Barred Warbler found near the beach entrance the previous evening? Radio messages described the bird showing "incredibly well"! It's never the reality unfortunately...

There's always an irritating branch in the way!

And apart from a turn of the head, just like the Merlin, this was a one moment story!

But better to have happened than not!

Porthellick pool - Spotted Sandpiper!!

My last day on St. Mary's and with a late afternoon sailing, I had the morning free... And a Spotted Sandpiper had turned up at Porthellick the previous day... No prizes for guessing, where I was going, Seaward hide first stop...

Timed to perfection, the juv Spotted Sandpiper was just waking up on the little island  left of  the T- post, about 15m away! A quick hop on the submerged fence post and my luck was in...

 

A brief pose, the unnotched tertials showing clearly...

Then, busy feeding...

It has a habit of flying off every now and then and stuck to this principle landing opposite the Sussex hide. I nipped down there in case it walked the bank but at least got a flight view showing the short wing-bar!

And it was back parading in front of the Seaward hide again!

Then actively feeding...

I didn't realise what was about to happen next. A whirr of wings in the bins next to the Sandpiper turned out to be the Citrine Wagtail!! They were briefly side by side and after a bit of a spat, both flew to the Sussex hide area... would my luck be in?