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?

Lower Moors - Citrine Wagtail take 2

A quick return call at Lower Moors turned up trumps the Citrine Wagtail putting in an appearance in front of the ISBG hide...

I was hoping for the hitting the bottle shot? It didn't happen sadly!

But ever so brief pauses...

Whilst in search of food!

And there's plenty of Bloodworm in the thick gloopy mud!

Scilly Pelagic no 8 - Other Shearwaters

The Gannets normally announce a feeding frenzy from quite a distance, here's a taste of the numbers...

Homing in on one of the 1000+ Manx Shearwater...

And a taste of the views we were treated to from the estimated 75+ Sooty Shearwaters!

Head on moments, particularly cool!

Then away...

Just one Wilson's Petrel kept the BIG 3 tally going to 8 out of 8!! The light was seriously dropping and into the record shot zone at crazy ISO levels...

Now we know the Tuna are around, tomorrow with much more time and good light, the prospects look good!

Tresco - Solitary Sandpiper

A morning spent of Tresco with Dave Chapman and Rob Stonehouse turned into a grueller trying to get some sort of record shot of the Solitary Sandpiper! Rob picked it out on the far bank of the Great Pool from Swarovski hide but well over 100m away, it was virtually impossible to get worthwhile images. After moving to the road by Simpson's field at least we got better light (and views) but as I was only carrying the 100-400mm lens, feather detail was never going to be an option.

Nevertheless, here's the distant bird, eye-ring really distinct and screaming out at 100m!

with the barred tailside showing nicely when seen in flight....

My second Solitary and one day I'll get one close??!

Scilly Pelagic no 8 - Great Shearwaters

The first of the second weekend's full on 'Birder Pelagics' and little did we know what a treat was in store! A brisk 15mph south westerly breeze was ideal and we about to encounter the other magical factor in finding seabirds... feeding Tuna!! In fact we found the first frenzy roughly a mile off St Mary's. Great Shearwaters put on an amazing show with approx. 100 see during the evening, so this post details the best of the images from a blockbuster first couple of hours!

Scott Reid, clearly had inside info - this was going to be good...

Great Shearwater make an impressive sight on the water...

And take off action then becomes obligatory!

The full on flight...

And all the time, passing rafts including the other 'big performer' of the evening - Sooty Shearwater!

Here's the course taken (thanks once again Richard!)

Scilly Pelagic no 6 - evening Shearwaters galore

Another evening session with a shark fishing trip, outnumbered by fishermen once more but this was an exceptional evening nevertheless!

We headed south with the wind still 15mph westerly and whilst we only saw 3 Cory's Shearwater, the first was an obliging bird on the water!

With flight being a safe bet as we neared it!

There were 15 Great Shearwaters seen both in flight and on the water...

And then 2 Wilson's Petrel maintained the BIG 3 run, the first a really neat individual.

Support came from 20 Sooty Shearwaters...

c500 Manx Shearwaters...

And a single Arctic Skua (dark morph)!

Amazing just how good the birding can be despite the fact it wasn't a full on birders pelagic!

Richard Stonier's track for the eve...