Ah, the magical Isles of Scilly! Almost 30 miles southwest of the Cornish coast the island group attracts birds from all points of the compass. Spring comes early here and this tour is timed to coincide with migration from the continent but also offers the possibility of rarer fare from either the east or west. Easterlies will bring in drift migrants and April is a good time for Spring overshoots. There are good possibilities for scarce birds; maybe a Wryneck feeding on a stone wall, a Hoopoe probing the short turf around the coast, Dotterels on a golf course or the airfield, or a Woodchat Shrike hunting from scrub. Commoner migrants include Yellow Wagtails, Common Redstarts, Pied Flycatchers and Ring Ouzels. April usually delivers a tasty rarity or two. Who knows what it might be during our visit? Previous tours have turned up both Subalpine Warbler taxa, Night Heron, Red-rumped Swallow, Ortolan Bunting and much more! Based upon St Mary’s we will visit a number of the off isles during our stay as well as taking a short range boat trip to look for Manx Shearwaters, Puffins and other auks that breed in these waters. Your tour leader will be Nick Parsons, assisted by Jonathan Farooqi if numbers dictate.
DAY ONE
The tour starts at Land’s End Airport in the morning where we shall take the approximately twenty-minute flight to St Mary’s. We shall transfer to our accommodation and then spend the rest of the day birding locally.
DAYS TWO – SIX
We shall decide upon the next day’s itinerary each evening taking into account any relevant bird news. We shall venture from St Mary’s on several days to visit one of the off islands. We shall try to visit St Agnes, Bryher and Tresco at least once each. The Great Pool on Tresco is a wader hotspot and holds other waterbirds too. At this time of year, the mature woods around may attract a migrant Golden Oriole. St Agnes is a beautiful island with plenty of habitat to explore for birds. If the tide is favourable, we may even cross the Gugh Bar onto Gugh itself, a real experience for sure. Wherever we end up each day we are sure to enjoy our time exploring these magical islands. The emphasis will be upon looking for our own birds as well as making an effort to catch up with any good birds found by others.
DAY SEVEN
We shall spend the final morning birding on St Mary’s before catching an afternoon flight back to Land’s End where the tour will conclude.
