After my rush to Worcestershire, two days later saw me on my way for my second Scilly holiday, albeit only one week. We went to stay on St Agnes, and if my memory serves me well, we had a nice rough crossing which had us soaked to the skin. We had arrived on St Mary's by chopper. Getting over to St Agnes was a little bit more difficult! No inter-island boats were running due to the bad weather. However, the (very) old supply boat, the Gugh, was making a trip and we gladly boarded this vessel in order to complete our journey. As they say in nautical terms, it was a bit rough, especially after leaving the comparative shelter of the Garrison hill. Luckily I am a good sailor, and I laughed myself silly, trying to hang on to my seat, with the waves swamping us, but my three companions were looking a bit GREEN by the time we clambered on to the jetty!
We dumped our belongings at Molly Peacock's guesthouse and acclimatised ourselves to the relaxed pace of life on this quiet island.
Up the next morning, then over to Gugh across the sand bar to view my first lifer of the trip. This was an Isabelline Shrike which I seem to remember showed very well in the 'gardens' of the houses. I went on to see this long-staying bird every single day of the holiday. However, Scilly being Scilly, we had yet another lifer to go haring after that day, and luckily, it was on 'our' island again. That afternoon, we were led a right merry dance by a Yellow-billed Cuckoo, which took great delight in popping in and out of the Parsonage at odd intervals, showing for a lucky couple of birders, but disappearing just as quickly when anything like a 'crowd' gathered. Eventually, this obviously tired migrant pitched down on a wall, and showed brilliantly to everyone present! Despite missing a couple of tail feathers, this MEGA was the best bird of the autumn for me. Again, I have seen this species since (again in Florida), but this first one was a real mind-blower. So, day one and I had already seen two lifers!
Next day the weather was kinder and we took a boat over to St Mary's to hopefully connect with a Red-eyed Vireo. Unfortunately the vireo decided it would not oblige, and kept popping up on Lower Moors AND Porthellick House. The result was that we would no sooner run to one spot, when we'd hear it was showing at the other! Although by now it was presumed that there were in fact TWO birds, they never did actually show at the same time, and the time lapses between the sightings at either site meant that no more than one bird could be claimed! We dipped out on this bird, but I did manage another lifer in fields bordering Salakee Lane, when a Common Rosefinch was found with some Linnets! We heard about a strange warbler back on St Agnes, so although it was now late aftrenoon, we headed back to the quay, sad that we had missed the vireo, but happy with the rosefinch. We trudged across St Agnes, making our way to the old observatory garden, where this odd small milky-tea coloured warbler was occasionally showing. I glimpsed the bird a few times before it got dark, and opinion was beginning to mount up for a Booted Warbler. I did not count it there and then, and vowed I would get better views the next day, if the bird was still present. If it did stick, then we were handily placed on St Agnes before the crowds descended to really grill it. Did we see it again? Fiind out in my next installment..................