This Scandinavian Rock Pipit didn’t show well at Little Porth, in fact only got the briefest of sightings but Jo managed to get this image. Up to 4 Scandinavian Rock Pipit have been seen this year on Scilly compared to the single record I had last year at Morning Point.
Just before mid-day we were at Little Porth and I told Jo to get on a pipit that I caught a few seconds of in among the rocks. What I did note in the time that I saw it, was that it was pretty white on the underparts and thought maybe Water Pipit. However it had greyish upperparts and maybe it could also be a Scandinavian Rock Pipit. It doesn’t matter which one it was, we needed to find it. After searching for a while there was no sign and it had just disappeared.
An hour later we were feeding Pablo and the other three at Porthloo Duckpond. On the beach nearby there were 2 Black Redstart and Rose Hill, an Icelandic Redwing showed very well with Scandinavian Redwing next to the dipping pools. Very quiet at Lower Moors with the only birds of interest were a single Yellow-browed Warbler, Siberian Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler and Swallow. We returned to Little Porth on our ways home and got 3 Mediterranean Gull and a single Black Redstart and Merlin but there was still no sign of the pipit.
Pablo Jr at the front followed by Graham Gordon, Coal and Feather trying to catch us up at Porthloo.
This Icelandic Redwing showed superbly at Rose Hill
And here’s a comparison with Scandinavian Redwing that were also at Rose Hill
This Willow Warbler was at Lower Moors
Where there was also this Yellow-browed Warbler
And this Siberian Chiffchaff
There were less than 10 Chiffchaff also at Lower Moors
Returning home, we walked through the east fields of the Garrison and with a few thrushes there was another Icelandic Redwing. I could see that it was ringed on the left leg and like the pipit at Little Porth earlier, it just vanished. There were more Redwing on the football field and there I relocated the Icelandic. However, this individual wasn’t as dark as the other bird we just had and it was also unringed and therefore it was now 3 Icelandic Redwing with as many as 70 Scandinavian Redwing and 10 Fieldfare today.
Later on at home, it was only when we were goin through Jo’s images on the laptop that we discovered that she had taken a Scandinavain Rock Pipit from her camera! Magic stuff Jo!!
The 2 CHOUGH were still hanging out on Peninnis and there was the Yellow-browed Warbler and the female Teal that I thought might of been a Green-winged Teal at the time, also at Newford, at the end of September has now molted into a male Green-winged Teal! More on that in my next post because I ain’t got time to do it now.
A very dark looking Icelandic Redwing with ring on left leg in comparison at the front with a Scandinavian Redwing on the east side of Garrison.
And the third Icelandic Redwing of the day was at the football pitch only meters away from the individual in the fields on the east side of the Garrison.
just before dark, over 30 Herring Gull were feeding at very close range just outside the bedroom window and one of them decided to have a drink and bath in the trough.
SCILLYSPIDER 2 