29th May 2020
I went in search of Rose-coloured Starling and with in thirty minutes, I found this adult male at Salkee
Today I was working in the Holy Vale fields and got brief views of the Hobby as it flew through. At 16.30, I was done and as there was already a Rose-coloured Starling at Lands End, Cornwall and two other individuals in the UK, I thought I’d give a quick call into Porth Hellick as dinner was goin to be ready at 17.00. Mashuq Ahmad called me while I was on Salkee Lane looking at Starlings in the fields He must of thought I was having a heart attack from the sound I was making when I saw a pink starling fly across the far side of the field towards Porth Hellick. It flew lower as if it was coming down and I lost it. Immediately as it disappeared, out of the blue, it or another Rose-coloured Starling popped up at close range on top of a Elm in front of me! Where did that come from? There is no way that’s the same bird that’s just flown towards Porth Hellick. Mush was still on the mobile and I told him that there’s possibly 2 Rose-coloured Starlings! One thing for sure, there was one showing well now and I cut Mush off. This individual flew down to join the other Starlings already feeding in the cow field before flying into the tall Elms that bordered the field. I couldn’t see a bloody thing where it was as the sun was in my eyes. I had already put the news out but I had to go as it had already gone dinner time. There was a single Sand Martin by the road when I returned to the wagon.
This the first Rose-coloured Starling that I’ve seen in May as usually they arrive in the first week of June on Scilly
I returned home, looked out the window, and there feeding with a record 25 Collard Dove for the garden, was a Turtle Dove! This was a garden tick and as I was just about to get stuck into my dinner, Robin called to say that he just had a Hobby over the airfield but put the news out as he left his mobile at home. I did that for him and I was just about to get the first mouthful down my neck, when the Swallows alarmed and the Hobby slowly flew over above the garden. The Turtle Dove was still present until almost dark when it flew into the pine belt to roost.
A new addition to the garden was this Turtle Dove
This Wood Pigeon came for a drink in the water trough just in front of my window
While Starlings, this lot is part of the 60 in the garden at the moment, are in the trough throughout the day.
Will a Rose-coloured Starling visit my garden? For now the nearest to me getting one is ‘Rosie’ the pale Starling
I had a stroll around the Garrison after dinner and had from the top, single Linnet,Robin and juvenile Song Thrush
Rock Pipit near the Steval
I observed this Fulmar fly all over the shop over St Mary’s. Here it’s making a fly by past the power station chimney.
And when I returned home, the Turtle Dove was still present until dark before flying into the pine belt to roost.
Two days ago, I made a return to Tresco in my kayak, stopping off on Samson where I took this photo from looking across the Tresco Channel, on the return home
The highlights were a Woodchat Shrike, two fields away from where I had the Red-backed Shrike two days ago at Borough Farm, a singing Wood Warbler at Pool Road and at Simpson’s Field, a dodgy Greylag Goose with a single Canada Goose.
On the South Beach there were 9 Dunlin, 8 whimbrel and including this individual, 3 Sanderling
Good numbers of Oystercatcher also feeding on the South Beach
On Samson there were up to 6 Shelduck
And the Lesser Black-backed Gulls were keeping a close eye on me
When I left St Mary’s, I was kayaking into fog off Tresco that I knew would of moved on by the time I got to the island. However, while on Samson, I could see that the fog was returning, covering parts of St Martins in the east and I had to leave earlier than I wanted to.
And the trusty kayak got me safely back to St Mary’s
It was trying it’s best to hide but I found the other Rose-coloured Starling in someones back garden
SCILLYSPIDER 2 