17th September 2020
This Bee-eater was hawking over the garden early this afternoon. However, I was with a very small crowd observing it from the nearby football pitch.
All-day yesterday, there was thick fog and this morning I woke to grey skies with strong easterlies. Ideal I thought but I had to go to work and with no planes flying yesterday, because of the foggy conditions, I was meeting more guests off the planes that didn’t arrive yesterday. Mid-morning and a Wood Warbler turned up at the tennis courts. Only a few seconds from home and when I had time, I went in search of it. All I found was Trevor and Julia Davis also searching for the warbler. It was only when I returned back to work that they called me to say that they had seen it. Shortly afterwards, this was followed by ‘We got a Bee-eater flying low over our heads at the Dead Pine Walk! By the time I had got there, it had moved on. Some 30 minutes later, I returned to find other birders already present and I told them that I can hear it but not sure where it was coming from. With that, Juliet Moore put on the WhatsApp Group that it was over the football pitch. We all made the short run around and there it was hawking over my bloody garden with Swallows!! What do I do? Dash home to get a garden tick or wait and hope it comes closer? My mind was made up as it was now overhead climbing higher before flying towards the campsite. It was still hanging around when I left to go back to work and I missed out again on a garden tick after three Bee-eaters were an ear-shot from the garden this spring.
I only managed to get a few record shots of the Bee-eater from the football pitch before it flew off towards the campsite
So being flat out at work I finished late and as two nights ago, I spent the last hour or so mostly in the Dead Pine Walk area. This time I did finally connect with the Wood Warbler behind the cadet hut where it had been seen for most of the afternoon. There were also 3 Spotted and a single Pied Flycatcher and Reed Warbler in the area. Overhead there were 100+Swallow, 10 House and single Sand Martin. A Yellow Wagtail and Siskin flew NE and Merlin moved straight through.
The Wood Warbler showed very well in the disappearing light
The Spotted Sandpiper is still at Porth Hellick. The lack of the white bar on the primaries is pretty obvious even in this record shot
Two evenings ago, I finished work late and took advantage of the last hour of the sun on the pines at the Dead Pine Walk, Garrison. I managed to see all the birds that were noted earlier by other observers including asingle Garden Warbler, Redstart, Reed and 2 Willow Warbler, 5 Spotted and 2 Pied Flycatcher and 50+Swallow.
This Green Sandpiper was at Lower Moors earlier on the day
Redstart
There were up to 5 Spotted Flycatcher taking on the flying insects
And 2 Pied Flycatcher with Samson in the distance
There were 2 willow Warbler in the pines including this individual that showed superbly at very close range
The Dotterel that Tony Gilbert found on the 11th, was last seen on the morning of the 14th at the airfield where I took these images as the sun was rising There were 3 Dotterel found today at Castle Down, Tresco while on Bryher the 3 Buff-breasted Sandpiper were still up on Shipman’s Down. It would be great if they all teamed up together as they can all see each other from each island
Murder, Corruption, Coronavirus & Death of Democracy: Welcome to Bolsonaro’s Brazil. Glenn Greenwald
SCILLYSPIDER 2 