4th April 2021
Bryher turned up 2 Ring Ouzel at the campsite
The sea was inviting and early this morning I set off towards Samson in the still water. Rowing out of Sharks Pit, the Canada Goose flew south overhead followed by the Iceland Gull circling above me. As it was goin to be a sunny day, I thought I would hit Samson first before all the crowds arrive in their boats. After an hour of stomping around the island, there were a single Willow Warbler, 3 Chiffchaff, 3 Wheatear, and my first Tree Pipit and 2 Whitethroat of the year. The pipit flew straight north. When news broke of a Red-throated Diver off Samson, viewed from St Mary’s, within seconds I scanned to calm waters to the east but like before, all I could see were 4 Great Northern Diver.
This Willow Warbler was feeding with 3 Chiffchaff in the only large Tamarisk Bush on Samson
My first Whitethroat of the year popped up out of a Holly Bush only to disappear deeper into it out of sight
3 Wheatear were spening their time on the west beach
A few minutes of leaving Samson, two ribs turned up and I arrived at Rushy Bay, Bryher. I had only been on the island for twenty minutes, birding the south and west side of Samson Hill and already I had notched up a total of 15 Willow Warbler, 20 Chiffchaff, 5 Blackcap, 3 White Wagtail, 3 Wheatear and 4 Swallow flew straight through north. Hopefully this was goin to continue while walking around the rest of the island. It was mostly more Willows, Chiffs and Blackcaps but when I reached Popplestones, new migrants started appearing including 2 Whitethroat, 2 Tree Pipit and a male Pied Flycatcher. At the campsite nearby there were 2 Ring Ouzel and 2 Redwing. By the time I returned back to my kayak, I had counted 20 Blackcap, 30 Willow Warbler, 50 Chiffchaff, 12 Wheatear and in small groups moving through north, 15 Swallow. I just had time to quickly cover the two pools on Tresco and here the only species of note were 5 Willow Warbler, 15 Chiffchaff, 7 Blackcap, 1 Wheatear, 80 House Martin, 20 Swallow with less than 10 Sand Martin. The 4 Cattle Egret were enjoying the evening sun on Simpson’s Field. My time was up and with more species of migrants on Bryher, it does question what else was on the rest of Tresco?
Unfortunately, this was all I could get on the male Pied Flycatcher as it was very active spending all it’s time deep in cover
The 2 Ring Ouzel performed very well at the campsite
i saw my first Tree Pipit of the year fly north while on Samson earlier followed by two birds on the deck on Bryher
There were also some 15 Meadow Pipit in the area
Chiifchaff were all over the shop with over 50 counted
Alsoscattered around the island were over 30 Willow Warbler
With only 12 Wheatear altogether
Well over 50 Robin on St Mary’s yesterday but today on Bryher, there were less than ten
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