Isles of Scilly 2026, Day Five, Final Day

Sadly today (14th) was my last day on Scilly. This autumn has been a great nostalgic autumn following a visit to Devon and Cornwall in September and this visit to Scilly. It's been great to reminisce. 

I decided to go rarity hunting onn my last day after a week of social birding and twitching so I set off to the north of the island and then over to Watermill before coming down Holy Vale and then back to Porthloo via Rocky Hill HERE. Highlights included 2 Yellow-browed Warbler, 2-3 Firecrest and a few common migrants including Yellow Wagtail, Siskin, Blackaps, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler and Lesser Whitethroat. So no rarity for me but an Isabelline-type Shrike was found at Porth Hellick and there was a new White-rumped Sandpiper, a Richard's and a Red-throated Pipit across the archipelago today so new birds were in. 

I got the Scillonian back - it was good to bump into Adam Wilson, another blast from the past. The Scillonian crossing was pretty quiet with just a few European Stormies and Puffins and a single Sooty Shearwater. 

The moth trap at the Porthloo holiday flat was interesting again. Over the three days trapping there we caught a couple of Scilly scarcities/rarities so the back up/insurance rarity finding plan kicked in again. In fact there was some massive news from back home in the dissection results that I dropped off with Mike a couple of weeks ago- more to come on that later. 

Firecrest 

Yellow-browed Warblers (above and below), two different birds in Holy Vale

Willow Warbler (above) and Chiffchaff (below) 

Lesser Whitethroat- not as richly marked as the St.Martin's bird but presumably most of these this time of year are Eastern birds 

Puffin from the Scillonian- the first time one has appeared (photo) on this blog

Echium Stilt, Dialectia scalariella- this tiny fella produced a small twitch in the Atlantic pub. A Scilly scarcity/rarity

Grass Webworm, Herpetogramma licarsisalis- another good one 

Madder Pearl, Mecyna asinalis- a lifer but regular on Scilly 

Marbled Fern, Musotima nitidalis- new for Cornwall in 2024 from a Scilly record this species as gone from zero to hero with now being established on Scilly 

Blair's Mocha- not that regular on Scilly 

Whitespeck- up to 25 a night. 

Radford's Flame Shoulder- up to three of these. Also on the migrant front had Four-spotted Footman and Pearly Underwing nd up to 3 Silver-Y, 2 Rusty-dot and 4 Rush Veneer a night 

St.Mary's. Great to re-visit. Thanks to Ian, Andrew, Paul and Rob for letting me crash at theirs at St.Mary's and to Jaffa and Helen on St. Martin's.