Porthcressa beach and The Garrison, St Mary's

Our house that we had rented for this holiday was pretty near to this Ancient burial chamber up on a hill overlooking Hugh Town (the main town on St Mary's). On a couple of occasions during my week on the Islands, I did a circular walk which involved walking down past the burial chamber and onto Porthcressa beach below, then walk along the beach and up onto the hill in the distance on the left there which leads to The Garrison and then on down into Hugh Town.Here is another view of Porthcressa beach and Hugh Town from the Peninnis headland.The view is fabulous on the way down to the beach. In the distance on the right is the twin peaks of Samson island. Samson is the largest of the uninhabited islands. It used to be inhabited, but was abandoned back in 1855, leaving its cottages empty and wildlife reigning over its gorse covered slopes.From this photo of Porthcressa beach, you might almost imagine you were in the Caribbean!Here is the path down to the beach on a less clement day! I guess the view wasn't quite as magnificent this day! (-:

Those benches would be lovely to sit on when the weather was a bit clearer!On the path along the bay there was this Herring Gull quite happily standing in a puddle (probably admiring the view) (-: His reflection was too good for me to miss too, and I managed to get off a few shots of him taking a drink.

A juvenile Herring Gull wasn't quite so much of a poser. This was the best view he would give me.The ubiquitous Oystercatchers (Oiks for short) were dodging the waves on the beach.One got caught out and flitted a little way along to dodge this little wavelet!I don't think it's going to have much luck landing there either! (-:On up past the beach and you have to walk through the outer wall of The Garrison to get up on top. Here's one of my friends Dave having to duck down to get through. I only had to duck a little bit! (-:Up on top and the old canons are still in place, ready to fight off all comers.On this particular day, it was misty and drizzly with the promise of heavier rain to come. My three birding buddies are up ahead of me deciding whether to walk the whole way around The Garrison in the rain or not. They did. I on the other hand, decided to return to the house for a cuppa tea instead! Wimp or what! (-:The walk around the garrison starts here with a lovely tree covered walkway. This is a good area for passerines to take shelter when going through on migration.You can't see it in this photo, but Porthcressa beach is now down below on the left.Eventually you walk out of the tree covered area onto an area of gorse and bracken with stunning views over to other islands. This I think is St Agnes in the distance.

I've done this photos slightly out of sequence (again)! Below are a couple of photos taken of a Yellow-browed Warbler along the leafy pathway. This small and very flitty warbler is a vagrant to Britain from Siberia. It winters down in south east Asia so is well of course I'm afraid. These aren't brilliant photos as it was quite dark under the leaf canopy and the bird was staying in a patch of trees with the sun behind and I would had to have been standing in mid air over Porthcressa beach to get the sun behind me, so I guess that wasn't going to happen! (-:

This Collared Dove on the other hand was more than obliging by perching on a bare branch with the sun behind me. I love the lichen hanging down on that branch.We had an amazing influx of migrant Painted Ladies in Britain this year and they were still being seen here on the Isles of Scilly in mid October. As with alot of insects, this one was taking advantage of the late nectar from Ivy flowers.Having walked all the way round The Garrison, you end up in Hugh Town and the harbour area.I thought I'd stick this one in last with our Union Jack flying high over The Garrison on St Mary's with the island of Tresco in the background. There will be one more post from the Isles of Scilly before my journey back to the mainland and Cornwall.

Old Town churchyard, St Mary's

Old Town church sits just above and overlooks Old Town Bay. It is a very small and old church with a delightfully rambling churchyard. In the past it has been a good area of St Mary's for birding. It's old Sycamore trees attracting amongst other things, Firecrests and Yellow-browed Warblers. I didn't find either of those birds (despite ALOT of looking). I did find opportunities for some photography though..... This church notice was funny, click to enlarge and read the last paragraph. (-:

It was lovely to sit in the sun on these steps for a while and take in the peace and quiet.

Wandering amongst the gravestones, there were many showing the harsh difficult times from living on these islands in the past. There were many lives lost at sea, both very young and old. Below is one that was still quite legible.This deep red succulent was thriving in the churchyard. I know this plant begins with the letter O, but can't recall its name. Any ideas?Beautiful with the sun shining through it.Where I live in the relatively mild south west of England, this plant would still be unlikely to survive the winter without protection. Here, it grows like a weed.One plant the churchyard had in abundance was ivy and the flowers were humming with life. Bees, flies and butterflies were taking advantage of this late nectar source. This Small Copper was taking a break and basking in the sunshine.A Speckled Wood trying to blend in with the leaf litter.And a Red Admiral from various angles. It covered this flower pretty comprehensively.

One bird that is in big trouble on the mainland, but that seems to be doing very well on the Scillies, it the Song Thrush. Apart from doing well here, they also tend to be quite tame, allowing the photographer some close ups.Still a bit more to come from the Isle of Scilly in my next post.

SWF - Scilly skies.

I recently took a birding holiday to the Isles of Scilly which lies 28 miles off the south west coast of England. Here are some Scilly (pronounced 'silly') skies that I experienced during the week. Many thanks to the SWF bunch of people who make sharing these skies possible. For more skies from around the world, click on the SWF icon on the right hand side of my blog. To enjoy these photos at their best, please click on them to enlarge.
A dramatic sky taken from the airport on the island of St Mary's.Hell Bay on the islands of Bryher.Looking towards Cromwell's Castle on the island of Tresco from Bryher on a beautiful blue sky day.Getting of the boat at the quay on the island of St Agnes with rain threatening.Taken from the boat on the way to the island of Tresco from St Mary's.A view of the islands of Bryher and Samson from Tresco.Thomas Porth beach on a beautiful day on St Mary's.Early morning sky looking across Old Town Bay towards Giant's Castle headland and the airport on St Mary's.Early morning sunshine on the granite rocks at Peninnis head with the island of St Agnes in the distance.Peninnis lighthouse one crisp morning.Looking out onto the Atlantic ocean from Peninnis head on St Mary's.Another view of the island of St Agnes from St Mary's at dusk.Days end on Peninnis head, St Mary's.

Old Town Bay - St Mary's

I thought I'd include the map of the Isles of Scilly again so that you get a sense of where I've been and where this next post is about. Old Town bay is the southern most bay on St Mary's, just along from Peninnis. Click to enlarge any of the scenery shots to get a better picture.You walk everywhere on the islands, unless you're either lazy or you're unable to. I think if you walk around the coast of St Mary's it would be something like 11 miles! This beautiful little bay has a quiet and confiding feel to it. The only boats that I saw moored here were small rowing boats.This is at low tide on a brooding grey cloud day.And here, again at low tide on a slightly brighter day. Those houses have a fabulous view!This is at high tide one evening, I think we were on our way to the Old Town Inn for one of our dinners out. The sky was beautiful with an almost luminous look to the sky and various shades of grey in the clouds from soft silver to an almost slate grey.This is a view from Old Town bay towards the Peninnis headland on a bit of a misty morning. The colours of the stone here echoed the colour of the brownish bracken on the headland.A bit further round the bay and some people had been having fun with the round granite stones on the beach! (-:This amazing Fushia tree was growing in the garden of one of the house along the bay. I think it was about 6 feet high (taller than me anyway)! One day, I was sitting on the Old Town bay wall, watching the world go by. This Oystercatcher started to have a very energetic bath in the bay and I was able to capture some shots.

More to come from the Isles shortly.

Scilly beasties!

While I was on the Scillies, I managed to photograph some beasties, both wild and not so wild. I also managed quite inadvertently, to get some good mooning shots of which the photo below is a particularly good example! These contented pigs were somewhere on St Mary's, I can't recall where exactly.This is my new desktop background photo (for a little while anyway). I've named this pig, Portia the porker! Here's a close up of her. I think she's adorable , if in slight need of a bath! (-:Another wonderful backside! These two seemed happy together at the farm on Peninnis just up the road from our house.This handsome chappy was on the island of Bryher. Well, I think he thinks he is handsome! That's a proper goatee.This was quite sweet (I think). I was in Lower Moors looking for a reported Firecrest (similar to Golden crowned Kinglet) when I noticed a very shy Rat in the tree above me. He knew I was there and just wouldn't show his face. Eventually I moved back a few paces and he raced along the branches and was away into the undergrowth. By the way, I never did get to see the Firecrest. This tiny bundle of fur was scampering across the golf course on my second day on the Islands when I was trying to see my second ever Dotterel (to appear in a later post). I'm not sure what type of mouse it was, does anyone out there know?On the steps just outside our house one morning, we found this prickly ball of spines trying to get away from the road by climbing our steps.It was a bit of a struggle...............but eventually he made it up one step. After taking a couple of photos, Dave wrapped him in his jacket and gave him a helping hand into the garden. Finally, there was one wee beastie that was discovered wandering the woods and footpaths on St Mary's. Slightly wild with strange plumage and bizarre accoutrements hanging from its neck! Obviously a new species to science. We'll call it Troglodytes minimus. Just one or two, or maybe three more posts from Scilly before normal blogging resumes! (-:

Southward Beach on Bryher

After joining up with my friends again, I think we had about an hour before our boat back to St Mary's was due to pick us up. So rather than rush and try to do more of the island, we decided instead to wander slowly along Southward beach in the sunshine. Also we would be wandering in the right direction! I should say at this point, that on any island, if you miss the boat back to St Mary's, unless you can find someone with a small boat and pay them probably alot of money to get you back to St Mary's, you are stuck on that island until about 10.30 the next day! I'm sure it must happen many times.

Just before we got to the beach, I saw and fell in love with this old boat that has probably seen it's last wave. Shame!Southward beach is a long stretch of sandy beach on the sheltered east side of Bryher. In the distance, you can just about see our destination back at the quay. It was lovely just to wander slowly along here. The weather was perfect, the air was as fresh as can be and we had no need to rush. How rare is it nowadays to have absolutely no pressure on one's time!?I love this shot. I'm not even sure why really. I do know that when I saw it on my comp screen that it reminded me of an Eve Sweatman photo, hers come naturally, mine come by accident! Really!Oystercatchers are fairly common on the islands. They're really characterful birds with a lovely distinctive whistling call. This bunch were loafing around on the sand minding their own business.............until muggins here got a bit too close for their comfort. They didn't go too far though and I made sure I walked further up the beach once they'd settled again. They're striking birds in flight. Unfortunately in this photo that patch of seaweed in the water makes it look like it has long legs and I don't know enough about photoshop to get rid of it. Help Evie! (-:When you have more time than usual to soak up a place, you start to look at details as well as the overall scenery. Well that's what happened on this day anyway! (-: I loved this slimey bright green plant? covering the rounded pinkish granite stones on the beach.Again, the seaweed caught my eye. I love the colours and textures of this stuff and the way the sunlight lifted it from being just a dull bubbly mess.I guess all these different seaweeds have their own names. It's not something I'm likely to try and find out, I just enjoyed them while I had the chance.Then all these different shells caught my eye, so I did a spot of shell watching. Here are some of my favourites...I thought this one looked like a heart. I wished Chris could be there with me sharing this day (slushy I know, but what the heck) (-:Shushhhhh! Don't tell anyone, but I gathered up some favourite shells to take home as a memento. Here they are. Hopefully the beach wont miss them too much!

I thought this one looked quite snug on it's own surrounded with seaweed and it seemed to glow in the sunlight.I like this one enlarged and have got it as my desktop background at the moment. The colours are fabulous.I couldn't work out what this was at first, but I think it must be some sort of sea anemone? Any one out there know different?I'll finish with a photo of the sunlight throwing an amazing pattern on the sand through the shallow sea water. This was taken as we were waiting for the boat back at the quay.This was without doubt my best day of my time spent on Scilly. Bryher is a beautiful little island. The weather could not have been better and even though we didn't see very many birds at all that day, the scenery on the west side and the beach on the east made it one of those perfects days that doesn't fade from the memory.

Bryher - untamed beauty!

These next two posts are devoted to my favourite of the islands, Bryher. It is the smallest of the five inhabited islands at just 327 acres and has a population of only 81 resident people. For this trip my birding buddies split up. Jane and Dave went off to the island of St Agnes and in the photo below you see David and Geoff joining me on the boat over to Bryher for the day.It's always worth keeping your bins handy on these boat trips to the other islands. I was always a bit worried that I would lose my favourite birding cap. This was given to me by a very dear friend in Iowa and is irreplaceable to me. It's a Dallas County Conservation cap and fits my small head perfectly, well nearly perfectly! (-: Thanks Fred!This photo is taken from the middle of the island and shows some of the many uninhabited islands that are dotted all around the Isles of Scilly. The middle of Bryher has a nicely untidy cultivated look to it which is surrounded by the untamed beauty of the surrounding hills and headlands.As you can see the granite headlands offer shelter to these beautiful bays of soft silver sand and not another person in sight! It's wonderful!Before setting off on the coastal footpath, we enjoyed some of the flowers still in bloom on the island. These Red Hot Pokers were halfway over, but still made a wonderful sight.

One of the plants that thrives on all the islands is the Hottentot Fig, a kind of succulent I think.Here it is in flower. These are about 3-4 inches in diameter.I don't know what this tree was that was growing all over the island, but the Blackbirds, Thrushes and Starlings were crazy for these luscious looking berries. This succulent sticking out of a wall was about 16 inches across. Beautiful with the sunlight on it.We then left the cultivated middle for the footpath that follows the coastline of this tiny island. Here we're heading for the infamous Hell Bay.It looks beautiful and tranquil when the weather is lovely like we had on this day, but in a bad storm coming in off the Atlantic, there's nothing to stop the full fury and many a ship has been wrecked in this area in times past. I took a very short video here which can be seen by clicking on the youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZ8jhDjih4U . We stopped to have our lunch up here. Probably one of the best lunch spots in the world ever!After lunch we carried on walking the coastline. Another lighthouse, I guess there is a need for lots of them here for safe shipping!At the top of the island, there were lots of Great Black-backed Gulls loafing around the cliffs and I wanted to sit and watch them for a while and try and get some flight shots. So, David and Geoff walked on down and again I was able to sit on the cliff edge and soak up the sights and sounds around me. This was the best of the shots I could get. They seemed to be very well aware of me and never came in close to where I was sitting.On the way back down to join my friends, I came across this pair of Small Copper butterflies flirting with each other. Eventually they settled down on this autumn coloured bracken which made a wonderful backdrop.This is the view on my way back down the eastern part of the island looking over to Tresco. The building you can see over there is Cromwell's Castle which was built in 1651 and is one of the few remaining Cromwellian fortifications surviving today.This photo shows the stretch of water between the island of Tresco and Bryher where during a low tide, it is possible to wade knee deep across from one island to the other. The second post on Bryher will be about our walk along Southward beach towards our pick up point for the boat back to St Mary's.