Scilly April 2025

I have just returned from another cracking week in Scilly. Last year was my first time visiting during the spring, and despite spending every summer in Scilly, I was surprised at how unfamiliar much of the islands’ flora and fauna was in April. Landscapes are transformed as the relatively dull heathy areas in the summer pop out with waves of bright yellow gorse flowers, while the spring soundscapes around reeds and hedgerows are elevated with the song of migrating warblers. While I was expecting this seasonal change a little more this time round, the trip still brought some great surprises.
 
The week started with challenging birding conditions with heavy rain on the Scillonian, making it difficult to pick much out on the sea other than some Manx Shearwater, with approximately 160 along the entire journey (they always seem much more numerous closer to Land’s End than the Scilly-side). The wind and rain persisted over the first couple of days on Bryher, which in combination with me missing Scilly’s Hoopoe-influx during the week prior to my trip was a bit of a downer. However, while the birding was difficult, it was not impossible, with a Great White Egret at Popplestones and Great Northern Diver at Great Porth. Also, the first signs of Wheatear and Ring Ouzel. In the case of these latter two species, my experience was very different compared to April 2024. This year, Wheatears were very thin on the ground, with only 15 over the entire trip, whereas last year there were as many as 20 on single short walks. In contrast, last year I only had a single male Ring Ouzel, but this year I saw at least 6 individuals (that’s twice as many Rouzels as Blue Tits!).

Manx shearwater off the Scillonian

In typical Scilly fashion, the morning of 16th April brought with it a complete turn in the weather. I was treated to a self-found Wryneck (my first Scilly lifer of the trip), as well as a significant fall in Blackcap and a Skylark around Popplestones. I made the most of the sunny weather by taking a trip to St Mary’s in the afternoon with the hope of seeing the Purple Heron that had been knocking about for a few days. While I was unsuccessful with this, I did manage a Common Whitethroat and Sparrowhawk at Higher Moors, both of which are by no means easy birds at this time of year on Scilly.

Wryneck

The next day I had a tramp around Bryher with Will Wagstaff, a very talented local ornithologist and naturalist. Across the day we had many birding highlights, including a Woodchat Shrike, Yellow Wagtail, Pied Flycatcher and Common Redstart (the latter two were Scilly firsts for me). However, it was what I learnt about the wider wildlife and history of Scilly that really interested me. This included seeing one of the UK’s rarest plant species, the Dwarf Pansy, found only across a tiny plot of land on the south-end of Bryher.

Dwarf Pansy

With the arrival of the rest of my family, we moved islands to Tresco. I was excited about this as this island has two large pools which have historically drawn in some interesting birds. However, the water levels were very high this year, with a distinct lack of muddy fringes to tempt down any waders. Instead, I spent most mornings on Tresco’s south beaches. This is one of my absolute favourite places in the world, as the rising tide pushes the shorebirds inland under the morning sun. Numbers were fairly good this year, with one morning producing 22 Oystercatcher, 18 Common Ringed Plover, 19 Ruddy Turnstone and 72 Sanderling. A real highlight was discovering that one of these Sanderlings was colour-ringed. Upon requesting the details, I found out that it was 5-years-old, first ringed in Pontevedra, Spain in October 2020 and seen once since in Syddanmark, Denmark in July 2022 (a distance of approximately 2000km!).

Over the next few days on Tresco, the trip list began to level out, although during a 45 minute sea-watch I had my first Scilly Black-throated Diver off St Helens. The birding all seemed to calm down a little, but that changed when on my final full day there was a report of a Shore Lark on St Mary’s. This is a very scarce bird on Scilly, with this individual being only the 13th ever and the first since 2009. I hoped that it would stick around until the following day, and that I would have time to catch up with it before my Scillonian departure. I hitched a lift on one of the airport taxis and walked to Porthellick Down, where it was most recently seen. After a challenging 30 minutes with a suspected view as it flitted past and down to the rocky shore, it finally showed well on the coastal path. A really smart male of North European race, it continued feeding, associating with a Wheatear before being flushed by a dog walker. Speaking to other birders, I’m always aware of comparatively just how small my Scilly list is (144 species, with many others around the 250-300 mark). However, it's these trips in Autumn and Spring that will slowly bring my list up as unusual finds such as the Shore Lark drop down to the islands. All the more reason to visit outside of the summer season!

Shore Lark

I ended the trip with 83 species (3 less than last April), but with 5 species added to my Scilly life list and 21 to my UK Year List. Full ebird trip report can be found here.