Another year, another October visit to the beautiful Isles of Scilly.
Off the tip of Cornwall in the Atlantic Ocean, it is besieged by birdwatchers in that month, including myself, hoping to see birds blown off their usual migratory routes.
The rarer the bird, the greater the excitement — usually.
Getting there this year was eventful, with stormy weather responsible for the cancellation of my original ferry.
My friend Alex and I had to scramble for the Friday ferry, not the Saturday one, and to seek an additional night’s accommodation because of that.
Accommodation always is at a premium on these isles, with most people booking for periods of seven days or multiples of that.
To the rescue came the Bell Rock Hotel on the main isle of St. Mary’s.
Initially, all we could book at a moment’s notice was a king-size bed and a cot bed. But when we arrived, it transpired that the person or persons using that room, and who had booked through the Friday night, had to leave on the Friday ferry due to that same weather pattern, and thus a more comfortable twin room was allotted.
If those original inhabitants had stayed, they would not have been able to return to the mainland until the next Monday.
The hoteliers at the Bell Rock had the presence of mind to change our booking, which was nice.
There were many other people in our situation also seeking rooms. The new batch of ferry passengers looked relieved once they realized they had 24 hours more in which to see the often elusive Greater short-toed lark (Calandrella brachydactyla) that was the main birding prize at that very moment.
I did see it, and it became a “lifer” for me — that is, a bird on my list that I had not seen before in the U.K.
Delay and a quick scramble are often the way in such places in the autumn. The onslaught of birders helps extend the isles’ tourism year but everyone is aware that the weather controls things, not the tourism bureau.
The best hotel on St. Mary’s is the Star Castle Hotel, which sits on a large hilly area called The Garrison. This is where the island’s Napoleonic fort was built, the walls of which still stand.
It also was the site of the arrival this year of a rarity, the Isabelline wheatear (Oenanthe isabellina), which in October should be Africa and India after leaving its breeding grounds of Central Asia.
After it was found, hundreds of people descended with their binoculars, telescopes and cameras, which must have been amusing to the non-birding guests.
We birders lined a path in front of a large area of gorse and bracken and waited for the wheatear to hopefully reappear in front of us.
This is not always a given, but thankfully it did reappear, although the next morning it could not be relocated.
It had gone, maybe back to Africa?
As I write, the Short-toed lark remains.
By this time, we had moved out of the Bell Rock and into our self-catering cottage, by far the most populous option of accommodation on the islands.
We left it, though, after another storm and tidal surge brought a curious type of crustacean called a sand hopper (Talitrus saltator) to our beachside abode.
This critter feeds at night on decaying seaweed, but needs to be in wet sand to survive, so why it decided to enter our home, I do not know. Perhaps it was attracted to the nearest light?
Sand hoppers are a major food source for birds, so I will not become disgusted by them, but the accommodation bureau agreed to move us, and our last four days were spent at a very nice home called Perran.
It's wonderful spending autumn in a remote, beautiful island group often at the mercy of the elements but often also enjoying the most sunshine of any year in the United Kingdom.
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