So which is Best .... Shetland or Scilly ? Theres only one way to find out ..........

Tresco Isles of Scilly.

Well having been lucky enough to visit both Shetland and Scilly  this year the question i have been asked which is better ??  I first visited Scilly way back in 1990 and have been back on and off since then , probably around 8 or 9 times and i  have  seen some wonderful birds and made many life long friends on my visits , the birding in my opinion is totally different on Scilly compared to Shetland , having said that i only have been to Shetland once , however its plain to see that on Shetland you need a car to get around as the mainland is much bigger then you think where as on Scilly you are on foot basically all day long which can be up to at least 10 hours per day .

Most reliable mode of transport for Scilly.

Cost wise there is not alot in it to be honest , getting to Scilly by helicopter is the most reliable way but quite expensive , the Skybus plane is abit cheaper however they don't always fly if the weather is particularly bad and then of course there is the Scillion ferry which i used this year , its by far the cheapest way to get across to Scilly and there is always the chance to bird from the ferry ,highlights this year being  Storm Petrel , Great Skua  and a pod of Common Dolphin however if the sea is rough and you don't have good sea legs it can be quite an uncomfortable voyage plus the crossing takes the best part of 3 hours and if there is a mega on offer it can be quite frustrating .

One of the headlands on Shetland.

Getting to Shetland was pretty straight forward , flying from Gatwick to Aberdeen and getting a connecting flight from Aberdeen to Sumborough  , although the Sandhill Crane in Aberdeen did throw a spanner in the works this time ...lol . getting around the mainland easily was only possible with a hire car and the birding was quite different to Scilly , the habitat on Shetland is far more barren and the areas that you check were anywhere there was any cover i.e peoples gardens which looked good for migrants , where as on Scilly there is so much cover for birds to hide and feed all over the place , on Shetland there are isolated pockets here and there .

North west of Lerwick .

The social side on Scilly is really great and there is an evening bird log from the Scillion club where you can get food and a pint to celebrate your days birding , plus the use of CB radios to give out bird sightings or ask for any news works really well , on Shetland as far as i know none of this exists so its always worth exchanging phone numbers with other birders you meet so any news gets passed around , this method helped me connect with Lesser Grey Shrike , Little Bunting  and Red Breasted Flycatcher on Shetland this year . 

Grey Seal.

Getting to the off Islands on Scilly is very easy , the local fisherman have this well and truly worked out with daily trips to most of the other Islands , i must admit i found this very frustrating on Shetland , where access to the surrounding Islands is not easy , if a mega breaks on an off island you have little or no chance of getting a ferry or plane to them as they are almost always fully booked , i would have liked to have visited Fair Isle but there were no flights available all week !! still that is the only downside of Shetland and with a little more research and planning on my part i might be able to solve that problem .

Well to sum it all up i cant really decide which is best , they both have their own magical appeal and i will have to visit both again to help me decide ..........

Scilly Twitch

Northern Waterthrush on St.Mary's Isle of Scilly showed well from Lower Moors and was a new species for me , plenty of great back up birds included : Upland Sandpiper , 2 Olive Backed Pipits and Wilson's Snipe.

Northern Waterthrush.

Northern Waterthrush.

Upland Sandpiper.

Note Central crown stripe and thin neck.

Wilsons Snipe.

Common Snipe.

Wilsons Snipe.

Very close Greenshank.

Black Redstart.

Grey Phalarope at Reculver

I was lucky enough to see this stunning Grey Phalarope at Cold harbour Reculver on Saturday 8th October , it showed really well and did not seem bothered at all by the closeness of fellow birders .

Pennington Marsh

Bairds Sandpiper.

I went  to Pennington Marshes in Hampshire on Saturday 17th , my main target bird was this really smart Bairds Sandpiper .

Neat breast band was very  visible.

Primary feathers extend beyond tail.

Supercillium was prominent .

The Bairds Sandpiper was smaller than the nearby Dunlin , a really smart bird to observe , feeding constantly and showing very close at times , all the waders were spooked by a Kestrel which flew through the area where they were feeding , all the waders took to flight and the dark central tail feathers were easily seen on the Bairds Sandpiper. This is the fourth Bairds i have seen and by far the best view i have had of one. 

I headed of in the general direction the Bairds Sandpiper had flown of to and despite scanning various parts of the estuary drawing  a blank , i decided to head back to the original pool i had first seen it in and on my way there i noticed a gathering of birders checking out some bushes and i was informed that yesterdays Wryneck had been re found but was being very elusive , however i had only been there for a couple of minutes when the  Wryneck  was picked out sitting in a slow bush , i had  really great views of this wonderful bird and i never tire of seeing them. 

Wryneck.

After i had my fill of these great birds i headed of to the nearby Normandy marsh where there had been a report of a Grey Phalarope , i arrived on site and was soon enjoying really good views of this smart wader feeding in its usual circular motion.

Grey Phalarope.

Other birds of note here included a juv. Curlew Sandpiper , plus up to 3 Greenshanks , Black and Bar tailed Godwit , several Turnstone , Ringed Plover and Dunlin , i also en counted at least 3 Kingfishers here .

With time against me i headed for home  , however i had just enough time to call into Thorny to check out news of a Sabine's Gull but my luck run out with this one , i did add Common Sandpiper , Little Egret and Sandwich Tern  plus  several Yellow Wagtails flying around the nearby cattle .

Sandwich Tern.

                 

Little Bittern....Titchwell

Juvenile Little Bittern.

A trip to Titchwell rspb reserve  on Saturday 10th was amazing , i was hoping to connect with 3 target birds , Little Bittern , Cattle Egret and Buff - Breasted Sandpiper and i was not disappointed , i started of first for the Little Bittern which had been seen briefly the day before and only in flight before i got there , so i thought my chances were pretty slim to be honest.

Well i could not believe my luck , i had only just settled along side the large gathered fellow birders when it appeared more or less right in front of us , what a really smart bird , it was just creeping along the reeds slowly giving us all some excellent views , in the rush of birders desperate to see it my coat and scope were lost in the crowd ( i did find them later ...lol ) being a bit short i was struggling to see over the reeds to get a better view but eventually it appeared right out in the open whilst it was moving through the reeds .

Another view of the Little Bittern.

I watched this bird for a good length of time before it moved out of sight , this was  the first one i have seen since the eighties !!! I decided to move on to see if i could re locate the Cattle Egret which i needed for the year list ,  i walked along the main track when i saw two birders getting excited setting up there scopes as i approached them and sure enough  they had re located the Cattle Egret  perched in the distant dead trees the Harriers normally use.

I then moved onto the new hide at Titchwell and was soon enjoying the Buff- Breasted Sandpiper , really like these birds unfortunately it was a bit to far for a photo but great views through the scope was seen , there were Redshank , Ruff and a really smart Spotted Redshank nearby , a really great visit.

I decided to have another  for the Little Bittern and would you believe it  once again i more or less saw it straight away , simply stunning .  I took a photo of this dragonfly , not sure what it is but very smart looking all the same .               

Migrant Hawker

After a little bit of research i believe the Dragonfly above is a Migrant Hawker .

                           

Bittern Feast

Juv. Bittern.

I had a very pleasant few hours this morning / early afternoon at Grove Ferry , i started of at the viewing ramp where there were approx. 250 Lapwing with equally large numbers of Teal , there were a scattering of Shoveler, Gadwall and Mallard among them , several Bearded Tits were " pinging " nearby giving glimpses here and there , then i picked out among the Lapwing a very elegant  Spotted Redshank , smart , from here i headed out to the Marsh hide in pursuit of the recently fledged Bitterns ,   i bumped into Steve Ashton and another couple of birders in the hide and we all enjoyed a couple of hours watching these delightful juvenile Bitterns .

Bittern.

These were great to see , and very interesting to observe , they were feeding well and and at one point the adult bird joined them with all 3 juvenile birds flying to her , the adult bird did not stay long before flying off over the path and out of sight , there were at least 2 Green Sandpipers around plus a Ruff flew into a distant pool , a Little Egret put in an appearance as did a couple of Grey Herons.

Grey Heron .

There were a couple of Common Snipe around plus several Stock Dove were seen over the adjacent fields , from the marsh hide i headed back to Harrisons hide for a quick look which did not produce anything to be honest , however i did see a Common Darter on the path .

Common Darter 

 A final look from the viewing ramp produced a single Black Tailed Godwit plus several Swallows over head and a Cetti's Warbler blasting away in the distance , a really enjoyable visit with good company and excellent  birds .