Isles of Scilly - Day Six

The best day of the trip.  The day started clear and mild and that's how it remained for much of the day.

After a fruitless walk around the Garrison, I headed to the quay for the short trip across to St Agnes.

The Greenish Warbler from the day before was still present and showed brilliantly in the sunlight, flitting along the tops of the laurel bushes, dashing into pines, and calling a couple of times.  A very strong mono-syllabic 'sweet'.  Very Pipit-esque.

A Firecrest was also present here.

Shortly after I thankfully bumped into David Bradshaw and proceeded to walk down to see the juvenile Red-backed Shrike that was equally as showy.

He kindly invited me back to his digs at Porth Killier joined by Jamie Partridge sitting in the warm sun in almost exactly the same spot four years ago on my first visit to the Isles.  That time it was shortly after a serious flare-up of my UC.  The visit to the Scillies had expedited my recovery immeasurably.  The moment felt perfect then as it did now.

And while we sat lamenting the dismal autumn for avian vagrancy, a 1st year Common Redstart flew in and sat briefly on the garden washing line before dashing into cover.  Things like this happen on the Scillies.

The visit to St. Agnes was all too brief, a lazy walk back to the quay, and back onto St. Mary's.

It was just nice pottering around for a bit.  A quick look into some of the craft shops, and then back onto the beaten track.

This Whinchat posed beautifully at the Dump Clump in the warm late afternoon sunshine as did this striking Red Admiral butterfly.

A Spotted Flycatcher was present in the old town churchyard.

The young Merlin that had been in the area for much of the week landed on a rooftop near Porth Mellon beach.  

Then onto the beach where this juvenile Black Redstart was present along with a Common Redstart.

A great way to end the last full day with a hint of sadness beginning to creep in of the impending return back to the mainland.