Lucy McRobert, formerly of the Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust, shares her expertise on what makes these islands a birdwatcher’s paradise.
Scilly’s position on the wild Atlantic edge has made it mecca for birdwatchers since the 1960s. This island chain is perfectly located to capture American species swept across the Atlantic by powerful fast-moving depressions and the jet stream, Siberian species that come over the top of the UK and even cold northerlies can bring geese, ducks, finches and buntings in the autumn and winter.
Image: A good spot to bird-watch: Deep Point, St. Mary's
Whilst over 450 species of birds have been recorded on Scilly, only around 50 bird species breed on the islands. Many of those that do benefit from traditional farming methods, a lack of disturbance, few predators and obliging tearooms. Birds that are declining elsewhere in the UK, like song thrushes and house sparrows, seemingly thrive on the Isles of Scilly. Garden birds like blackbirds, wrens, robins and dunnocks belt out their song from late winter, creating a long and beautiful dawn chorus that can be heard from February until June. An early morning wander in the sunshine to one of the quieter spots on the islands can deliver an orchestra of warblers, thrushes, chats, tits and finches.
Image: Puffins can be seen from late April to early August
We are lucky to have several shorebirds on Scilly year-round, including oystercatchers and ringed plovers. Oystercatchers and other shorebirds are highly vulnerable to disturbance from dogs, walkers and other forms of recreation; they declined by 27% between 2006 and 2015. As such, the Trust is working across the archipelago to give them the best chance of raising their young successfully. They are currently raising funds to protect even more shorebirds; find out more about the appeal here.
Image: Annet is one of the uninhabited islands in the Isles of Scilly and holds a special place as a haven for wildlife, particularly seabirds
A walk around headlands will turn up attractive spring migrants including northern wheatears, ring ouzels and whinchats. The spring can also strike big for a rarity or two. In 2021, a rock thrush was found near the airport on St. Mary’s, and 2020 and 2023 saw lesser kestrels (normally found from the Mediterranean across to central Asia) on St. Mary’s. 2018 saw a one-day visit from a belted kingfisher. 2021 was a lively year for spotting ostentatious hoopoes from mainland Europe, whilst a dazzling bee-eaters occasionally turn up, too, including a flock of twelve in July of this year. In June 2021, Scilly saw the first sighting in 150 years of an Egyptian vulture, being described as a ‘once-in-a-century bird’.
Image: Birds flocking to our shores
As the summer kicks in, attention switches from the land to the sea. Any boat trip out is rarely a wasted opportunity to enjoy marine bird species. Thirteen species of seabird breed on and around the archipelago, totalling about 20,000 birds, including Manx shearwaters, puffins, razorbills, kittiwakes and storm petrels. An island-wide seabird survey has taken place this year, to count every seabird nest on Scilly, results of which will be available in a few months. You can join pelagic trips further out to sea (or keep an eye out on Scillonian III) to see rarer non-breeding seabirds like Cory’s, great and sooty shearwaters, great skuas (‘pirates of the sky’) or occasionally Sabine’s gulls from America. Scillonian waters remain the best place to see Wilson’s storm petrels, a tiny seabird that breeds in Antarctica!
Image: Peninnis Lighthouse, St. Mary's
Autumn sees the big influx of birders from across the UK, keen to find and see some of the rarities that end up on Scilly during peak migration. In 2022, Scilly hit birding headlines when a Blackburnian warbler was found on Bryher, staying for sixteen days. This was the first sighting of this American warbler in England. Other recent rarities include a black-and-white warbler, two Swainson’s thrushes and an indigo bunting, all from America, as well as red-eyed vireos, white-rumped sandpiper, yellow-billed cuckoos, buff-bellied pipits, grey-cheeked thrush, and even a quiet day can turn up both common and scare migrants, like wrynecks, redstarts, yellow-browed warblers or little buntings.
Image: the Isles of Scilly is a magnet for Warblers
There are six birdwatching hides on Scilly: two on Tresco Great Pool, two at Lower Moors and two at Porth Hellick on St. Mary’s. The Parsonage on St. Agnes is a reliable autumn site for red-breasted flycatchers, as well as warblers like yellow-browed or Pallas’. Weedy fields often hide a scarce or rare bunting or pipit. Wooded areas on the Garrison can turn up similar species, as well as Little Arthur Farm on St. Martin’s. Inland water bodies are good for migrant wildfowl and wading birds; Porth Hellick Pool and Lower Moors on St. Mary’s, the Great Pool and Abbey Pool on Tresco.
