ISLES OF SCILLY for birders

SAT 7 OCTOBER – SAT 14 OCTOBER 2023

SAT 12 OCTOBER – SAT 19 OCTOBER 2024

PRICES: from £2095pp

Single supplement: £195 Deposit: £300pp

Max 14 clients with leaders Toby Green & Barry Embling

Steeped in birding folklore the Isles of Scilly are one of the ‘must visit’ places in the UK. Shallow waters, golden sands and a climate often more akin to the Mediterranean, it’s a fabulous place to be when birds are on the move. The Scillies are in prime position to receive migrants heading south and also storm driven vagrants from all directions. Birders visiting the islands since the 70’s have been responsible for finding a number of ‘British firsts’ particularly those of Nearctic origin. We will be especially flexible and our daily activities will depend largely on up to date bird news. We will do our best to follow up on sightings as and when they happen but at the same time, we’ll select a different island to explore daily so as to see as much of the Scillies as possible during your holiday. Our guides are experienced here and will choose the best time to visit St Mary’s, St Agnes, Tresco, St Martin’s and Bryher, in order to make the most of the weather and bird news on any given day.

The birdwatching can be fantastic and with a roll call of such ‘megas’ from previous Octobers including Blyth’s Pipit, Dusky Thrush, Caspian Stonechat, Pallid Swift, Yellowbilled Cuckoo, Red-flanked Bluetail, multiple Red Eyed Vireos, Blackburnian Warbler, Eastern Yellow Wagtail, Sora, American Herring Gull, Caspian Tern plus Britain’s second Pale-legged/Sakhalin Leaf Warbler we’ll be hoping for something special on our next trip. Prevailing weather dictates which rare/scarce birds arrive, no one year is the same. Solitary Sandpiper, Cream-coloured Courser, Snowy Owl, Wryneck, Little Bunting, Richard’s, Red-throated, Olive-backed and Buff-bellied Pipit, Yellow-browed, Blackpoll, Barred and Melodious Warbler are among the regularly recorded scarcities.

General birding will expect us to encounter up to 100 species of a wide variety from seabirds, to migrating waders, wildfowl and gulls. We’ll see plenty of passerines and landbirds on their way south plus regular scarcities. It’s a holiday where truly anything is possible!

Number of centres: 1.