This may be the highlight of my #Scilly trip. I took a moth trap and caught some nice migrants (more later) but I was lucky to be able to see an amazing duo of death's head hawk moths caught yesterday on St. Mary's. My most wanted moth species by far ... Wow wow wow 🥰😱💀

End of a great week on Scillies with Matt Hall & Matt Hobbs. No yanks but some nice team finds of ortolan, Richard’s pipit, apparent sib lesser whitethroat & snow bunt, then a bonus red-throated pipit that flew over us at Lands End before the drive home! We’ll be back…

Plus great to see issy wheatear, black kite, 2 OBP, ST lark, hoopoe, 4 wryneck, rosy starling, RB shrike, dotterel, 10+ YBW, 10+ firecrest, hawfinch, barnacle & PF goose, whooper swan, RB merg, spoonbill, osprey, 5 pied fly, 2 black red and a nice array of seabirds @scillybirds

And bonus views of a gorgeous convulvulus hawk moth in Matt Hobbs’s trap, and the northern lights!

Got back from Scilly on Friday - Ebird trip report is here - ebird.org/tripreport/284… - 121 species total. A few more highlights to share. Scillonian Cory's on 4th were really nice, 137 seen and a flock of 27 chough over the harbour the highlights

Finding an ortolan on Penninis within an hour of getting off the boat on 4th was pretty special and I caught up with it or another with Matt Hall and Oscar Dewhurst at the Airfield on 7th @scillybirds

The red-backed shrike at the Standing Stones field, St. Mary's showed best for me on 4th but was present throughout @scillybirds

6th October was dominated somewhat by the tawny pipit on St. Mary's airfield but I got a few shots of other nice birds - jack snipe, greenshank, hobby shown here @scillybirds

The juv. little tern that was touring the bays in the south of St. Mary's was probably the rarest bird I saw in the context of Scilly - also on 6th @scillybirds

The 7th was about moths with a good migrant night on St. Mary's. My first self-caught Convulvulus HM with other nice arrivals* (Radford's, delicate, scarce bordered straw, fs footman etc.) were exciting enough but eclipsed by something more sinister caught elsewhere 💀

Also on 7th the only red-breasted flycatcher of the trip at Sandy Lane/Holy Vale (in very dark/high ISO conditions). This bird disappeared later to be replaced by 5+ pied, 6+ spotted fly and 2 YBW during a very entertaining last hour of the day @scillybirds

On 9th our first (of 4) wryneck of the trip at Old Town followed by a trip to Bryher and highlights of hoopoe, whooper swan and 16 barnacle goose @scillybirds

10th October was a great day with 1, then 2 olive-backed pipit found on St. Agnes. A walk around Gugh and some other parts of the island then produced 2 wryneck, YBW, sibe lesser whitethroat, pink-footed goose and black redstart @scillybirds

Final post about Scilly. 11th was my last day. We went to the north of St. Mary's then all the way back for an isabelline wheatear 😂Then I had to run up a hill to see a black kite while packing - and also managed shots of a cheeky black red and lovely HB hawkmoth. Phew...

Another big big day of woodpigeon passage at the Severn bottleneck near Portskewett (Gwent) this morning. 231,310 flew SW/S before 11 am with 140k in one hour. Pretty hectic counting on my own this time - not much time for good pics 😃 #gwentbirds Clive McKay

Male firecrest from Blaise, Bristol yesterday. Merry Xmas everyone ❤️‍🔥BristolBirding

Female bearded tit at Chew Valley Lake this morning in the frost BristolBirding

Great northern diver (common loon) at Barrow Tanks this afternoon BristolBirding

The very lovely pair of glossy ibis near Chew Magna yesterday. First set of shots in the sun BristolBirding #avonbirds

And the second set of shots of glossy ibis near Chew Magna yesterday - this time with the sun in but very close - I had to walk backwards to get them in shot !! BristolBirding #Avonbirds