The last Cornish fling.... and what a cracker!

After our day on the Scillies, Matt and I decided to have a wander around the valleys the next morning in an attempt to find a Yellow-browed Warbler that had been hanging around in the Cot Valley which was just behind the hostel. After an hour checking the bushes next to the allotments where it was meant to be bore no reward, and when Ray called over from the other side of the valley saying that it was up towards the top end the other side of the youth hostel, Matt and I decided to go and try up that way before heading off for breakfast in St. Just. Unfortunately with no sign we gave up, but planned to head down Kenidjack Valley after getting something to eat to look for another Yellow-browed that had been seen there the day before.

Walking down to the 'last house', the was movement in all of the bushes.... mostly from common migrants like Blackbirds and Robins, but there were the odd Goldcrest and Chiffchaff in amongst the tit flocks so it seemed like there had been a bit of movement.

Down at the last house checking through the sallows, it wasn't long before we picked out the Yellow-browed Warbler zipping here there and everywhere. It showed really well, but never completely out in the open which is pretty typical for this species which had made it to the UK all the way from Siberia!

I didn't manage to get any photos of this one as it was constantly hidden away. We continued to watch the bird for 20 minutes as well as a cracking male Firecrest that was in the same bushes before we started to head off as we'd heard that a Red-breasted Flycatcher had been found in 60 foot cover at Porthgwarra. As we turned our backs, Ray, who had met us down the valley to look at his 2nd (possibly 3rd) Yellow-browed of the day shouted out.... "RBF!!!!".... We shot back but it had vanished into the thick cover in the garden. Another wait, but thankfully it wasn't long before the bird flew out and into the sallows where the warbler had been. It was a pretty flighty bird, always looking pretty shy, but it did show well through the branches at times.

Red-breasted Flycatcher (Ficedula parva)

We watched it for a while until it zipped over our heads and back into the garden.... at that point we decided to go and check Nanquidno for another Yellow-browed that was showing pretty well. As we arrived there and as soon as we got out we could hear it calling in the bushes by the car park. A matter of moment later we were watching this little cracker hopping around picking insects off the branches.

Yellow-browed Warbler (Phylloscopus inornatus)

Yellow-browed Warbler (Phylloscopus inornatus)

As the light was beginning to dim, we thought it was time to go back to the hostel for a cuppa. On arriving at the hostel, I stuck the kettle on and had a look on the Cornwall Birding website. Glaring at me on the screen were the following words:

St. Levan - ***MEGA*** ***SCARLET TANAGER*** reported at 1300-1430hrs SSE of Polgigga at St. Levan, SW of church in pear tree at Grey Gables.

I think my response was something along the lines of............ "Holy *@!# Matt...... GET THE *@!# IN THE CAR".......... We grabbed our stuff and sprinted to the car..... the light was going, maybe an hour left, so I made my way towards St. Levan. Why is it though that, when you are in a rush, for some reason, life decides to put the slowest, most ridiculously poor drivers in front of you??? It never happens when you DO want to be late for something...... Anyway, after a frustrating drive to St. Levan we arrived to find the usual suspects already crowded into the lane by the church. There was no sign. No idea about the bird either.... who'd seen it... why the news had only bot out at 5pm even though the website message had said it had been seen at 1pm...... We all waited, hoping that the bird would show before it went dark but we were all to be disappointed. Nothing. We decided to come back for first light with the hope that it ha just gone to roost and that it would still be around somewhere.

When back at the hostel I did some research on Scarlet Tanager, listened to it's call, looked at the plumages and then had a look how many times the species had turned up in Britain. This bird was only the 8th record over in Britain and Ireland and only the 2nd on British Mainland, the previous bird a first winter male seen for one day in Nanquidno on the 11th October 1981.... before I was born!

The next morning we were there at 7am along with no more than 30 others including a couple of guys that had travelled overnight from Essex. I was pretty surprised as I thought for such a mega-rare bird there would be more of a crowd. We guessed that if it was still here, only when it was first reported would people make their way down.... a brave choice.

As it became lighter, more and more finches were moving around.... Chaffinches and Linnets passing through overhead. 8am.... still no sign. I said to Matt that it would be a good idea to have a check around in other places but after another hour it was beginning to look increasingly bad. The only hope was that it wasn't showing as the sun wasn't out.... We waited longer... a cameo from a Merlin flashing after finches above us was a welcome sight to take our minds off the tanager.

9.30am..... still no sign..... I decided to take a walk to the bottom end of the garden.... why not... everybody else was watching the pear tree in what seemed like vain hope..... So Matt and I went down the footpath and stood by the gate at the end. "Chip-burr"......What was that?...... "Chip-burr"...... "@*!#....... IT'S HERE.....IT'S RIGHT @*!#ING HERE ABOVE US!" I screamed at Matt...... a desperate matter of seconds (which seemed like forever) until finally we picked it out on top of the trees right next to us...... I couldn't believe it. Dave Parker had given me a radio just in case we found it so I grabbed it out of my pocket...... He must have thought I was mental.... simple gibberish was flowing out of my mouth..... a constant tide of utter rubbish as I tried to contain my excitement about having got the bird next to us. Thankfully, Dave and the rest didn't need any direction.... they'd seen it fly across and land in the trees and were watching it back from the road...... I grabbed my camera and held down the shutter....... click, click, click, click, click........... grey background.... crap..... change settings...... click, click, click, click, click..... better...... I looked through my bins at it.... it's canary yellow shining out, the heavy bill and dark wings. Brilliant. Absolutely awesome. It perched up for only a few minute before flying back over our heads and towards the Grey Gables garden.

I checked my camera...... YOU. BEAUTY....... we went back and saw the crowd walking back down the road, each one with beaming smiles.... ''Get any shots?''..... Just a few...... and here they are.... what a cracking bird.

Scarlet Tanager (Piranga olivacea)

Scarlet Tanager (Piranga olivacea)

After hanging around hoping that the bird would be re-found pretty quickly we realised that this wasn't going to be the case. With the news having been put out, there was a steady stream of people arriving at the site now with the knowledge that the bird was indeed still present. This made our decision nice and easy - to do one before bedlam ensued. So we said our goodbyes and made our way back to the car which we'd left at Porthgwarra to head down to Kenidjack again for another look for the RB Fly and the YB Warbler.

We got down as far as the RB Fly, but as it was showing pretty well and the light had suddenly come good with a bit of sunshine we stayed with it until we had to leave.... unfortunately time constraints meant we had to go by 1pm. Fortunately we were there long enough to get some decent shots and watch it flitting around the bushes catching insects which was great, it had turned out to be a cracking day.

Red-breasted Flycatcher (Ficedula parva)

Red-breasted Flycatcher (Ficedula parva)

Later on we found out that the Tanager was only seen very briefly again in flight by Royston (who'd already seen it in the morning), and subsequently vanished not to be seen again that night.... in the morning there was another large crowd, but they were to be disappointed also as the skies were perfectly clear overnight and the bird decided to make a short(ish) trip across to Scillies where it was seen for a couple of hours, then doing its disappearing act again and now (it seems) has completely gone. So, I don't know how many people got it on Scillies, definitely Tom McKinney (who's superb account of it can be read here), Martin Goodey, Spyder and probably a couple of others at least will have done, but it means that only 30 ish people managed to connect on the mainland. A pity, as it was such a cracker, but that's birding for you.