While the beaches empty of people during the autumn and winter months, I become a more frequent visitor. I love the coast during these seasons as there’s plenty of wildlife to spot if you know where to look.
Earlier this month I was in the Isles of Scilly. It was a delayed trip from April and I felt very grateful to be able to visit after this turbulent year. Nature is such a balm and there is an abundance of it on the islands.
The Isles of Scilly form the smallest Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in the UK and have their own Wildlife Trust. There are 140 islands, five of which are inhabited, which provide a safe haven for wildlife and the warmer climate means a variety of native and non-native flora and fauna thrive together.
Porthcressa beach
My first stop on arrival at St Mary’s island was Porthcressa beach which lies on the south side of Hugh Town. This quickly became a favourite spot for wildlife spotting and swimming.
Firstly curious rock pipits hopped quite close, almost within touching distance. These curious birds were light brown and a similar size to a sparrow.
Next up were three ducks waddling along the beach, greeting each group of visitors in turn before moving on to the next. The Porthcressa sea ducks even have their own Facebook page, and according to this, moved in during the winter of 2015-6 and stayed.
The islands have extra visitors during the Autumn months when migrating birds stop off on the way to warmer climes and you can spot storm petrels, Manx shearwaters, and cormorants to name a few. I didn’t spot any rarities but enjoyed my daily sightings of gulls and turnstones at Porthcressa beach.
I’d spot the turnstones daintily tiptoeing along the beach at the water’s edge where they looked for food under rocks and stones. They looked black and white from a distance, with orange legs, but a closer look through binoculars revealed them to have a more mottled colouring.
They also liked to swoop across the sea, which startled me a few times when I was swimming as they seemed to fly very close to my head.
Changing season
Walking around St Mary’s I could see the colours of summer were giving way to more autumnal hues but there were still dabs of pinks and purples in the landscape. In the coastal heathland were colours from some of the heathers and sea thrift not quite gone, and in the town sea asters were dotted around, with tall agapanthus mostly gone to seed but the odd ones still in flower.
There were also blackberries ripening along the cliff paths, alongside bushes filled with rosehips.
There was still a lot of green from the succulents growing on stone walls and in gardens. I visited a garden centre in Cornwall a few weeks before this trip and looked at little succulents in tiny pots. These were the opposite, very large specimens, and down to the temperate climate where they thrive.
Tresco
A visit to the islands wouldn’t be complete without a trip to Tresco to see the abbey gardens which are a sub topical haven for 20,000 plants from more than 80 countries. They were established by Augustus Smith in the 19th century around the ruins of a Benedictine Abbey.
The gardens are split in different areas, and I could write several articles about the splendour of the landscaped terraces but for now I’ll stick to my highlights.
One was the Protea on the top terrace with a striking large flowerhead, which originated from South Africa. Another highlight was the red admiral butterfly. Usually they are too quick to photograph so I was delighted to be able to snap a few shots of this one.
My favourite sighting was the red squirrels. Twenty of them were re-homed here in 2013 and have since grown in numbers. A feeding station had been set up near the entrance to the gardens and I could have stayed all day watching their antics.
Grey seals
Porthcressa had a final surprise to offer at the end of my stay in the form of two seals. There’s a colony of Atlantic grey seals on the Eastern Isles and their breeding season is during the Autumn.
I was at Morning Point Battery, walking along the old Garrison walls, which was a perfect vantage point for spotting two heads bobbing around the entrance to the bay.
This was my second visit to the Isles of Scilly and it still didn’t seem long enough to explore the natural beauty of the islands.
During October ‘Wild Scilly’ is taking place which includes wildlife walks and talks, plus the St Mary’s Boatman’s Association is running tours of the Eastern Isles to see seals and seabirds.
Visit www.visitislesofscilly.com for more information on Wild Scilly events.
© Gillian Adams, October 2020