Icky dip number 9 - Scilly

If you read my previous post just a few weeks ago about my latest Icterine Warbler dip then you'll know how frustrating this species is for me. We arrived on Scilly to news that there was a long staying (c 2 weeks) individual in and around the camp site, which was proving difficult for many to catch up with. One birder we spoke to who as staying on the camp site had failed to connect despite it being reported 4 days in a row and him spending a lot of time looking for it. Anyway, to cut a long and predictable story short, over the course of the following week we (me, Hawky, Dick and Tony) tried for the bird on about half a dozen occasions to no avail. Nothing. Zip. On the Tuesday evening we decided to take a pelagic trip. As we chugged out of the harbour, I overheard one of the locals on the boat saying after his pager beeped " I see the Icky is showing at Lower Broom on The Garrison". I was prob less than 400 yards from the bird, but on a boat and heading out in to the Atlantic Ocean! Over the next hour or so the inevitable messages came through on the pager that the Icky was now STILL SHOWING XXXXING WELL on The Garrison, where it stayed, performing well all evening. Sticking two fingers up at me somewhere out at sea. Guess where I was at first light the following day? Guess what wasn't there! The Icky was not reported again all week.