Isles of Scilly – October 2025

Run in collaboration with our sister brand New Horizons Wildlife, our new holiday to the Isles of Scilly was a great success with the group enjoying a very pleasant week on the islands led by guide Christopher Hall.

The tour was based at the extremely comfortable St Mary’s Hall Hotel which is one of the premier hotels on the islands, with the group enjoying delicious gourmet dinners every evening and very comfortable accommodation.

The birding was very successful with over 90 species recorded during the week including England’s first ever record of Mourning Dove. This lost individual had seemingly been blown across the Atlantic from North America a few days beforehand and whilst it had initially been extremely difficult to see, by the time our group arrived on the islands, the bird had become faithful to a property where it could seen with the farmyard chickens (and local Collared Doves and House Sparrows) in feasting on grain.

On the first full day of the holiday, the group enjoyed a wildlife cruise around the outer islands of the archipelago seeing Spoonbills, Black-necked Grebe and Mediterranean Gulls before heading out to the Bishop Rock Lighthouse where several Purple Sandpipers were almost within touching distance!

The afternoon of the same day saw everyone enjoying the aforementioned Mourning Dove on St Agnes, as well as a Spotted Sandpiper and a Hoopoe which was extremely tame and showed at very close range.

A subsequent and second visit to St Agnes produced a single Lapland Bunting, as well as a Little Bunting, and another North American vagrant, a Buff-bellied Pipit.

Back on Saint Mary’s, everyone had amazingly close views of several Jack Snipe, which showed really well whilst often bobbing on the spot, and these were voted ‘Bird of the Trip’ by half of the participants.

The group also had some amazing luck on Bryher, firstly with a posing Wryneck and then with a very unexpected Stone Curlew, which showed well on a beach as well as in flight, just minutes away from the Wryneck!

The highlight of the return sailing from St Mary’s to Penzance was about 15 Great Shearwaters sailing alongside the ship, close enough to show their features, such as black bills and dark caps contrasting with a white collar.

Thanks to a combination of the dry weather, some impressive sightings, a lovely hotel serving excellent meals, it had been a very enjoyable and fruitful trip and we plan to return in 2026 so if you are interested please contact the office for further details.