Shetland Vs Scilly 2010 (1 Viewer)

[timmyjones]

So its October again, and everyone has been talking about Shetland as overtaking Scilly as the place to be at this time of the year. So as a bored teenager what else would I do but decide to put some facts to this statement!

So I developed a crude points system where a scarce gets 1 point, a rare 2 points and a mega 3 points all done according to the Birdguides system. Birds reported as probable or possible aren't included until nailed.

So the scores for the last 2 days.

Shetland 124. 100 Scarce, 9 Rare and 2 Mega.
Scilly 8. 6 Scarce and 1 Rare.

Obviously I have tried my best to avoid scoring points for multiple birds, but when there is 47 Yellow-browed Warblers in Shetland it might not be 100% accurate but I have tried my best.

Will be interesting to see how this pans out, will Scilly catch up with Shetland?

And yes I know Shetland is a lot bigger than Scilly but its what comparisons are being made between.

 

[lewis20126]

Tim

Thinks someone did something like this last year on here - worth checking out some old threads. I'm sure Shetland won (as Scilly is now officially crap)

cheers, alan

 

[rokermartin]

SHETLAND IS WINNING AGAIN THIS AUTUMN.It has done for the last few years.

 

[AlanR]

The first Bird Forum member I've found via Twitter.
Alan

 

[MPG]

If you had been in Scilly during September 2010 you could have seen, amongst the normal early autumn migrants the following.-

Balearic Shearwater, Long-tailed Skua, Sabine’s Gull, Spoonbill, Montagu's Harrier, Spotted Crake, Corn crake, Pectoral sandpiper, Buff-breasted sandpiper, Spotted sandpiper, Wilson's phalarope, Wryneck, Citrine wagtail, Yellow-browed, Greenish, Barred, Icterine and Melodious warbler, lesser grey Shrike, Common Rosefinch and Ortolan Bunting.

Yeah Scilly's crap. Wish I lived in Oxfordshire or......

 

[lewis20126]

If you had been in Scilly during September 2010 you could have seen, amongst the normal early autumn migrants the following.-

Balearic Shearwater, Long-tailed Skua, Sabine’s Gull, Spoonbill, Montagu's Harrier, Spotted Crake, Corn crake, Pectoral sandpiper, Buff-breasted sandpiper, Spotted sandpiper, Wilson's phalarope, Wryneck, Citrine wagtail, Yellow-browed, Greenish, Barred, Icterine and Melodious warbler, lesser grey Shrike, Common Rosefinch and Ortolan Bunting.

Yeah Scilly's crap. Wish I lived in Oxfordshire or......

A pleasant day out on St Marys in the mid 1980s!

a

 

[dogfish]

Of course people who know anything about Scilly (which disqualifies quite a few on Birdforum) know the season hasn't started yet

 

[dave123]

Of course people who know anything about Scilly (which disqualifies quite a few on Birdforum) know the season hasn't started yet

no its starts on the 16th october when i get there:t:

 

[timmyjones]

Will be interesting to see how this pans out, will Scilly catch up with Shetland?

Of course people who know anything about Scilly (which disqualifies quite a few on Birdforum) know the season hasn't started yet

Ya'know

 

[Jos Stratford]

I developed a crude points system where a scarce gets 1 point, a rare 2 points and a mega 3 points all done according to the Birdguides system.

Dropping nouns in favour of 'hip' adjectives, that's a pretty crude system

 

[timmyjones]

Dropping nouns in favour of 'hip' adjectives, that's a pretty crude system

Crude in more than one way it seems!

Todays scores,
Shetland +30.
Scilly +3.

Overall

Shetland 154. 119 Scarce, 13 Rare and 3 Mega
Scilly 11. 9 Scarce and 1 Rare.

Remember October has 31 days 8-P

 

[timmyjones]

Oh dear only minus points for Shetland this morning!

-5 Points for PG Tips into Gropper and Lancey into Gropper but then +1 for Booted into Sykes's!

 

[dogfish]

Oh dear only minus points for Shetland this morning!

-5 Points for PG Tips into Gropper and Lancey into Gropper but then +1 for Booted into Sykes's thats if it is a Sykes's!

Schoolboy errors. But I have always regarded Shetland as rather dude compared to Scilly
Sean

 

[Cortonbirds]

if Scilly doesnt start until mid month....then why did i see the following during my visit in the first week of October 1996....2 Buff-belied Pipit, Rock Thrush, Black and White Warbler, 2 Bobolink, Red-eyed Vireo, Black Duck, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Short-toed Lark, American Golden Plover, Pec Sand, Little Bunting, Ortolan Bunting, Hordes of scarce like YBW, Melodious Warbler, Wrynecks, Richards Pipit, Crakes etc....and this was only an average year btw in those days.

There is no doubt really that Scilly has quietened down remarkably..but...is this really due to shifting waether patterns..or is it due to the number of birders on site..im not sure.

 

[Paul Higson]

Late September 1975 - Black and White Warbler, Scarlet Tanager and Yellow bellied Sapsucker on the same day, and only c.50 folk on the Isles...

Aaah, nostalgia isn't what it used to be...

Cheers,

Paul

 

[GoldenI]

If you had been in Scilly during September 2010 you could have seen, amongst the normal early autumn migrants the following.-

Balearic Shearwater, Long-tailed Skua, Sabine’s Gull, Spoonbill, Montagu's Harrier, Spotted Crake, Corn crake, Pectoral sandpiper, Buff-breasted sandpiper, Spotted sandpiper, Wilson's phalarope, Wryneck, Citrine wagtail, Yellow-browed, Greenish, Barred, Icterine and Melodious warbler, lesser grey Shrike, Common Rosefinch and Ortolan Bunting.

Yeah Scilly's crap. Wish I lived in Oxfordshire or......

The highlighted species have all been recorded in the Midlands so far this autumn which is not bad going considering it's largely ignored by birders who head for coastal hotpsots.......

 

[thenorthernmonkey]

Tim

Thinks someone did something like this last year on here - worth checking out some old threads. I'm sure Shetland won (as Scilly is now officially crap)

cheers, alan

Some-one produced a bar chart for the UK for October last year. Think it may have been the Liecester Llama.

The West Midlands finished higher than Cornwall/ Scilly. The South West was worse than crap

 

[rokermartin]

if Scilly doesnt start until mid month....then why did i see the following during my visit in the first week of October 1996....2 Buff-belied Pipit, Rock Thrush, Black and White Warbler, 2 Bobolink, Red-eyed Vireo, Black Duck, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Short-toed Lark, American Golden Plover, Pec Sand, Little Bunting, Ortolan Bunting, Hordes of scarce like YBW, Melodious Warbler, Wrynecks, Richards Pipit, Crakes etc....and this was only an average year btw in those days.

There is no doubt really that Scilly has quietened down remarkably..but...is this really due to shifting waether patterns..or is it due to the number of birders on site..im not sure.

Many of the american warblers years ago used to found late september and early October for eg

Magnolia Warbler 27.9.81
Blackburian Warbler 7.10.88
N.Waterthrush 29.9.82
Hooded Warbler 20.9.70
Chestnut S Warbler 20.9.85
Tennesse Warbler 24.9.75
Commom Yellowthroat 2.10.84
As for Scilly there's certainly less birders going there now.My mates were on last October for a week.They said there were only about 250 birders there.Compare that to a few years back when there used to be a 1000+ birders staying there.

 

[dogfish]

Numbers of most American warblers (and other species) are in steep decline, probably because of habitat destruction on their wintering grounds. I recommend Russell Slack's 'Rare Birds: Where and When' for the figures on the declines for each species.
I think this is why Scilly gets fewer American landbirds. Maybe weather patterns play a part, and on big islands with lots of cover, more birders will find more birds. I would guess peak numbers would be about 300 this year, which makes the birding more enjoyable than in the crowded years, but we probably miss a few rarities.
(Incidentally, I hope the comparison with Shetland does not include the very distant Fair Isle, cos that would be unfair).
I'm on Scilly from tomorrow, and my gut feeling is that the weather patterns that have produced unusually high numbers of juvenile American waders this autumn might produce one or two good American landbirds.
And the forecast strong SE winds in the next week could be good for Eurasian warblers, as they were in 2006. (Last year was unusually terrible by the way, so don't read too much into that).

Here's hoping good birds are found, north-east, south-west, and everywhere else. And now the Punkbirders have 'discovered' Scilly (see Birdwatch mag) anything is possible there

Sean

 

[Perry Smale]

Many of the american warblers years ago used to found late september and early October for eg

Magnolia Warbler 27.9.81
Blackburian Warbler 7.10.88
N.Waterthrush 29.9.82
Hooded Warbler 20.9.70
Chestnut S Warbler 20.9.85
Tennesse Warbler 24.9.75
Commom Yellowthroat 2.10.84
As for Scilly there's certainly less birders going there now.My mates were on last October for a week.They said there were only about 250 birders there.Compare that to a few years back when there used to be a 1000+ birders staying there.

But note that Blackburnian, Chestnut-sided and Tennessee haven't been recorded from Scilly - maybe this'll be the year for Scilly to strike back in style.