Scillies Daytrip

I used to live on The Scillies a few years back. It's a place that holds a great many happy (often drunken) memories for me and so, seeing as I was in Cornwall with time to kill, I booked myself a day return ticket on the Scillonian and headed back for a whistle-stop tour of some of the finer plants to be found on St Marys. I had something like five hours ashore, hence very little time to waste. I sketched out a rough plan of attack and boarded the Scillonian III. As soon as she left the quayside, I found myself a spot on the open deck and began scanning for seabirds and cetaceans, all the while fine-tuning my botanical skirmish across Marys. 

The sea wasn't hugely busy with birdlife, a couple of Great Northern and a Red-throated Diver were picked up whilst still in Penzance Bay. Further out it was all about the auks with plenty of Manx Shearwaters to keep me entertained. Amongst the rafts of Guillemots and Razorbills I spied two Puffins, but no skuas or terns were to be seen. And with no seals or cetaceans sightings, mammal interest was restricted to bumping into Spider just as we were pulling into St Marys. Spider was freshly returned from several months swanning around in Kazakhstan, then across to Thailand, Vietnam, back to Kazakhstan and finally back to Ol' Blighty. I've known Spider almost forever and he quickly added me to various Scillonian WhatsApp groups with instructions to "keep in touch, man!"

My general route, with targets, was as follows (species in italics were successfully found):

Garrison - Cineraria, Four-leaved Allseed, Chasmanthe, Annual Buttonweed, Pot Marigold, Aeonium, Pale Dewplant, Scilly Pigmyweed, Giant Herb-Robert, Coprosma, Evergreen Spindle, Babington's Leek, Monterey Cypress, Tomato, New Zealand Flax, Rhodostachys

Hugh Town - Sweet Alison, Scillonian Giant Echium, Snapdragon, Seaside Daisy, two species of Osteospermum, other dewplants

Buzza Hill - Lesser Sea Fig, Wireplant, Silver-bush Everlasting

Tolmans - Tree Aeonium, various iris species, Western Clover, Sea Pea, both Pittosporum, Fennel, Tamarisk, Ake-ake, Red Crassula

Lower Moors - Eels in the ditch and Snipe at the hides, Toothed Fireweed, Intermediate Periwinkle

Rosehill - Kangaroo Fern, House Holly Fern

The Dump - Nasturtium, various galingales, tobaccos and exotic shrubs, German-ivy, Toothed Medick  

In all fairness, given that I've never been to Scillies in April before, I didn't do too badly. Here are a few of the plants from my Garrison Hitlist

Aeonium cuneatum doing its best to look like Triceratops 

Annual Buttonweed as a weed in a flowerbed

Aeonium cuneatum again, I just can't get enough of this incredible plant! 

Giant Herb-Robert. This plant is over five feet wide!

Chasmanthe - looking somewhat like a stately Montbretia

Pale Dewplant at Morning Point. I guess you could say it's doing alright for itself...

Karo Pittosporum crassifolium flower

This is a tremendous showing of Scilly Pigmyweed!

I was absolutely blown away at the number of plants in this colony

And more Chasmanthe. Just coz :) 

I first found Scilly Pigmyweed growing beside the rubbish bins in the Garrison Campsite back in 2016, a patch maybe 12ft by 2ft. At the time they were the first plants known away from the Telegraph area. But the plants shown above were growing a few hundred feet away from that site, along the track that runs between the campsite and the sea cadets hut, and growing for several tens of metres! From memory, there must now be more plants here on the Garrison than occurred at the original colony down by Telegraph. Quite amazing, presumably spread here by camper's boots after they've roamed the island. (Later that day I bumped in to Liz, who is assistant BSBI Plant Recorder for Scillies. I mentioned my find to her and she replied that she bumped into the colony two years ago and almost fell over backwards in shock. Glad it wasn't just me then!) 

Eventually I lifted my eyes from the ground and scanned the football pitch for any migrant birds that may have dropped in. I've had a few good birds on this pitch, Richard's Pipit being a nice self-find here one foggy morning. The first bird I saw was a pristine White Wagtail, followed by three more. Nice! Then I heard a Yellow Wagtail call and looked up to see three birds drop in. A quick look was all that was needed to see that these were Blue-headed Wagtails and not the more expected Yellow Wagtail that breeds in Britain. Oh wow, I had a proper scan and realised there were five of them, all Blue-heads, along with twenty one White Wagtails and a Black Redstart thrown in for good measure. How very bloody marvellous! I reckon it must be six years since I last saw a Yellow Wagtail (of any race) and to be looking at five Blue-headeds together, which also happpens to be the largest flock I've ever seen in Britain, was something of a thrill. But I was on a tight schedule and had places to visit. I sent out a WhatsApp message. Will Wagstaff was on Tresco, in the middle of what he called a wagtailfest. At least 30 Blue-headed, a couple of Ashy-headed and a possible Iberian Wagtail, plus many White Wags too! Jeezo, that's some overnight arrival of continental wagtails. (An hour after I'd left, Spider arrived at the football pitch. No wagtails present, but he did find a Hoopoe ffs!) 

Fleshy Yellow-sorrel is a common sight on walls around Hugh Town

Wireplant is now covering vast swathes of Buzza Hill

The strangely named Silver-bush Everlasting is well naturalised in lanes on St Marys

I was pleased to note that the Lesser Sea Fig in Buzza Quarry is doing very well for itself and has spread quite substantially since I last saw it in 2020. Heading up and over Buzza Hill I wandered through Old Town cemetery before cutting around the bay towards Tolman's Point. 

Bermuda-buttercup. Except it isn't a buttercup and it ain't from Bermuda!

Chilean Iris has escaped from gardens all along the footpath to Tolmans

Deltoid-leaved Dewplant Oscularia deltoides on the rocks at Tolmans

Spring Starflower - the first time I've seen this on Scillies (I've always arrived after it's flowered)

A naturalised Tree Aeonium Aeonium arboreum in full flower

I had been hoping to bump into Aeonium balsamiferum, which has only very recently been realised to occur on The Scillies. Previously it had been misidentified as Tree Aeonium, one of which is in the image above, but sadly balsamiferum seems not to occur in a naturalised state on Marys itself. One for another time. 

Various species I bumped into whilst at Tolmans included Western Clover (not yet in flower), Sea Pea at near enough seedling stage at the top of a beach, Bunch-flowered Daffodils (another early-flowering species new for my Scillies plantlist), Smaller Tree Mallow and both Osteospermum species, but somehow I failed to convince myself that I'd successfully determined Karo, Kohuhu and Ake-ake from each other, in the end I just quit the clump of trees in question and moved on. 

Next up was Lower Moors were I failed to see any Eels in the ditch whilst the margins in front of the hides remained steadfastly free of any Snipe. Shooters Pool had a substantial covering of Water Fern, not a good addition to the Scillies plant list. Quitting the Moors I headed up Rocky Hill Lane towards my next target plant - Kangaroo Fern!

A gorgeous male Speckled Wood of the endemic subspecies insula

Kangaroo Fern slowly smothering the local trees

Kangaroo Fern again

House Holly-fern, a bit of a beast of a plant!

Toothed Fireweed. I think the local WT are trying to eradicate this. Try harder guys.

I was running out of time, Spider kept texting me had I been back up to the Garrison lately? Had I seen the Hoopoe? I just didn't have the time! I scooted through the Dump Clump, not much happening in there, before arriving at the Dump itself. Acres of Nasturtium covered the mound and I could see the odd Rhodostachys and Cordyline Palm sprouting up amongst the various unidentifiable shrubs and bushes. A Cetti's Warbler burst into song, I recall Ren's young daughter running up to me back in 2016, telling me to "hurry up coz daddy has just found a Cetti's Warbler", so I guess they're a bit more regular nowadays. Either that or I should have put it out on the WhatsApp group, oops.  

Hand made lobster pots. He started this in the morning and would be finished soon!

A mostly hidden but self-sown Cordyline Palm on top of the dump mound

And so ended my daytrip to The Scillies. I made it back to the boat in good time (which means I was sweating like a beast as I marched ever closer, constantly checking the time as I went). Nothing of note from the return crossing and I booked myself a room in Penzance itself, talk about a mission trying to find a parking space in the backstreets! Tomorrow I was meeting up with The Pirate, fun and games guaranteed. And probably just a smidge of alcohol too.

St Agnes as viewed from the top of Garrison Hill

Englandshire Continued

I decided that if I was serious about recording 2500 species in 2025, I really ought to concentrate on finding species which I wouldn't be able to see upon my return to Scotland. I began trawling around various parks and nature reserves which I'd previously visited with Danny. My hope was to clear up on some of the common stuff, leaving us free to concentrate on a few choice species once he was back home from France. 

Pellitory-of-the-wall does occur in Scotland, but the leafmining moth Cosmopterix pulchrimella most certainly doesn't (the dark smudge in the upper leaf is the larva)

Greater Tussock-sedge or gorillas in ghillie suits? 

Early Meadow-grass Poa infirma at the top of Par Beach

This is Russian Olive Elaeagnus angustifolia, naturalised in the dunes at Par Beach

Russian Olive was a new plant for me. This specimen is in the dunes and is mentioned in A Flora of Cornwall, in fact I tried my best to make my image match the one in the book. The Gorse is a bit taller nowadays, but otherwise it's pretty close. There's a larger Russian Olive on the edge of the first car park. In fact, I parked under it completely by random. There's also quite a lot of Ebbinge's Oleaster Elaeagnus x submacrophylla naturalised in the dunes, though I've seen that a few times before. 

The following images are mostly of alien plant species and are just a few of the botanical highlights I encountered in various alleyways, churchyards and riverbanks in Cornwall. The first two images are from a whole bunch of 2-3ft tall tree seedlings that are growing along maybe 50 metres of Penzance alleyway. I had no idea what they were, certainly nothing I'd seen before. I took a few leaves and twigs away with me and, over the course of most of that evening, came to the conclusion that they were either Hoheria sexystylosa or Hoheria populnea, neither of which I had ever heard of. For some reason, it didn't occur to me to check the BSBI maps until I'd been at it for most of the evening. Guess what...Hoheria populnea is known from Penlee Park in Penzance, as seedlings beneath planted trees. My alleyway ran alongside the edge of Penlee Park in Penzance. I could have kicked myself, but at least I had my mystery seedlings confirmed to species. It goes by the common name of New Zealand Mallow, not one I'm familiar with. But hey, it's definitely naturalised very nicely and therefore definitely on my list! 

Abundant seedlings of Hoheria populnea

I headed even further westwards and entered Cot Valley, one of my very favourite places to be. I once watched a butterfly here, feeding on Buddleja in about 1994. It was similar to a nearby Painted Lady, but the eyespots on the hindwing were all wrong. Looking back I can only assume it was an American Painted Lady, something I didn't even know existed at the time. If only I'd had a camera with me. But anyway, regardless of that I still love Cot Valley and there are many lovely plants along the track down to the sea. Starting with this beast, known in Britain only from here and on Tresco, Scilly. 

This is Aichryson laxum, the Tree of Love

The rest of Cot Valley was, on this particular occasion, a bit of a let down. No migrant birds to speak of and I failed to nail the miniscule non-flowering mouse-ear species that was growing close to the shore. Summer Snowflake, Broad-leaved Bamboo and Crassula helmsii being about the only plants worthy of a mention. Hmmm. But it's still a lovely spot, even without rare Mediterranean overshoots skulking in the bushes. Annoyingly, I later found out that Ulmus occidentalis grows along the track through the valley. I walked beneath bare elms, but bare elms are far beyond my capabilities and I'm not about to tick a rare Ulmus just on distribution. 

The fabulously named Zantedeschia aethiopica along the Pondsandane stream in Penzance

Next up was another of my favourite spots in Cornwall; Gulval Churchyard. There are loads of weird and wonderful plants growing inside the boundary walls, almost all deliberately introduced at some point, I'm sure. But all naturalising very nicely now in various unkempt corners. The usual suspects here include German-ivy, Chain-fern, Krauss' Clubmoss, Madeiran Herb-Robert, Chilean Myrtle and Spotted Laurel. All gone wild and all tickable, in my book anyway. Any and all Chilean Myrtle in Cornwall is worth a close scrutiny, Simacauda dicommatias is a South American moth that has been accidentally imported along with its foodplant and was recently found new to Britain. As more people learn of its existence, more sites are being found to have the moth present, but it's still fabulously rare outside of west Cornwall. Anyway, I found it here a couple of years back and it didn't take long to find a case attached to the underside of a Chilean Myrtle leaf. Note the case and cut out  

Case of Simacauda dicommatias on Chilean Myrtle leaf

In all honesty, I didn't break a case open to yeartick the moth. But I can fairly safely presume that the overwintering larva is still within. So technically no, I didn't clap eyes on the beast itself. But yes, I am still counting it on my list of 2500 living species in 2025. Sometimes I can be contrary and this, dear reader, is one such moment. 

Field Pennycress, not actually inside the churchyard but not too far away

Krauss' Clubmoss. I like this rather funky wee plant a lot!

German-ivy, I was glad to discover this is visible in the early spring! 

Leaving Gulval area, I headed a few miles north and hit the dunes at Gwithian Sands. I've been here a couple of times before, but I had two target plants in mind this time, the second being a lifer for me. First up though is the intimidatingly large and pointy Sharp Rush, easily 7ft tall and with bracts as sharp as daggers! 

Sharp Rush Juncus acutus

Sharp Rush is restricted to a few sites along the north coast of Cornwall and Devon, as well as a scattering of coastal sites in Wales, Norfolk and Kent. And, oddly, one spot in Hampshire. It's a scarce but spectacular plant and is very well named. If you're not sure whether you have a Sharp Rush in front of you, push the palm of your hand into a leaf tip. If it pierces your skin and draws blood then yep, that's a Sharp Rush alright! Just a few hundred feet away lay my second target plant, right in the middle of a sprawling bramble patch. 

Mrs Wilson's Barberry Berberis wilsoniae

I spent a bit of time with this barberry, partly because I was putting off the inevitable push back out of the bramble patch, but also because I'd never seen it before and it was a really interesting little plant. And it is quite a little plant, for a shrub I mean. What you can't tell from the images above is that the patch actually consists of a whole bunch of individual barberry bushes. They've all started to merge into each other, but I think I counted about twenty or so individual plants. I guess a berry-laden bird must have roosted here one night and defecated all over the immediate area, resulting in this tight patch of plants? It's a pity I was here too early to find it in flower, but even the russet colour of the spines is quite beguiling. My first Sand Martins of the year flew over the nearby lake and I was positively overjoyed to find my first Coot of the year! Just one, thankfully. Not sure I could take seeing a whole flock of them.

Meanwhile, back in another churchyard... 

Ribbon Fern Pteris cretica doing very well for itself at Kenwyn Churchyard

Chusan Palm seedlings at St Just-in-Roseland churchyard

And here alongside a self-sown Chilean Hard-fern Blechnum cordatum

Cornish Moneywort, not an easy plant to spot! Note more Krauss' Clubmoss

The (as yet) undescribed rust on Mind-your-own-Business

Eastern Sowbread Cyclamen coum

I didn't know what this was when I first found it. Looking somewhat like a gigantic version of Cyclamen hederifolium, but with rounded rather than angled 'shoulders' to the leaves, I was left somewhat stumped. The Flora of Cornwall gave no clues, but a trawl online eventually led me to (hopefully!) the right identification. Turns out there are rather a few Cyclamens out there, but most are smaller than this beast. 

Danny was due back in a couple of day's time. I had other destinations to visit once I had left Cornwall. I planned to pay a flying visit to my beloved St Marys on Scilly. The ferry fares have gone absolutely crazy, but I decided I could afford a day return ticket. It would be worth it, the chance of seabirds and cetaceans on the crossing, a whole host of exotic plants on offer and potentially a scarce migrant bird or two on land. Game on, I set my alarm and treated myself to a b+b. Kipping in the car is fine in itself, but a bed is far more comfortable and the thought of a hot shower was all too appealing. Is this it then, am I finally starting to grow soft in my old age?  Pfftt, I bloody hope not.