St Mary’s - Golden Plover (3) on airfield and Kingfisher at Porth Hellick pool (Thanks J.Pender)

Apologies for the lack of recent reports. Relatively quiet as to be expected over the last few months with one or two exceptions:

Up to 5 Short- eared Owls and a Long-tailed Duck through out on Tresco. Still good numbers of winter thrushes around the islands including a few Mistle Thrushes (normally a scarce species on Scilly).

Jan 26 - St. Mary’s, Common Scoter and GN Diver off Samson. Firecrest Porth Hellick and 4 Whimbrel Bar point.

Jan 27 - St, Mary’s, Firecrest Porth Hellick Loop and 2 Black Redstarts Old Town Bay.

Feb 1 - St. Martin’s, Slavonian Grebe, juvenile Black-throated Diver, 13 Bar-tailed Godwits and 8 Bottle-nosed Dolphins.

Feb 9 - St. Mary’s, Siskin in a garden on High Lanes.

Feb 11 - Tresco, Black Duck and first-winter Mediterranean Gull.

Feb 13 - St. Mary’s, Waxwing in Hugh Town, unfortunately killed by a cat. Tresco,a large white Falcon was seen and photographed at Gimble Porth by a non-birder, the image was only small but it appears to be a Gyr.

Feb 16 - St. Mary’s 3 Slavonian Grebes of Innisidgen and an adult Black-throated Diver off MacFarland’s Down. Tresco, the apparent Gyr was seen, again by a non-birder.

Feb 20 - Bryher, Water Pipit and Hooded Crow.

Feb 23 - St. Mary’s a Hoopoe flew over Telegraph towards the Golf Course.

Tresco - 8 Pochard, 1 female Tufted Duck, 4 Wigeon, 150+ Redwing, 7+ Lapwing, 2 Grey Plover, 12+ Fieldfare, 57 Coot, 136 Black-headed Gulls, 3 Dunlin, 83 Sanderling, 58 Turnstone, BLACK DUCK, Long-tailed Duck, 2 Pintail, Sparrowhawk, Great Northern Diver, 12 Redshank & 6 Greenshank. Elsewhere, Black-throated Diver and fem. Common Scoter near Samson with 8+ Great Northern Divers in the Roads.

St Mary’s - Balearic Shearwater flew East past Porth Hellick Bay at 12.05hrs and c40 Lapwing over Porth Hellick area. There seemed to be fewer Redwings and Fieldfare about today

Tresco - BLACK DUCK  again briefly on Abbey Pool. Also Long-tailed Duck, 3 Shoveler (2 male 1 fem) and Canada Goose. Six Short-eared Owls between Pentle Bay and the Woodpile.1 Dunlin on the beach at Pentle and 8+Great Northern Divers off shore. Mistle Thrush and Sparrowhawk Pool Road. 3 Pochard (2 male 1 fem), 2 Pintail (pair) and fem.Tufted Duck on Great Pool. c30 Lapwing and 11 Golden Plover Old Grimsby fields. Buzzard in Gimble Porth and Black Redstart at New Grimsby. (no sign of Black-necked Grebe at New Grimsby.

Sunday 17th January 2010 - 2 Spoonbill still on Samson, 3 Slav Grebes from Innisidgen and Black Redstart at Old Town beach.

Friday 15th January 2010 - Mistle Thrush on the Golf Course, lots of Redwings everywhere, plenty of Fieldfare ( ie. 14 on the Primary School Playing field ). Also 1Wigeon at Porth Hellick. Male Peregrine Porthlow on Taylors Island. Black Redstart still Old Town.

Thursday 14th January 2010 - 2 Spoonbill Samson (1 the day before ), Long-tailed Duck in Pentle Bay Tresco, 3 Slav Grebes from Innisidgen, Black-throated Diver in Crow sound, Red-breasted Merganser  in Tean Bay and 40+ Golden Plover on the Airport. Also up to 10 Great Northern Divers seen. Sparrowhawk over Porth Hellick.

Thursday 7th
Flocks of Fieldfare and Lapwing are still arriving on the islands and Redwing seem to be popping up from every verge - still no snow.

Friday 8th
The Black Duck was on Tresco early in the day then flew over Porth Mellon towards Lower Moors at 9.15am but did not hang around which is not too surprising as all the pools were frozen! A Male Hen Harrier flew over St Agnes and Gugh heading towards St Mary’s but also vanished. On Tresco the cold weather had brought 14 Pochard to the Great Pool but otherwise there was little change with the Long-tailed Duck still on the Abbey Pool and the Red-breasted Merganser was still offshore. Fieldfare and Lapwing were still arriving in small flocks.

Saturday 9th
At least four Mistle Thrush were on St Mary’s today and a Dunlin was at Porth Hellick with winter thushes well scattered as were the many Lapwing and Golden Plover. Snipe were moving around the islands in small groups looking for unfrozen ground.

Sunday 10th
There are now five Mistle Thrushes on St Mary’s and an Iceland Gull was seen near Pendrathen. Wigeon were found at Porth Hellick and two Dunlin were on Porth Mellon and the biggest flock of Goldfinch for some time was the seven at Carn Gwarvel. Four Black Redstarts were still on the sheltered beaches aroud Hugh Town and Old Town.

Monday 11th
After a heavy frost overnight, that thankfully soon melted, a Little Grebe spent the day in Porth Cressa, three Wigeon were at Porth Hellick along with a single Knot. The Jackdaw was again seen in the Trenoweth area and the numbers of Lapwing and winter thrushes were starting to drop.

Tues 12th
A really foul day with strong winds and rain all day so little birding was done although twenty redwing and a few Lapwing were still in the Circus Field near the hospital

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Friday 1st
The Black-necked Grebe was on the Bryher side of Tresco Channel today and the Black Duck was again seen on the Abbey Pool and one of the Short-eared Owls was also in the Pentle Bay area. At Porth Hellick the Siberian Chiffchaff reappeared as did two Firecrest and a Jackdaw was seen with a group of Crows at Telegraph and over Tresco. Five Golden Plover were on the airport as were two Skylarks.

Saturday 2nd
The Black-necked Grebe was again in Tresco Channel and the Long-tailed Duck was on the Abbey Pool but there was no sign of the Black Duck today. An adult Mediterranean Gull was in Pentle Bay and a remarkable five Short-eared Owls were seen in the Appletree Banks area. The calm seas enabled us to find a Black-throated Diver off Samson along with up to seven Great Northern Divers and a Common Scoter. The Spoonbill was again feeding along the shore of Samson. On St Mary’s a Slavonian Grebe was off Innisidgen and the two Firecrest were again at Porth Hellick.

Sunday 3rd
The Spoonbill was on Samson again and the Siberian Chiffchaff was on Higher Moors and a Goldfinch was at Telegraph. The cold weather on the mainland resulted in three Fieldfares on the Garrison, a Golden Plover on the Airport and four Lapwing at Trewince, although where the four Whimbrel reported from Pendrathen is anyone’s guess.

Monday 4th
Two Slavonian Grebes were off Innisidgen and the Spoonbill was seen on Samson again. The first Mistle Thrush of the winter was on the Golf Course along with five Golden Plover and an Iceland Gull was seen over St Mary’s.

Tuesday 5th
Further influxes of winter thrushes were noted with double figures of Fieldfare now on St Mary’s and twenty two Golden Plover were on the Golf course. Four Chiffchaff were in the shelter at Little Porth along with two Pied Wagtails and a Black Redstart.

Wednesday 6th
Over 100 Lapwing were on St Mary’s today along with 50+ Fieldfare and hundreds of Redwing. The Mistle Thrush was at Bishops View and at least two Sparrowhawks were on the island. The lack of snow and unfrozen ground meant every grass field seemed to have a scattering of winter thrushes and a Lapwing or two.

Wednesday 30th
A visit to Tresco found little change with the Black Duck and the Long-tailed Duck on the Abbey Pool and two Short-eared Owls were again in the Pentle Bay area. A Sparrowhawk was in Lower Moors and a male Merlin zipped past Porth Loo.

Thursday 31st
A very wet end to the year with very little seen.

Wednesday 23rd
A 1st W Mediterranean Gull was at Porth Cressa and thirty five Golden Plover were on the Golf Course.

Thursday 24th
The Black Duck was again on the Abbey Pool, although it did visit Tean during the morning. The Black-necked Grebe was again seen off New Grimsby Quay and five Whooper Swans flew into the Great Pool. On St Mary’s seventeen Lapwings were in the Standing Stones field on Lower Moors.

Saturday 26th
The Black Duck was on the Abbey Pool again as was the Long-tailed Duck. On St Mary’s the 1st W Mediterranean Gull was on Porth Loo as were two Black Redstarts. A flock of 70+ were seen around St Mary’s today.

Sunday 27th
The Black Duck, the Long-tailed Duck and two Shoveler were on the Abbey Pool as was the Spoonbill later in the day. The Red-breasted Merganser was off Pentle Bay and a Short-eared Owl was seen nearby and the Black-necked Grebe was off New Grimsby