On St. Mary’s the 2 Chough, the Black-necked Grebe and a few Black Restart were present throughout. The ring-tailed Hen Harrier that has been around all winter put in intermittent appearances on the island and there were sporadic reports of Firecrest, White Wagtail and Woodcock. There were regular reports of Great Northern Divers in island waters and the first Sand Martin of the year flew over Hugh Town on March 5th.
The potential of the much underwatched off-islands was demonstrated when a rare winter visit to Tresco on March 2nd produced 5 Shoveler, a mated pair of Pochard, 17 Great Northern Divers, 200 Sanderling, a Dunlin, a Short-eared Owl, a Common Buzzard, a Raven and a Reed Bunting. 8 Shelduck were on Samson.
On the March 3rd on St. Martin’s 2 Slavonian Grebe were off Higher Town Quay and 8 Grey Plover were on the Flats.