At 7.45, Ren and I arrived at Carn Near, Tresco and while Ren was looking for drift wood on Apple Tree Bay, I scanned the channel. There were 4 Great Northern Divers and an excellent total of 50 Shelducks in Samson Bay. Another 2 Shelducks were on the Abbey Pool, but apart from the usual wildfowl and new in, 2 drake Pintails, that was it. At the east end of the Great Pool, Ren heard a Firecrest, which showed well briefly and then he heard a Great Spotted Woodpecker along Pool Road. We both thought that this is more than likely a different bird to the female on St Mary's. We had to find it and hope that it was a male, but all we saw of it, was it flying off further and further away, calling. There was a male Brambling with 40+Chaffinch in the fields bordering the road and lots of Chiffchaffs were enjoying the sun. Further down the road, I thought I heard the trill of a LONG-TAILED TIT! And again. Ren didn't hear it until they called again. We made our way to where they were and found four birds moving from one side of the road to the other with Goldcrests and Blue Tits. These four birds were found last week on this road by Will. These delightful little birds showed very well, giving there contact calls all the time, and in the end we counted five, although we thought there might of been more. A very rare bird here and it was nearly three years ago when I saw my last Long-tailed Tit and that was a party of 14 at Porth Hellick. They were also seen all around the islands in split groups.
From the Swarovski hide you could see the 4 Pink-footed Geese over the opposite side on Simpsons Field and a different female Scaup was with 9 Tufted Ducks and 16 Pochards. Ren commented on that he had not seen so many ducks on the Great Pool like this for a long time. All the ducks had increased from my last visit on the 3rd December. When we came out of the hide, the LT Tits were coming through and one by one they flew across the path in front of us and we counted eight LONG-TAILED TITS! A Black Redstart was near Tresco Stores, which I would never buy anything in there, because, and this is my opinion, it's way too bloody expensive, sorry, and we just missed a imm male Sparrowhawk catch a Starling. A tin of soup, prawn, lobster, crab, cheesy dips, I don't know what it was, was FOUR BLOODY POUNDS!!
By 12.30, we were looking from Pentle Bay and immediately, Ren shouted he had got a Long-tailed Duck, followed by a Black-throated Diver just in front of it! I haven't seen a LT Duck for a long time and this was a stunning drake. Up to 14 Common Gulls were feeding with 220+Black-headed Gulls, I think thats the most I've ever seen on Scilly, and a good record in the winter was a cracking adult Mediterranean Gull. A Short-eared Owl also flew over the dunes. The rib picked us up from Old Grimbsy at 14.00 and when we arrived on St Mary's, I had a quick look over the quay wall and saw the Black Redstart, but no sign of the Water Pipit, to the relief of the local Rock Pipits.
Just before dark, I wondered across Bar Point and had a Great Northern Diver diving off the rocks and 3 Bar-tailed Godwits.
TRESCO
8 LONG-TAILED TITS, Drake Long-tailed Duck, 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker, Fem Scaup, 1 Adult Mediterranean Gull, 1 Short-eared Owl, 1 Black-throated Diver, 1 Firecrest, 2 Drake Pintails, 1 Woodcock, 1 Brambling, 1 Black Redstart, 3 Bar-tailed Godwits, 9 Tufted Ducks, 7 Snipe, 9 Great Northern Divers, 14 Common Gulls, 15+Chiffchaffs, 16 Pochards, 18 Wigeons, 20+Little Egrets, 20+Goldcrests, 35+Lapwings, 50+Chaffinches, 55 Shelducks, 85+Teal, 100+Ringed Plovers,and 220+Black-headed Gulls.
I had another great day on Tresco and we were thinking of covering the island again next week. This hard Arctic weather coming in should drive more birds south.
Two of the 8 LONG-TAILED TITS along Pool Road, Tresco. Note, that this is my first time that I've used my new camera and it takes a little time for me to find the birds on a few occasions. Otherwise, I am very pleased with the videos and photographs from the camcorder.
This adult Black-throated Diver was diving with the Long-tailed Duck, Pentle Bay, Tresco
Joe Pender's dog was observing this 1st winter Great Northern Diver at close range
Adult Great Northern Diver close to the shore at Bar Point late this afternoon
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