The way all birding will be

The Isles of Scilly Bird and Natural History Review 2003 continues where 2002 left off. If the 2002 offering of stunning photos, beautiful artwork, personal accounts plus a full species listing was not enough to persuade you to become a paid up member of the Isles of Scilly Bird Group, then 2003 should. For this publication deserves a place in every birders library irrespective of whether you visited the islands in 2003.

Sponsored, as last year, by Swarovski and London Camera Exchange, get hold of a copy and 'live' the birds again irrespective of whether you actually saw them in the flesh or....only in the surfbirds galleries.

As always, artwork from some of Britain's best bird artists grace the pages. Enjoy the work of Richard Allen, Martin Elliot, Jan Wilczur and Dan Cole. Ren Hathway's back cover (see above) makes the £9 price tag worth every penny.

The bulk of the report covers the bird list for the year, followed by personal reports from finders of some of the best birds of the year. Read Steve Dodgson's honest disbelief at finding Scilly's second and Britain's third Two-barred Greenish Warbler. Or read how one son's dubious cooking was to lead to his father finding a Pied Wheatear. But for all the pages dedicated to birding my favourite was the account of the discovery of a Large Cone-Head Bush-Cricket by Ren Hathway et al. You may wonder what one of these is. So did I. No matter, by the end of the account you'll feel as if you were there with them on the night of 21st August 2003 sharing in the excitement of their discovery.

And for those of you who play the numbers game then Nigel Hudson's look at the growth of the Scilly list makes fascinating reading. Can any British birder reasonably expect to see 400 species on Scilly? Why has the number of new species to Scilly taken a dip in the last few years ? Nigel offers explanations.

But it's not all personal anecdotes. Ben Lascelles report on the Roseate Tern species recovery programme is one of the best papers written for a long time. Lets hope the active management of nesting habitats with the placement of nest boxes/shelters encourages the Roseate Tern, Britain's only Red Data species, to return as a breeding bird to the Isles of Scilly in the very near future.

Put simply, as with last year, make sure you have a copy of two bird reports each year - your own county report and this one.

Black Kite, Castle Down, Tresco, April 2003 - photo courtesy of Bryan Thomas

The ISBG should be congratulated once again for putting together another fabulous annual review. Copies are available from the Isles of Scilly Bird Group (Price £9 plus £2.50 postage)

Send cheques to:

Nigel Hudson
Post Office Flat
Hugh Street
St. Marys
Isles of Scilly
TR21 OLL

Alternatively for an extra 50p you can become a member of the ISBG (annual subscription £12) and you get the bird report for free, two newsletters plus other on-island benefits.

Visit their website at www.scillybirding.co.uk