The St Ives Island List currently stands at somewhere around 180, which isn't bad for a small, busy, dog-ridden lump of rock just outside one of the busiest tourist towns in the UK. Last year, between us, we managed around 120 which again isn't bad considering we didnt really start until the middle of the year. This year, we're having a crack at getting up to 150 between us - and cleaning up the older records to figure out what the actual List should be.
A Chiffchaff remained into 2026 until January 2 in the bushes alongside the carpark, this same Chiffchaff was also seen in a scrap of greenery above Bamaluz beach. What attractions this Chiffchaff finds in carpark verges on a windswept rock in Cornwall rather than Southern Europe/Africa is a mystery. By January 3rd we'd recorded the first Manx Shearwater of the year as well as Chough, Peregrine and Great Skua. Red-throated Divers are more conspicuous than normal with almost daily sightings of multiple birds. Normally this is the most uncommon Diver around St Ives. So far that accolade falls to Black-throated.
Best birds so far this year probably are the Black Redstart/s that have been seen - with an immature male on 9th in the NCI "geo" (the gully below the railings on the east side), and a female type on the north side on Jan 7th. A probable Pomarine Skua was distant on the 3rd but was just too far away to be called. But an absolute St Ives Island MEGA flew out of the bay on the morning of the 9th - the morning after Storm Goretti which was - wait for it - <drum roll> .... a Great Crested Grebe! The St Ives Bay Recorder was also present and was almost on the point of rejecting it but that's because he didn't see it and on to the Official List it goes.
As an aside, The Island not only attracts birds, and birders, but also people who want to know what those birds those birders are looking for. Sometimes this means quite a crowd gathers and we had quite a crowd gather on 9th Jan. On the one hand it's great to share the love with lots of people, or at least with people who appreciate the sharing of that love, but it doesnt half mean we lose a lot of time explaining what those little black and white birds are, and that, no, we're not livestreaming the dolphins on the video screen on the NCI building. Maybe we should change our name to St Ives Tourism Outreach Officers.
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