Great bit of film set on the islands featuring my gig crew.

http://www.itv.com/thismorning/food/crab-chowder/

This evening from Tresco

A bit of nature spotting on Tresco

 Great Black backed gull with a crab
  at Pentle Bay.

 Stonechat in the ferns above Pentle Bay

One of of the many Tresco cows,
they are all Limousin's and are very docile and photogenic!









This I think is a young swallow at rest on the electic fence that surrounds the cows field.
Seemed to have slightly shorter wings than the others..

Perfect today here on Scilly

Seaplane arriving at Tresco

Perfect day at Lowertown St Martins

The Queen visits St Marys Isles of Scilly

 Meeting St Marys police officers

 The Duke of Edinburgh talking to my son

 The Queen talking to Stuart Hitchens Coxwain of IOS Lifeboat

 The Queen and Mike Hicks Chairman of the IOS Council

The Queen meeting  paramedic Wayne Davey,

and first responder from Tresco Peter Marshall

Tresco Raft Race

 Last Sunday was Tresco Raft Race...
Following from last years successful day this year was
also very good with 13 rafts turning out including 2 from Bryher.

Various materials were used some more successful than others, but they were all new this year.
The rafts had to get from New Grimsby quay to the Flying Boat Club slipway..

 A good start was had by most entrants..

 Moored boats proved to be tricky obstacles to navigate past

And inevitiably you are going to get wet!
A great time was had by all and it there were no problems at all.

In fact it was so good that it will take place next year again.
Probably same time same place more or less!

World Pilot Gig Championships

I had a busy weekend as I am rowing in gig once again after a 6 year break!
 My crew is pictured here in the purple gig "Emperor".
It was a tough wekend against very good competition, we finally came in 53rd, not too bad for a new crew that hasn't been rowing together for very long..
An amazing spectacle as ever though with something like 130 on the start line on Saturday afternoon!

Goldfinch

 

We have been lucky enough to have a pair of Goldfinches visit the back garden for the past couple of weeks.

They seem very content and come and feed daily, makes a nice change from the hundred or so Sparrows that frequent the feeders..

Bee Eater

Bee Eater!

Bee Eater on Tresco today perched on power cables that cross a track behind Thatch cottage.
Big Thanks to my friend Max who let me know that it was there!

Rough Island Band

Took a walk around the whole of St Martins today.
It has been a beautiful springlike day and felt warm in the sun too.

Hopefully this is a sign of things to come!

Fish Fight

I have signed up to this cause as I want an end putting to the waste of fish thrown back into the sea due to being over quota.
Surely if the fisherman have already caught the fish let us please eat what they have caught and not throw it all back and then try to catch what they are allowed to catch.

End this crazy procedure by signing up to Hughs Fish Fight by clicking here.
Thank you.

Skiing....

 Sorry for the lack of updates again.
We are having a new roof put on the house where we live on Tresco and we have no internet at the house where we are staying while the work i being done.
That coupled with a skiing trip on 20th January has meant I have lost touch with this site again.
I intend to get back to doing daily updates when the new roof is completed and we are back home.

In the meantime I will show you all a couple of pics from my skiing holiday.
I went with 3 of my mates from school.
I haven't skiied before and it was all quite daunting to  be honest.
The scenery was stunning as we were in the Italian Alps at a little resort called Sauze d'Oulx just across the border from France.
I would recommend the resort for anyone that can ski but maybe not for the beginner..

That said I had a great time and made it back safe and sound!!
Lots of work to do now that I am back and I expect I shall be very busy now until summer comes!
Hopefully get back in the old house soon and get back to getting photos on here when possible..

A few pics taken from the past few days

 Spoonbill made a return to New Grimsby on Tuesday the same one that I saw before Christmas outside my house. Good to see he is doing ok!

 This Song Thrush was seeing off a Redwing on the Garrison field on Wednesday lunchtime.

 Sunset from my house this evening at 4.30 p.m after a day of good sunny spells and the odd shower..

South Hill, Bryher and Samson across the channel..nice to see the gorse in flower already in the hedgerows.

Bank Holiday Monday

 A beautifully calm day today if a little grey at times..

Dolphin at New Grimsby this morning!

 Looked out of my window this morning and was amazed to see this dolphin in the harbour!
At first thoughts I thought it was a dolphin in trouble but I think it was actually doing a quick spot of fishing as the tide was coming in.
The dolphin came into shallow water about 5 or 6 feet deep at the most.
It hung around for about half an hour and  went back out into the deeper waters of Tresco Channel when the Firethorn came to the quay to pick up passengers, to my relief!

Frosty morning.

 I spent Christmas away on the mainland and experienced the very low temperatures that occurred over the period.
This particular morning was Christmas day with temperatures where we were staying in Cornwall down to minus 5.
With clear skies and sunshine it was a beautiful sight to behold.
The ice on the other hand made driving difficult, but a very small problem to deal with compared to the travel chaos that the rest of the country were experiencing at the same time..