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GROUND NEST OF CARRION CROW AT ST. BLAZEY TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Preamble ... ... ... ... ... ... 3 Bird Records for the Report ... ... ... ... 4 The Weather of 1958 ... ... ... ... ... 5 List of Contributors ... ... ... ... ... 6 Cornish Notes ... ... ... ... ... ... 8 Arrival and Departure of Cornish-breeding Migrants ... 28 The Isles of Scilly ... ... ... ... ... 30 Arrival and Departure of Migrants in the Isles of Scilly ... 39 "The Island," St. Ives ... ... ... ... ... 40 Visible Migration from the North Coast of West Cornwall— Part I: Autumn ... ... ... ... ... 43 Survey of Whinchat and Stonechat ... ... ... 52 The Macmillan Library ... ... ... ... ... 53 The Society's Rules ... ... ... ... ... 55 Balance Sheet ... ... ... ... ... ... 56 List of Members ... ... ... ... .... 57 Committees for 1958 and 1959 ... ... ... ... 70 Index ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 71 TWENTY-EIGHTH REPORT OF The Cornwall Bird-Watching and Preservation Society 1958 Edited by G. ALLSOP, J. E. BECKERLEGGE, R. H. BLAIR, A. G. PARSONS, H. M. QUICK and B. H. RYVES Sixty-one new members have joined the Society during the year. Six have resigned, and thirteen have lapsed in their subscriptions. This makes a total of 640 ordinary members. The Twenty-seventh Annual Meeting was held in the Museum, Truro, on March 22nd. The speaker was Mr. A. G. Parsons, who showed his own films of Swedish birds. The Autumn meeting was held on November 8th, when the R.S.P.B. colour film, " Birds of the Highlands," drew a record attendance. One Executive Committee meeting was held during the year. Our thanks are due to Mr. Wills for kindly auditing the accounts. Five Field Days were held during the year. These outings seem to be much appreciated by members. There was little shooting on Hayle Estuary except by one per sistent offender. Legal proceedings were taken. When these were under way a settlement was offered and accepted. By it the trespasser undertakes not to shoot during the remainder of our lease and to pay the costs of the proceedings. The more unusual bird records in Cornwall include : Crossbills, Tree Sparrows, Water Pipit, Waxwings, Bonelli's Warbler, Kite, Little Egret, Little Bittern, Black-winged Stilts, Whiskered Tern, Iceland Gull and Pomatorhine Skua. It would be appreciated if Members would return to either Secretary copies of the Annual Report for which they have no further use. Members are asked to send their records for the year, before January 15th, to the Rev. J. E. Beckerlegge, St. Crowan Vicarage, Praze, Camborne. They are BEGGED to send their subscriptions to the Treasurer, and NOT to any of the Secretaries. Mr. Parsons is prepared to answer queries about telescopes and field glasses. Copies of " Bird Study," the journal of the B.T.O., are available to members on request from the Librarian, Mr. C. J. Stevens, Par. Please note that Miss Quick has resigned from the Joint Hon. Secretaryship, and that DR. ALLSOP, Five Acres, Allet, near Truro, has been elected in her place. Miss Quick will still deal with records or enquiries concerning the Scilly Isles. Interested members can obtain a copy of the full report of St. Agnes Bird Observatory from Mr. Parslow, Bird Room, British Museum (Natural History), London, S.W.7. 3 BIRD RECORDS FOR THE REPORT The Annual Report contains records of birds in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly compiled from notes submitted by members. Each year the Editors are faced with a laborious and difficult task in sifting the worthwhile information from these notes. Members will greatly help by following as closely as they can the ideas that follow. In general, notes submitted contain information which can be placed in the following three categories: 1. Data which should be published in the Report. 2. Data which, although it is not worth publication, is retained on the files because it may assist future work. (e.g. Breed ing numbers of common species.) 3. Information of no value. Information required about birds falls into three distinct classes: (a) Arrival and departure dates of migrants, both Summer and Winter visitors (and passage migrants). (b) Unusual behaviour or occurrence in unusual places of common birds. (c) Information about unusual birds. Under (a) all that is required is place, date of arrival, date of departure and whether seen and/or heard. Under (b), as the birds are well known, all that is needed is a statement as to the abnormality of behaviour, e.g., a species may be extending its breeding range or may be using a new food source. Under (c) whether the identity of the bird is known or only suspected it is desirable that a complete as possible description of it and what it was doing be submitted, together with date and place. It will be most helpful to the Editors if the description be on the following lines: Size of bird. Give nearest common bird for comparison. Type of bird Passerine, wader, duck, etc. 1. Head of bird Colour and marking. 2. Bill. Colour, shape and length. 3. Neck. Colour, pattern and whether long or short. 4. Back and rump. Colour. 5. Wings. Form and colour, including pattern. 6. Tail. Length, colour and shape if bird seen flying. 7. Breast. Colour and pattern, if any. 8. Underparts. Colour. 9. Legs and feet. Length and colour and whether webbed or not. If the identity of the bird is unknown, pass the information to a Secretary as quickly as possible for assistance. If members will submit notes on these lines preparation of the Report will be simplified. THE WEATHER OF 1958 By B. H. RYVES The year can be summed up as largely bleak and cheerless with a marked shortage of sunshine. Rainfall was fairly normal and there were no crippling droughts. May produced a very untimely gale that damaged vegetation and heavy rains handicapped the Royal Cornwall Show. The summer was one which was lacking in warmth. However, harvesting of crops and fruit was carried on in September without any undue hindrance. The closing winter months produced no severe frosts nor falls of snow. Here are some details of each month :— January. Mainly dull and chilly with short spells of snow and frosts and some stormy days. February. Some falls of snow again and frosty periods. Rather dry. On the whole, a somewhat bleak and chilly month. March. Some snow in the earlier part, generally cheerless and sunless. April. Generally cold, rather dry and chilly East winds. May. Some needed rain fell on the 14th. An untimely gale on the 16th damaged crops. June. On the whole a cheerless month with varying phases of weather. July. Mainly dull and chilly though there were a few summer- like days. August. No true summer, as most days were dull, chilly and wet. September. Although there were some wet spells, there was enough good weather to help the safe harvesting of crops and fruit. October. Dull and wet for the first half and then dull and dry for the rest of the month. November. Again a cheerless month and largely rainless. December. Dull and bleak. 5 LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS G.A. Dr. G. Allsop. W.E.A. Lt.-Col. W. E. Almond. P. & R.A. Misses P. and R. Aspinall. J.E.B. Revd. J. E. Beckerlegge. J.H.B. J. H. Bennett (non-member) R.G.B. Mrs. R. G. Birtill. E.H.W.B. Lt.-Col. Sir E. H. W. Bolitho. F.E.C. Mrs. F. E. Carter. D.J.C. D. J. Cheke (non-member). R.K.C. Dr. R. K. Clarke. E.M.C. E. M. Cock. H.P.O.C. H. P. O. Cleave. K.C. Mrs. K. Connor. M.C. Mrs. M. Cuddy N.B.E. N. B. Exelby. J.S.G. J. S. Gilbert. A.H.G. A. H. Glanville. G.H.H. G. H. Hamilton (non-member). R.H. R. Hosken. H.H. H. Howard. A.J. A. Jeffreys. E.J. Miss E. Johnson. M.J.J. Miss M. J. Jones. B.K. B. King. A.A.L. A. A. Lock (non-member). R.H. & M.J.M. Mr. and Mrs. Meares. K.O.N. K. O. Nash. B.O. B. Owen (non-member). M.P. Miss E. M. Palmer (non-member). J.L.P. J. L. Palmer. A.G.P. A. G. Parsons. W.S.P. W. S. Parry. E.M.P. Miss E. M. Paynter. P.P. P. Pearce (non-member). R.J.P. R. J. Pentreath. N.R.P. N. R. Phillips. E.P. Mrs. E. M. Powell. E.R. Miss E. Radford. E.Rds. Mrs. E. Richards. 6 P.H.R. P. H. Richards. J.R. J. Robson. J.A.S. J. A. Sage (non-member). A.C.S. A. C. Sawle. A.V.S. A. V. Smith. F.R.S. F. R. Smith. T.J.S. T. J. Stephens. C.J.S. C. J. Stevens. W.G. & R.E.T. Mr. and Mrs. Teagle (non-members) T.H.T. T. H. Tregurthen. R.B.T. R. B. Treleaven. J.T. J. Tunnard. P.N.-U. Miss P. Nowell-Usticke. E.H.W. E. H. Ware. R.B.W. R. B. Warren (non-member) R.P.W. Mrs. R. P. Weeks. E.M.W. Miss E. M. Whelan. A.W.G.W. Brig. A. W. G. Wildey. T.J.W. T. J. Willcocks. K.O.W. Miss K. O. Wilson. CORNISH NOTES FOR 1958 It is understood that the status of common birds is not normally recorded in the Report. From members' records received over a number of years it is now realised that certain of our less common birds occur regularly each year, if only in small numbers. (List given below). Therefore, records of their normal appearance will no longer be printed in the Report, though notes of unusual numbers, dates, or localities will still be published.