The Isles of Scilly, 25 miles off the southwest coast of Cornwall, have a history and culture quite different from the mainland. The Woodcocks have been recorded here since the early 1600s and have made their own unique contribution to the romance of the place. Woodcocks around the world may recognise family traits in the following tales.

The island of Samson in its days of occupation had only two families, the Webbers and Woodcocks. They first lived on and around Sandy Bay on St Mary's.  Where they came from before they appear in the islands is unknown, but it is said that they are descended from wrecked sailors or pirates. They had a long-running feud with the Banfields and the Mumfords, who ran things for Lord Godolphin (then the owner of the Islands, who was commanded by Queen Elizabeth to strengthen the western defences). This finally led to the Council of Twelve sending the military to arrest Liquer Webber and Dicebox Woodcock - names and occupations being close in those days - as being dangerous to the community.

They were ordered to stop what little they were doing and thereafter to live in various military batteries around the islands and to serve in their defences. But Liquer and Dicebox were having none of this. They slipped off overnight with their families to Samson ( then as now, an uninhabited Scilly Island) and established themselves there in farming, fishing and whatever wrecks providence provided or were encouraged.

Their numbers grew, but the families were badly hit in the 1750s when nineteen of their men were lost when the French pirate ship they had just captured capsize and sank. They had forgotten they had earlier put holes in the hull to slow it down. The surviving women largely married into the other islands but a core remained. Eventually Samson couldn't support the diminishing Woodcock/Webber tribe and the last of them were finally forcibly removed, bedraggled but protesting, in 1855 by the new owner, Augustus Smith, .

While we have since spread across the globe, there are still Woodcocks in the Scillies, respectable and esteemed, but the Webber name has disappeared. Alderman George Woodcock in 1955 became the first islander outside of the Dorrien Smith family to hold the chair of the Council of the Islands. Eric Woodcock is the captain of the local golfclub. Samson is a jewel visited every year by many visitors, who are enchanted by the sweep of the bay and the profusion of seabirds. Perhaps some of them also wonder about the lives of those who once lived in the ruined stone cottages. Times change!

Some of you might be interested in the childrens' book by Michael Morpurgo, called When the Whales Came, which tells of life and nature on Samson at the turn of the last century. It was made into a feature film with Helen Mirren and Paul Scofield, who plays the role of Woodcock the Birdman.