The Sea Saves the Week...

 Lately we have been getting some canny birds around our local patches. Most years we expect this to increase with the onset of September into October, but often we are disappointed. Things rarely turn out as planned.

This last week has been, let me say, mixed. The wind has been from the East or North East for about 5 days and this is sure to produce the goods. Well, it did, and it didnt. 50 / 50.

When the wind is in the east we hope for drift migrants from the continent. Classic birds in these conditions are typically Wryneck, Red backed Shrike, Barred Warbler and Red breasted Flycatcher. 

We saw none of those here. In fact, for instance, yesterday was the quietest day we've seen on the coast for some time. There were none of these rarities but more concerning, there were no common migrants either. A full stomp around the headland of Seaton Point checking all bushes produced a heard only Chiffchaff and a locally bred juvvy Common Whitethroat. I get more in the garden.

Some places did get these good birds though, Holy Island, Low Newton and Newbiggin had them just not here. Spurn was positively sinking under the weight of good birds.

What is the upside of this you might be wondering? For us it was the sea. 

Last Sunday 1st Sept at Boulmer we had 18 Arctic Skua, 2 Long tailed Skua and 2 Bonxie, 43 Manx and 10 Sooty Shearwaters, 2 Red throated Divers, 22 Common Scoter, 1 Red breasted Merganser, 4 Goosander. Then as we were drinking tea at the car park nearly at close of play, we got a message that an adult summer plumaged Sabine's Gull had been seen at St Mary's, Newbiggin, Snab Point and Hauxley very close in, and it was heading our way.

There was no time to walk out to either North or South headlands so we just went to the flag pole seat beside the Lifeboat hut and waited.

The view here was a little bit more distant than the points but we could easily identify terns and kittiwakes in good light as they passed.

We formulated a strategy. In these situations you dont want one birder to see the bird and the other one not be able to get on it, so we focussed our scopes on the sea just south of the haven marker post. That way if one of us saw it, the other could get onto the post and the observer would say, at the post NOW! Ten minutes or so later and thats exactly what happened. I called up first when a small black hooded gull came into view. Luckily, John had seen it simultaneously. As it flew north it came a bit closer giving us great views as it passed, then as quick as it arrived it was gone to the north. Thats Seawatching for you...

During the working week a couple more short seawatch sessions were much quieter though on 4th Sept, I had nice views of 2 Minke Whales feeding offshore from our village for an hour. Its been a canny year for them up here.

On Thursday 5th, it was looking good for migrants so I took a day annual leave. What a waste. There were no small migrants and even worse the drizzle and fog so thick you could hardly see the sea! A couple of short watches had 13 Sooty Shearwaters, 1 likley Balearic Shearwater, 21 Manx Shearwaters, 1 Arctic Skua, 1 Little Gull and a Roseate Tern. Not too bad in the gloom but I just knew there were more birds out there hiding in the fog...

Next day, Friday I was back in the office. What a mistake that was as every one was now seeing masses of good seabirds now the gloom had lifted. So I managed to get finished and head off up to Seaton Point where me and John were sat in position by 4.30. Tide was up and birds were streaming by. Excellent.

In the next two hours we enjoyed - 

Manx Shearwaters 102 N

Sooty Shearwater 4 N

Bonxie 2 N

Arctic Skua 2 N

Long tailed Skua 1 N

Roseate Tern 1ad N

then as with the Sabine's Gull, we got wind that heading our way was a very close in Cory's Shearwater, a rare bird in the North East from the Med and more southern areas.

We had all but given up, as these birds can do anything on route such as land on the sea or go offshore etc. When, out of a trough behind a big rolling breaker it emerged and I called to John, Cory's Shearwater! Less than half way out   and showing well. This is where the fun began. As I touched on with the Sabine's, John could not get his eye on the bird as it slowly wavered its unusual flight north. I called a constant commentary, calling every bird, wave and flag that came into my view, but to no avail.

I could sense a quietness about John then he said, I'm going to miss this...

There is nothing worse than the walk back to the car when only one of us has seen something! Time to up the anti.

I could tell the slow moving bird was close and really he shouldnt miss it, he was looking too far out and to the north. I stood up and scanned with my bins rather than the scope. I soon got its bearings. A bouy and  a  long white topped breaker. I called John to look exactly there. Dropping back to my scope, there were 2 juv Kittiwakes going through. John had those. Then, close behind was the Cory's I'm not sure who was most relieved when he said 'Got it!'. Phew. It was still on view for a good spell after that so it was a result. The first Cory's we've had at Boulmer and a good view too...

I was almost hoarse from shouting directions the Shearwater will have heard me!

This week the weather is set to be a bit colder than recently with strong northerlies. 

You can guess what we will be doing later on...

 

    

Wax - wings and caps

 Its not been a bad week for the naturalist around here, really. 

The weather has been variable, though quite moderate. 

Mid week a dog walk through the Village Wood had that soft cool, earthy, early winter smell to it.  In the diluted sunshine, a pile of oak logs left after Storm Arwen attracted attention. It was covered in a colourful array of small fungi, including one new to me, Purple Jellydisc as well as Hairy Curtain Crust, Sulphur Tuft and one that remains to be identified. It may need further scrutiny this week.

In that evening a couple of late Pipistrelles (?), well, bats, were still hawking under the street lights.

Log Pile

Hairy Curtain Crust

Purple Jellydisc

I think the fungi at the top may be Sulphur Tuft?

Keeping to a fungi theme, I was surprised when Debra Burley found some Pink Ballerina Waxcaps in Alnwick Cemetary. Ive looked in many good waxcap grasslands in North Northumberland without success so I gave it a twitch on my way to work.

After some directional confusion, there were 10 small stout pink Waxcaps around an area of gravestones...Excellent.

Pink Ballerina Waxcaps

 By Friday, the wind had swung to the North and then some, On Google Earth the northerly could be followed right up to the North Pole. The 'socials' were filed with commentary about masses of Little Auks, it could be the best showing for years, White Winged Gulls, Brunnichs etc. I jested that we might even get a Spectacled Eider off it, such was its reach, but, I sort of knew that we had been here before. Many times.

 On my blog in Nov 2021, before Storm Arwen, I posted a very similar weather map and pondered just the same. Whilst the record breaking gales blew an unprecedented number of Brunnichs Guillemots southward, the rest was pretty much standard. This time, I was more tempered and considered that most Little Auks would be further west by now so although a good northerly will always give us a few birds, the chances of a classic were slim.

Early Saturday morning found me traipsing along to my nearest seawatching spot for a couple of hours. Yes, there wasn't a great deal moving, but there was just enough to fill the time. From 8am - 10am I had

Great Northern Diver 5 N

Diver sp 1 N

Red throated Diver 7

Goldeneye 2m 1f N and 1f S

Teal 2 S

Common Scoter 16

Purple Sandpiper 2

Eider 7 S

Great crested Grebe 1 S the rarest bird of the day.

Fulmar 6 N

Gannet 7 N

Litttle Auk 1 N at last, and new for the year. Dan and Mark watching from 300 mtrs south of me managed 74 Little Auks. They must have been too distant for my eyes is I'll I can suggest. 

Brent Geese 2 N

Pink footed Geese 500 S

This brings us to Sunday morning.

JWR came to pick me up to do a recce for next weeks Alnwick Wildlife Group guided walk from Embleton to Low Newton along the coast. Before we left, I had a quick task to collect some greenery for Jane's Christmas wreath making session. While getting some bits of Ivy at the Lane End, the distinctive trembling calls of Waxwings filled the air. Soon we located 26 of them perched on top of a tall Ash tree opposite a large ornamental pink Rowan tree. This tee is still laden with pinkish white berries that are always last to go, usually eaten by Bullfinches and Mistle Thrushes. As we watched down they came periodically, like locusts, to systematically clear the tree. The resident Mistler was having none of it and did his best to keep the viking raid at bay but he was fighting a losing battle. 

All of a sudden a Sparrowhawk dashed through panicking everything and the Waxwings headed off south to safety.

The start of our walk, Dunstan Steads / Embleton Golf Course with Dunstanburgh Castle in the distance.

Long tailed Duck. I wont even try to age or sex it.

We moved on to Embleton where the car was left at Dunstan Steads. This is only about 5 miles from home so still pretty local.

Our walk was quite pleasant witha few bits and pieces to make it worthwhile. 

7 Purple Sandpipers, on the shore and 19 Greenfinches looked fabulous feeding along the strand line,. At Newton Scrapes, 13 Whooper Swans, plenty of usual wildfowl and a nice Long tailed Duck showed well as Water Rails screamed in the background.

We got back home at 12, so I took Peggy for a walk to see if the Waxwings had returned. I was pleased now to find the numbers had gone up to 40+. I couldn't get an accurate number as they flew off during my best count but I know there were somewhere between 43 - 45 birds.

So, another grand early winters day out. I wonder when our roll will end?

Waxwings. The shot above has 31 of the 40 odd birds in it.

A Storm is a Threatenin'

 For a nice change, the wind for the last couple of weeks has been usually from the eastern half, with quite a bit of rain too, so we have had a few interesting things to see on patch. Nothing to set the grapevines alight but enough to keep me occupied.

Before I get on the that we had a short fine interlude on the 14th where we had a good influx of butterflies into the village. The short Ivy hedge near the village hall had 105+ Red Admirals one lunchtime with 3 Comma and a Painted Lady. Each time a car passed they would lift up like the autumn leaves in a wind. In the village wood some Striated Earthstars were a new fungi for me.

Striated Earthstar like a little spaceship.

The very next day, it was cold, down to 2 degrees with a mod NW4 blowing so we spent the morning seawatching. The sun was bright so we were often blinded but a change of angle helped a bit.

From 07.15 - 11.30 we had - 

Sooty Shearwater 1, Red throated Diver 4N 6S, Great Northern Diver in summer plumage very close in N, Arctic Skua 1N, Skua sp 2N, Pink footed Geese 90, 30, 70 S, Barnacle Goose 50 N, Purple Sandpiper 2, Shelduck 3 S, Common Scoter 4N, Red breasted Merganser 1N, Long tailed Duck 1male and 1 female N, Sabines Gull 1 juv S, loitering for a short while offshore to dip feed before drifting out of sight, Arctic Tern 1ad 2 juv N and finally 2 Twite S calling.

17th Oct, 4 late Swallows, I'd not seen any for weeks, were in the village at dusk.

On Thursday 19th we were treated to a 3 day Storm Barbet with its ESE8 Gale and heavy rain.

One of the Swallows above was so tired it flew into our shed and settled on the bench just to rest.

A few Redwings and Fieldfares arrived over the garden first thing, with 3 Brambling but it was a cracking male Firecrest that graced our compost heaps for a few minutes that made the day. Still a scarce bird up here, this is a garden first, and it started quite an influx of them all along our coastline. Also around the garden were 3 Blackcap, 3 Goldcrest, 1 Chiffchaff and a Raven overhead. A Woodcock flushed from the village hall pond mid morning.

Rough field notes.....Firecrest in the garden.

On the Friday, Babet was cranking it up with 50 mph E winds causing massive seas and sea foam feet deep across the coast road and paths.

I was at work so popped down to Newbiggin where a lot of birds sheltered in the bay inc - Grey Phalarope 8  ( 6 in one scope view!), this number increased to 12 over the weekend, 60+ Little Gulls, 1 ad Mediterranean Gull, 2 Bonxie and 1 Pomarine Skua, 4 Brents N 3 Shoveler N in an hour. The Little Gulls were knackered being blown around the beach.

Outside Newbiggin Bay.

Exhausted Little Gulls, Newbiggin

Saturday 21st and Babet still raged with ENE gales, rain and huge seas, too rough to watch. At home I short watch from the car only had 5 Little Gulls and 15 Common Scoter N. A few more birds were in the village, with a beautiful tortoiseshell patterned flock of 60+ Bramblings swirling around the back field. Two came to our feeders for a while. 115+ Redwings flew W with 3 Fieldfares and 3 Blackcaps fed on apples in our garden.

When a small 'brown' shrike was reported a couple of miles along the road, at Sugar Sands, I dashed along, but the bird couldnt be relocated. The views had been frustratingly brief of a Red backed type of Shrike. Of note here were 3 Grey Phalaropes, 4 Little Gulls and a few Twite.

Sunday 22nd saw the back of Storm Babet being a fine, calm, cold, frosty morning, a total contrast to the mayhem of the previous few days. Wanting a Phalarope for the patch I wandered along to the Rumbling Kern where 2 Grey Phalaropes fed close in with Black headed Gulls, only my 2nd patch record. An adult Mediterranean Gull, 6 Purple Sandpipers, 3 Red throated Divers were also present.

Howick Haven and Grey Phalaropes

After this I took the short drive to Alnmouth for a walk with John where the highlight here were viz mig Snow Bunting, Crossbill and several Siskins.

Back home for lunch and I was surprised to find a very late Hummingbird Hawk-moth on our second flowering Red Valerian, despite the white frost earlier. Seems an odd combination seeing the hummer, Grey Phals and Snow Bunts on the same day...

Boobycarnage!

 This morning before leaving work to go into the office a local WhatsApp message popped up - 

Brown Booby, North, Long Nab, Scarborough.

This is a message that causes a basic life pause, just for a second while the info is mentally processed.

Then its reported very close in past Cowbar in Cleveland.

Clearly this is the bird that has spent a couple of days off Filey, so, what chance that it is actually on the move and not just circling around in the sea haa looking for a nice feeding frenzy to join in with?

Just in case, you understand, not that the chance would arise, and yes I am remaining cool, it might be worth checking timescales.

Long Nab to Cowbar took 1 hr 15 mins for 36 miles.

Cowbar to Newbiggin in Northumberland, only 2 miles from my office is 75 miles. By counting fingers and toes I can deduce from this that the tropical Sula could be due in around 11.30am.  

No, I'm still not too bothered, chances are it will be back in Filey before I get in to work.

Fast forward and I am in the office at 10am and logged on.

A message banner pops up on my phone. Brown Booby past Hartlepool Headland, very close in...

Shit is getting real, this could be on the cards.

A humorous and hasty conversation with colleagues and manager about 'weh hey' Brown Boobies ( insert emoji) and I cant hold on much longer, I'm off to Newbiggin arriving at 10.50am.

Already there are 20 people eagerly concentrating and grilling the rolling calm waves into the mist. The good thing about these type of twitches is that we can meet up with good friends we don't see so often, so its always going to be a win. 

The tension is palpable. Each juv Gannet gets a sigh as it passes. The concentration is broken briefly when a Black Guillemot flies through my scope and on to several peoples county and year lists.

'Cullercoats Brown Booby North towards Seaton Sluice'.

That is almost in sight! Come on...

After a few minutes there begins to be some coughing and fidgeting in the now 35 strong crowd. The rumour mill is grinding. Word has it, that it has not been seen at Whitburn a seawatching mecca. But there are close in immature Gannets. Then one observer says that the sighting at Hartlepool was believed by some ( always a good one) to be a Gannet too.

The observers at Cullercoats chip in that it might not have been a Booby?

It turns out there are NO confirmed sightings North of Cleveland.

Ah well its been a pleasant two hours and I am back in the office at 12.45.

Things should have ended there, but no, life is never that easy, is it.

Gary Woodburn calls. After all the earlier confusion, conspiracy and string, the real deal has just gone past Whitburn! Could you believe it. Right, one last ditch attempt sees me back at Newbiggin for 1pm but I need to be back by 2pm.

I needn't have worried, as I got out of the car Gary messaged to say 'Stand Down, the Whitburn sighting is erroneous too!'

Whats going on here. Looks like another young Gannet is responsible.

While standing discussing this with those who about turned back to the point, we had a close in very dark Balearic Shearwater, a Bonxie and a few Manx and Red throated Divers.

Balearic Shearwater courtesy of Paul Weddle.

30 minutes passes, time to call it a day. While there had been several Boobies this morning there was no Brown Booby for Stew.

As we left, a photo came through of the cracking adult Sula leucogaster now loitering off South Gare. Looks like it has never passed Cleveland after all...

  

August

 I'm being neglectful again. 14th August and no blog posts this month!

So, whats been going on over the past fortnight?

The month began with a bit more seawatching. Despite reasonable conditions it remained a bit underwhelming really for example, on 3rd an early hour had 3 Manx, 2 Arctic Skuas, 5 Roseate Terns, 13 Common Scoter and a Bonxie. The hundreds of Gannets and Kittiwakes gave a false impression.

Later that day, another afternoon hour was pretty much the same.

On the 6th another two watches , one for 2hrs from 6.40am had 6 Roseates, 2 Common, 6+ Arctic and 8+ Sandwich Terns, 1 Arctic Skua, 1, yes 1 Manx, 3 Puffin, 10 Common Scoter and the watch saviour a year tick when 3 summer plumaged Bar tailed Godwits flew N.  

This watch was accompanied by an influx of weed smoking, chav, mackerel anglers. Nice.

An hour after work on Wednesday 9th was a bit better with 124 Manx N , 5 Sooty Shearwaters N, 3 Arctic Skuas N, 1 Bonxie N, 4 Common Scoter N, 3+ Puffins N and a Whimbrel.

 Other than the seawatches, not much has been happening. A trickle of yellow Willow Warblers through the village and a lone Peregrine just offshore one morning were about it.

On the moth sugar table, nightly, up to 3 Old Lady have been feeding with a few Yellow Underwings, Dark Arches and Rustics. Interestingly I've found Old Lady twice last week on buddleia flowers after dark, not something I've seen before. Holly Blues are going strong in the garden alongside another 9 species in reasonable numbers. 

In the trap a few early autumn species kicking in - 

Dark Marbled Carpet

Grey Chi x 2

Pammene aurita, only my 2nd after one last year.

Pebble Prominent, well you have to...

Ypsolopha scabrella, not a common or even regular moth in my garden.

Seawatching

 This post might seem a bit austere as there are no photos. The main reason for this is that yesterday it poured with rain most of the time we were out. 

With a NE breeze blowing we could only do one thing - seawatch. The first of the autumn. 

In situations like this a fishing brolly is a godsend so we carted the gear down the track to tuck in behind a ridge and watched from 0720 - 0920 before deciding the day was just about a write off...

Still, a few reasonable local patch birds made it into the notebook - 

Sooty Shearwater 1N always nice to get the season off with a July Sooty. 

Manx Shearwater 23 N

Roseate Tern 4ad 1 juv N

Arctic Tern 15 N

Common Tern 3 N

Sandwich Tern 20+ N

Puffin 25 N

Common Scoter 18 S 13 N

Goosander 4 on sea

Common Sandpiper 1

Golden Plover 50+ 

Lesser black backed Gulls 7 N 

Swift 1

The rain eased off by 3pm so when news of a Cory's Shearwater past Newbiggin it was time for a double shift. This time at Cullernose, no brolly required. Another 2 hours 3.35 - 5.35pm was not lucky with Cory's but was pretty much a copy of this morning with

Sooty Shearwater 1 N

Manx Shearwater 21 N

Roseate Tern 5 ads N

Arctic Skua 2 dark phase N

Puffin 8 N

Turnstone 25+ N

The wind is still quite brisk today so I might get an hour later on...

Arctic Skuas

 

Late Winter Seawatching

 When there is a cold, north wind in February we are often at a bit of a loose end. Its too early to look for spring migrants, too cold and windy to head inland so what can we do? There is only one thing for it really, stay on patch and look at my only decent 'wetland'  - the sea.

Seawatching at this time of year is a world away from the watching from July to December.  In spring there is usually little to see, but it is sure to throw up one or two new birds for the local patch year list, so that is how we spent Sunday morning, and for February, we were pleasantly surprised.

We sat in the vicinity of the Howick Bathing House, where you can hunker down behind a rock out of the cold wind, the spot is literally 419 metres from my house. Its just a pity I can't see it from my house, what a boost to the garden list that would be.

So, what was on offer.

As is the way, quite a few birds were too far off to do much with, though a steady northerly movement of Kittiwakes with a few Gannets were the start to my list additions. Soon, a few more things of interest appeared with both Great Northern and Red throated Divers, a nice drake Velvet Scoter, a few parties of Common Scoter and a very early Manx Shearwater.   

Great Northern Diver 2N 1 S

Red throated Diver 16N 7S

Common Scoter 23N 12S

Velvet Scoter 1N

Shelduck 3N

Razorbill only 8 identified out of 100s of auks. 

Manx Shearwater 1

Purple Sandpiper 1

Gannet 40+N

Kittiwakes 100+ per hour N

Guillemots Several hundred going all directions offshore.

Shag, a few.

Harbour Porpoise 1, a while since I've seen one. Since the Bottle nosed Dolphins became regular the poor Porpoises seem to have taken a beating.

Also in the vicinity were 18 Meadow Pipits N, 1 Rock Pipit in full display song flight, an adult male Sparrowhawk along the shore and a few 'argentatus' Herring Gulls. We had hoped there would be more Gulls to give us a chance of a white winger but there were very few around.

Common Scoters

Immature Red throated Diver

Shag

Shelducks above a Guillemot.

The same Shelducks now above a Red throated Diver.

Back in the village, this young Sparrowhawk is terrorising my Tree Sparrows by spending his days lounging below the bird feeders. It is quite obliging, behaving more like a predatory chicken that a dashing raptor. There is a cracking adult male too, probably the bird seen while seawatching, but he wont sit for a photo.

After adding a few of this lot, my 2023 Local Patch List is now standing at 96. Still plenty to look out for...there must be a Stock Dove out there somewhere.

 

Sparrowhawk watching for a meal. Pic through Kitchen window.

The End 2...

 On Friday morning  I was back out for a couple of hours seawatching but what a difference a day makes.

After yesterdays masses of birds, today was much quieter with, for example, instead of the thousands of Kittiwakes passing, they must have all gone through because I had no more than 10 in 2 hours. Same for Gannets. 

The visibility was awful with thick drizzle and a moderate Easterly wind.The tide was still a good way out so to see birds they would almost need to be over the rock edges, as indeed most were. 'Real' seabirds were few but wildfowl made for a decent variety - 

Common Scoter 137

Velvet Scoter 6

Scaup 1 female with a scoter flock

Long tailed Duck 2 females

Goldeneye 15N 4S

Red breasted Merganser 2 drakes

Goosander 3 fine drakes S unusual in this plumage here.

Teal 99

Wigeon 31

Little Auk 3

Grey Plover 15

Purple Sandpiper 3

Snow Bunting 2 came off the beach, flew N and seemed to land again.

All birds moving North unless stated.

In the village the now flooded mere had 4 Black tailed Godwits and 200+ Lapwings. Oh for this to be a more permanent feature, what it would pull in...

So not a bad jaunt out...    

     

The view from Seaton Point...

Bull Mere, Boulmer

 

The End.

 Of Autumn that is.

We used to begin our county Winter Atlas surveys after 13th November so I always think of that date as the end of autumn. Still, depending upon the weather, some tardy birds are still migrating up until the end of the month.

The Pied Wheatear from my previous post remained faithful to its graffiti daubed skate park right up until Saturday 12th November, allowing even the most reticent of twitchers time to catch up with it if they so wished.

On my patch things have been a bit quiet recently though a female Merlin across our village, well lit from early morning sunshine on the 6th was good and even better was the Snow Bunting on the 14th that danced low over our garden, calling its lovely tinkling tune all the way. This is my 3rd ( I think) garden record. 25 Whooper Swans flew S on 5th while 16 Redpolls were in Village Wood the previous day. Ive seen them in flight a few times and suspect a couple of Mealies in there but cant clinch it.

Other bits of interest around home were a Water Rail sadly killed on the road overnight, having just arrived on its wintering grounds and some big fungi on the cricket pitch, known descriptively as Macro Mushroom Agaricus urinascens. Apparently this is a widespread, but scarce fungi so I was pleased to meet with its oval, tiger bread, form while out walking Peggy.

Macro Mushrooms

On the invertebrate front, the moth trap has been moth balled until the New Year. With the rising cost of electricity units per moth well up, its not worth putting it on for 13 hours for 2 Angle Shades... The last Butterflies for me were a Small Tortoiseshell on 3rd and a Peacock on the 6th.

I've been on holiday this week, using up annual leave before Christmas. The time was to be spent putting the garden to bed for the winter. There has been mixed success here with fine Monday and Wednesday utilised but on other days its just been too wet and windy.

When the weather is stormy from the East we all know what that means to an East coast patch watcher - Seawatching.

Today has been really grim. Raining most of the day, barely daylight  and blowing a strong Easterly.

Although an East wind can be good, I prefer a Northerly for seawatching. My home spots are just too exposed in this weather, so I headed to Boulmer and the safety of the relatively sheltered Seaton Point, where strategically placed caravans make it just about bearable.

From 09.30am - 11am the count went  - 

Kittiwake 1300 N ( a gross under estimate with maybe double that in reality).

Sooty Shearwater 3 late birds taking the 'breeze' in their stride.

Little Auk 24 N

Pomarine Skua 3 N

Arctic Skua 2 N ( these 5 skuas were in one flock)

Skua sp probably a Long tail but it was too fast and hiding in wave troughs)

Brent Geese 2 N

Long tailed Duck 3 drakes N.

Gannets not counted but a light movement.

Fulmar 2N

Hopefully there will be more moving in the morning, I'll give it a couple of hours first thing.

Apologies for the images, I only had my 300mm lens. The pics look black and white but they are in full colour, honest!

Kittiwakes.

Three Little Auks of the 24 seen.

Squint or click and zoom, these are Long tailed Drakes...

Arctic Skua first, then 3 Pomarines, and another Arctic at the tail end. Compare the sizes of the Arctic and Pom at the front.

Three Pomarine Skuas.

Seawatching

 Thursday 15th September.

Before starting work I had an hour seawatch with Dan near the Bathing House. A mod NW 4 was blowing but it was generally fine with an odd shower.

At 06.42 a distant Great Shearwater came in to view, we both got on it at exactly the same time. It hugged the swell shearing back and forth over the waves.

Along with the Great were 58 Manx Shearwater, 9 Sooty Shearwater, 11 Red throated Divers, 2 Arctic Skua, 12 Wigeon, 70 Pink footed Geese and a close Merlin past the point.

After work a short stint at Cullernose had - 

3 Red throated Divers, 2 Brent Geese, 11 Lesser black backed Gulls, 2 Arctic Skuas, 50 Sandwich Tern, 18 Teal, 2 Puffin, 10 Sooty Shearwaters, 12 Manx Shearwaters, 1 ad Roseate Tern, 1 fs Little Gull, 1 sum plum Grey Plover.