'Perfect' seawatching forecasts for this neck of the woods have been few and far between this autumn so today saw us take a day off (sort of!) and head to the seawatching hide! We weren't disappointed. Between us we covered from 07:30-16:00 in shifts. Totals were:
Leach's petrel - 1 (first since 2011)
Sabine's gull - 1 (first of year)
Sooty shearwater - 1 (first of year)
Grey phalarope - 2
Arctic skua - 30 (14 DP, 16 LP) - a day record
Bonxie - 28 (a day record)
Pomarine skua - 7 (3 LP 4 Juv) - a day record
Manx shearwater - 58
Fulmar - 2
Med gull - 4 (all ad winter)
Common gull - 4
Common Scoter - 6 (all males)
Arctic tern - 1
GN Diver -1
Dunlin - 10
Wigeon - 5
Very impressive passage of auks (mainly razorbills) peaking at 1200/hr, gannet peaking at 700/hr and kittiwakes peaking at 984/hr - many thousands of each passed by through the day
