I arrived at dawn for what turned out to be a steady but hugely satisfying seawatch. Waders were soon on the move, mainly
Bar-tailed Godwits and
Whimbrel (72 and 24 in the end, respectively), with singles of
Dunlin and
Grey Plover thrown in. Skuas soon started as well, though never reached any lofty numbers, with four each of
Arctic Skua and
Bonxie. One of the
Bonxies lingered offshore the whole morning, at one point shredding a gull/tern corpse on the water's surface, which it may well have killed. More importantly, one of the Arctic Skuas was tagging along with a group of three
Pomarine Skuas in the distance as they tracked east. Despite the great range, they were in decent enough view for a minute or so and a very pleasing way to get my first of the year. These birds weren't picked up further west beforehand, at least not today, but made it to Splash Point 45 minutes later. Other seawatch highlights included 48
Mediterranean Gulls, 11
Common Scoters, a
Red-throated Diver, two
Fulmars, 50
Sandwich Terns, 28
Gannets and a
Swallow. Two
Yellow Wagtails flew over, as did 17
Linnets and a further five
Swallows. The beach held 21
Turnstones, a
Dunlin, two
Sanderlings and four
Oystercatchers. A quick walk around the Gap revealed just three
Blackcaps, two
Chiffchaffs, a
Green Woodpecker and a
Whitethroat, though a
Whimbrel flying over the fields was nice.
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| Pomarine Skuas (left/lower) and Arctic Skua [phonescoped] |
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| Whimbrel flying over land |
