I arrived at George V Avenue for sunrise and was soon joined by Gareth. The following four hours made for some of my best Goring seawatching. Skuas started before long, finishing on six
Bonxies and eight
Arctic Skuas east, with three
Bonxies west, two of which were perhaps earlier birds backtracking. All of the Arctic Skuas so far this spring have been dark morphs.
Common Scoters went through at a steady pace, my personal total finishing on 630 east. A trio of
Velvet Scoters - seen at various other points along the coast today - flew east, along with 12
Teal and six
Red-breasted Mergansers. To my particular delight, having basically resigned myself to having to see this species in the early winter now, was a
Red-necked Grebe which tracked east at 7.30am. A 2CY
Little Gull was another nice year tick and a forerunner to a strong push of
Sandwich Terns and
Commic Terns, which finished on 337 and 122 respectively. 39 of the Commics came within reasonable range to assign them as our first
Common Terns of the year. Wader passage involved a
Bar-tailed Godwit, two
Whimbrel, two
Grey Plovers and two
Curlew. A
Shelduck, 11
Dark-bellied Brent Geese, 215
Gannets, 20
Red-throated Divers, 14
Fulmars, five
Kittiwakes and six
Great Crested Grebes were also logged. Two
Linnets and a
Meadow Pipit flew over.
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| dark morph Arctic Skua |
