With Cory's Shearwaters reported off Portland on multiple days within the last week, showing they have made it this far up the channel, I have been keen to get down to the sea whenever I've had the chance.
 |
| My usual sea view from my favoured sea waching point in Seaton, the Spot On Kiosk |
An evening sea watch on 2nd August was completely speculative as there wasn't even any wind. But three Balearic Shearwaters, my first of the year, flew west together at 8pm and made the visit worthwhile. Also 11 Med Gulls west, including nine juveniles.
Yesterday morning (8th) two hours from dawn in more promising conditions gave me a nice little haul, but again no big 'uns. The shearwaters I did see were two Balearic and one Manx, all west as single birds.
The main highlight of the watch was a surprise pair of Garganey, including a male (either juv or eclipse adult) which flew west at 06:25. Another pair of small duck flew west about half an hour later, but neither of these was a male Garganey so they were definitely a different pair and I saw nothing to suggest they weren't Teal. Also three Common Scoter west.
Another nice highlight was a close dark-phased Arctic Skua which flew slowly west at 06:20. It came through within the Gannet passage that started up at about 6am, in all I logged 130 fly west including a decent number of juveniles - a promising sign after the bird flu tragedies they've endured in recent years. Also three Med Gulls west and a half-a-dozen Kittiwake. A Ringed Plover called a few times but I have no idea which way it was going as it remained invisible.
Finding myself glued to the weather forecasts even more than usual at the moment, longing for some hefty Atlantic storms...
No comments:
Post a Comment