Weather-wise this year we have not lacked sunshine or dry spells, which means suitable seawatching weather has been very much at a premium. On the the odd occasion this weather broke I tried to get whatever I could from the sea, as you will now read about...
I probably should have written this post in chronological order, however I just have to skip to the completely unexpected star sea bird of the year (so far anyway!).
At the end of August there was a weather front from the south/south east that came in, around about the 28th, and it included our first decent drop of rain since early June.
I had a quick look out to sea on the evening of 28th, and within a few minutes saw my first Balearic Shearwaters of the year, and after 15 minutes had seen at least ten (some clearly lingering). The following morning conditions were even better, and a lot wetter, although I wasn't able to make it out early. I was in touch with other watchers though here and nearby, and there wasn't that much going through so I wasn't too fed up about missing out.
Mid-morning on 29th the rain eased, and I did have a short window of free time so nipped down to Spot On Kiosk at about 10am for a completely speculative seawatch, one that I was not expecting much from at all. I did have a nice early highlight though, with a dark-phased Arctic Skua through, as well as a couple of Balearic Shearwaters. There were a few Gannets passing through too which always gives some hope, and it was whilst I was looking at a loose flock of about four or five of these that a distinctive shape flicked up in amongst them... a few more views and I could see it was a large shearwater sp. And it wasn't long before it became apparent it was a Cory's Shearwater! It's pale underparts, pale brown upperparts (including head) and its overall size, shape and jizz being the clinching features.
The best thing about this bird was that I first picked it up really early when it was still way off to the east. This meant I enjoyed four minutes of uninterrupted views as it made its way west, before I lost it around the corner of the Spot On Kiosk at 10:12. What an absolute treat and honestly a complete shock as it was not a great seawatching day anywhere on the south coast - especially not for big shears (even in Cornwall!).
Because I had so much time with it I was able to spend some of that time holding my phone up to my telescope, and amazingly it sort of worked! I managed to grab a short video of it which gave me these video-stills...
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| The first Cory's ever photographed/videoed (just) off Seaton! |
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| Testing the limits of my phone camera that's for sure! |
And here is the actual video. I will warn you now it isn't an easy watch mostly due to my far from steady hands, but the distance involved and wind also didn't help. The Cory's doesn't come into view until about the 13 seconds mark...
I alerted other birders to the west of me, and a Cory's Shearwater was subsequently seen flying south past Dawlish Warren at 11:45 which presumably was the same bird. Some really heavy showers passed through between my sighting and this one, so there's every chance it may have spent some time sitting these out.
This was my third record of Cory's Shearwater for the patch, following my first single on 13/10/23 and then two through together on 23/08/24. Having not seen any here for my first 20 years of birding the patch (although I have missed a few), and now seeing four in the last four years, it does feel like things are changing... probably sea temperatures sadly.
Other seawatching activity since my last seawatching-related post on this blog (which was way back on 17th April!) include:
19th Sept. A decent south westerly wind was blowing although it was really too clear and no rain. Half an hour at Spot On from 7am produced 11 Balearic Shearwaters, 4 Kittiwake and 2 Common Scoter all west. Best of all though was a Hobby which flew out to sea, but about five minutes later returned in/off again right above my head!
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| Four of a flock of seven Balearic Shearwaters |
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| A terrible photo of a very quick (but clearly indecisive) Hobby! |
6th June. A very wet and windy morning saw me at the thatched shelter on Seaton seafront. A single Storm Petrel flew west at 07:20 (my first and only so far this year - they really do love the rain!), along with 2 Great Northern Diver, 3 Sanderling, 14 Sandwich Terns and small numbers of Manx Shearwaters, Gannets and Kittiwakes.
5th June. Thirty minutes from 7pm, with a storm approaching from the south, produced a single Arctic Skua west as well as 30+ distant shearwater sp. (presumably Manx).
19th May. Great to get a classic spring seawatch in what was otherwise a very non-classic spring! 06:15 - 07:55 produced: 2 Arctic Skua (1 east at 06:30 and 1 chasing Kittiwakes at 07:25, both pale-phased and my first of the year), 9 Great Northern Diver (all west and most in full summer plumage), 2 Common Scoter, 43 Manx Shearwater, 90+ Kittiwake and 9 Sanderling (in/off and then landed on the beach).
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| I love the variation in spring Sanderling - highlighted well by these two from the flock of nine. |
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| Another of my favoured spring sights, a migrating Great Norther Diver. This was one of the few not in summer plumage so presumably a first-summer bird |
And there we go! So as things stand not a good year for seawatching from Seaton, but still some nice highlights with the major one being the Cory's Shearwater. A spring/summer with any skuas is always good though, and I came out of spring 2026 with two Great and three Arctic so even though no Poms, some skuas will always be better than none! Storm Petrel is not always annual here either so that was another nice highlight in early June.
Be sure to check back soon for another post...
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