A rather productive seawatch today that was completely dominated by Skuas, with over 70 recorded including 13 Pomarine Skuas with the largest flock being six. Some other good totals and species were seen and at long last Little Terns were moving, with a total of 24 seen consisting of only four flocks. By late afternoon the wind had completely dwindled despite a moderate SE breeze all afternoon, but I was quite glad as 13 hours today was more than enough, with an expected three more days of hard graft down at Splash Point to come.
What was interesting was the totals from Birling, who watched for half the time but recorded similar numbers to me. This was no doubt down to the murky conditions out to sea, which means the birds angle into the south coast to try and find land so they can navigate along it, rather than finding the land much further west and coasting past us. Often I was scanning around to the east and finding birds that had not been seen by people looking straight out. This means the further east you are, the more birds, especially in murky conditions.
Afterwards a short visit to the Ouse Estuary Project provided nice views of both Sedge and Reed Warblers.
Totals between 05.30 - 18.30 Wind NE-SE 2:
Common Scoter - 1176
Mediterranean Gull - 161
Little Gull - 18
Whimbrel - 128
Arctic Skua - 44
Bar-tailed Godwit - 367
Sandwich Tern - 203
Guillemot - 1
Commic Tern - 49 (awful totals for time of year)
Red-throated Diver - 20
Sanderling - 8
Shoveler - 8
Great Skua - 14
Brent Geese - 249
Avocet - 4
Little Tern - 24
Black-throated Diver - 5
Dunlin - 2
Auk sp. - 2
Velvet Scoter - 5
Shag - 1
Pomarine Skua - 13
Teal - 14
Mallard - 2
Red-breasted Merganser - 6
Arctic Tern - 8
Manx Shearwater - 1w
Yellow Wagtail - 1 in
Pomarine Skua times: 1 l/p @ 09.55; 3 l/p @ 09.58; 6 5 l/p.1d/p @ 10.01; 1 l/p @ 10.08; 1 l/p @ 10.43, 1 l/p @ 15.02.
What was interesting was the totals from Birling, who watched for half the time but recorded similar numbers to me. This was no doubt down to the murky conditions out to sea, which means the birds angle into the south coast to try and find land so they can navigate along it, rather than finding the land much further west and coasting past us. Often I was scanning around to the east and finding birds that had not been seen by people looking straight out. This means the further east you are, the more birds, especially in murky conditions.
Afterwards a short visit to the Ouse Estuary Project provided nice views of both Sedge and Reed Warblers.
Totals between 05.30 - 18.30 Wind NE-SE 2:
Common Scoter - 1176
Mediterranean Gull - 161
Little Gull - 18
Whimbrel - 128
Arctic Skua - 44
Bar-tailed Godwit - 367
Sandwich Tern - 203
Guillemot - 1
Commic Tern - 49 (awful totals for time of year)
Red-throated Diver - 20
Sanderling - 8
Shoveler - 8
Great Skua - 14
Brent Geese - 249
Avocet - 4
Little Tern - 24
Black-throated Diver - 5
Dunlin - 2
Auk sp. - 2
Velvet Scoter - 5
Shag - 1
Pomarine Skua - 13
Teal - 14
Mallard - 2
Red-breasted Merganser - 6
Arctic Tern - 8
Manx Shearwater - 1w
Yellow Wagtail - 1 in
Pomarine Skua times: 1 l/p @ 09.55; 3 l/p @ 09.58; 6 5 l/p.1d/p @ 10.01; 1 l/p @ 10.08; 1 l/p @ 10.43, 1 l/p @ 15.02.
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Mixed Wader flocks like this are classic
late April scenes. Here are mainly Bar-tailed
Godwits with the odd Whimbrel.
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