Thursday 14 September 2017

Today was another productive day out to sea, while not quite scaling the heights of our fantastic seawatch on the 11th, a very good selection of species were seen. Highlights were another nine Leach's Petrel and a brilliant total of six Sabine's Gulls. The big movers were 5200 Kittiwakes, 2063 Manx Shearwaters, 893 Razorbils and 113 Gannets, while there was a good passage of terns featuring 80 Arctic Terns, 54 Sandwich Terns, four Common Terns and a Little Tern, our third record of the year. It's always a fine day for seawatching when four skua species are had, although numbers were more modest today; 14 Arctic Skuas, nine Great Skuas and singles of Pomarine and Long-tailed Skua. The other highlight was an adult Little Gull off the South End, while the supporting cast were 27 Common Scoters, ten Guillemots, three Black-headed Gulls, two Common Gulls and a single Grey Heron, heading west off the South End.

On the land there had been a small arrival, with a bit more of an autumnal feel to some of the new species. 55 Goldcrests, 23 Chiffchaffs, 20 Robins and 18 White Wagtails were the commonest species, with 22 "Alba" Wagtails, three Grey Wagtails and a single Sand Martin through overhead. There were two each of Blackcap and Wheatear, and singles of Skylark, Spotted Flycatcher, Collared Dove and Water Rail, the latter two the first records of the autumn. A good day for falcons saw three Peregrines, two Kestrels and a single immature Merlin recorded.

A very quiet day for waders, with the exception of an arrival of 58 Curlews. 15 each of Redshanks and Turnstones and three Whimbrels were all that was on offer otherwise.

Rosy Minor, Ephraim Perfect; Ephraim's Bird Blog 


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