Seawatching was the continued theme of the day with the wind still blowing strong for the meantime. Watching through the morning delivered counts of four Sabine's Gulls, two Grey Phalaropes, two Little Gulls, three Great Skuas, two Great Northern Divers, two Arctic Terns, two Leach's Petrels, nine Arctic Skuas, a Pale-bellied Brent Goose, our first Yellow-legged Gull of the year, 20 Mediterranean Gulls, seven Sandwich Terns, eight Golden Plovers, nine Common Scoters and six Manx Shearwaters. Not to forget the 3119 Razorbills, 2015 Kittiwakes and 259 Gannets. It is particularly pleasing to see more Great Skuas around than the past few years after their struggles with HPAI. Likewise, a multitude of chocolatey brown first-year Gannets has been quite evident, on the other hand immature Gannets in their third and fourth-calendar years (hatched during the peak of the bird flu troubles) are much less common. 

Great Black-backed Gull (C) Rosie Durrant

On the land, there seemed to be a few birds around, it'll be interesting to see what happens when the wind calms down later next week. Two Blue Tits remained on the island, the Spotted Flycatcher remained at Nant, 27 Goldcrests were assorted in the bushes, three Blackcaps were at Nant, four Chiffchaffs were in the Withies along with two Willow Warblers, eight White Wagtails were on the South End and a Grey Wagtail flew over the Wetlands. 

A good spot from Rosie was a colour-ringed Great Black-backed Gull from Dublin found during a Seal count. 

Seal and the Observatory behind. (C) Rosie Durrant