Northwesterly force 5 winds generated rough conditions at Sea State 5, accompanied by very good visibility and a top temperature of 17°C.

An exciting day of seawatching comprised much of the birding for the day with all the staff and students lining up on the terrace to watch seabirds fly past the West Coast. Three Sooty Shearwaters provided some early highlights with the first two going through within half an hour after sunrise. Skuas also provided a lot of interest throughout the morning with a variety of different ages and morphs of Arctic Skuas moving through and two Great Skuas, the second of which flew in to the West Coast before circling up over the coast providing good views for the students. Much of the passage was comprised of southward moving terns with a total of six species recorded during through the morning. The highlight was a Black Tern moving south in with a mixed flock of Sandwich and Arctic tern off the West Coast and a juvenile Roseate Tern off the North End. Counts of other species totalled 189 Sandwich Terns, 44 Arctic Terns, 37 Common Terns, eight Commic Terns, and a Little Tern off the West Coast. Headlining the gulls was a juvenile Sabine's Gull passing the West Coast and six Little Gulls also off the West Coast. Other gull counts included two Yellow-legged Gulls, 663 Kittiwakes, 15 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 15 Herring Gulls, 11 Great Black-backed Gulls, four Black-headed Gulls,  and two Mediterranean Gulls. Other seabirds passing offshore included 208 Manx Shearwaters four Grey Phalaropes off the North End, 373 Gannets, 31 Common Scoters, 26 Shags, 16 Razorbills, 13 Fulmars, four Cormorants, two Puffins, and a single Guillemot.

The most notable landbird sighting came from a Quail flushed in the lowlands during the afternoon. Wader and wildfowl passage along the coast produced four Purple Sandpipers on the Narrows, 17 Turnstones, 13 Redshanks, nine Whimbrels, six Curlews, six Dunlin, five Ringed Plovers, a single Lapwing, and a Greenshank. Passerine numbers were generally low but were bolstered in the afternoon by a Whinchat in the lowlands, a Skylark passing over the lowlands, 12 Robins, six Wheatears, five Willow Warblers, one Sedge Warbler, two Chiffchaffs, a Blackcap and four Stonechats. Overhead hirundines, wagtails, and pipits included 25 Swallows, 10 House Martins, 23 White Wagtails, 20 Rock Pipits, and 16 Meadow Pipits. 

Whinchat (c) Ezra Sherwell

Cetacean monitoring off the West Coast and North End yielded seven Common Dolphins and three Risso's Dolphins. Invertebrates started to show later in the day as the wind died off with two female Red-veined Darters, 15 Migrant Hawkers, 283 Rush Veneers, 31 Common Grass Veneers, 22 Painted Ladies, 14 Silver Ys, eight Red Admirals, four Humming-bird Hawk-moths and a Grayling seen. Six Slow Worms were also noted under the refugia at the Observatory. 

In the afternoon the students were taken up the mountain to assist with finishing off the final square of the Manx Shearwater census, providing some useful expereince conducting species monitoring as part of a long-term project. 

Students helping out with the Manx Shearwater census on the mountain (c) Joel Tragen