Tuesday 26 October 2021

 it was a bit of a grim day once again 

At dawn the survey vessel CEFAS Endeavour was about four miles to the west of the island. half an hour later it was passing within a mile of the Lighthouse. It is being used by MARINElife to carry out surveys around the British Isles. Onboard, and chatting to me via WhatsApp this morning is Peter Howlett, BBFO’s former Chairman.

CEFAS Endeavour
CEFAS Endeavour

During a couple of hours seawtaching in the morning, some 180 Razorbills, the leftovers from yesterday, passed south. A small number of Mediterranean Gulls were seen too, however Peter reported a flock of about 50 Med Gulls to the south east of the island, presumably off the Bastrom Shoal - the underwater reef out there.

About 175 Gannets were seen, many of them fishing off the west side of the island.




One of the highlights of quite a grim day though was two Great Northern Divers that flew south. Both were adults in summer plumage. Below is a grainy video of the second bird.



Whilst I was taking down some of the nets at Cristin in readiness for our impending departure for the winter, the rest of the Obs team were helping Gareth round up sheep from the mountain  and get them into the yard at Ty Pellaf. Stuart saw the Tree Sparrow down there again amongst a small number of finches that are using the potato patch.

every sheep must be off the mountain!

tada.... we didi it!


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