4 Great and 4 Arctic Skuas,48 Whimbrel and 348 Sandwich Terns were the highlights passed Whitburn Obs by 09.30 this morning. Yes the Terns are heading south and we wont be seeing some of them again. I noticed Steely on the Farnes said his Terns were heading off, well can you send us the Bridled please. I fancied it might have went passed with the Sandwich Terns today but not on my shift, maybe tomorrow
The Obs was busy and the front row was full even with Magic Mark and Stevie Thunder my normal early morning companions missing. Stoney was in the house for the third day running i think we've got a convert, also Mark H from Notts was back along with Derek Lawrence and Colin Wilson and Desperate Den again bringing up the rear!
This is what we saw in order of appearance
Saturday 17th August 05.15-09.30 SSW 3 cloud cover
Bar t Godwit 1s
Common Tern 20n 43s
Whimbrel 13n 35s
Arctic Tern 13n 42s
Sandwich Tern 16n 332s
Curlew 4n 4s
Manxie 11n 7s
Black h Gull 1s
05.55 Petrel sp south seen by Rob but we couldn't get on it
Common Scoter 11n 13s
Swift 2s
Cormorant 32n 211s yes 211s
Teal 11s
Bonxie 2n 2s
Arctic Skua 4n
Redshank 1n 16s
Kestrel 1n
Sandmartin 3s
Turnstone 1s
Ringed Plover 5s
Swallow 4s
Shelduck 1s
I will be back later for a second look and hoping for the Bridled Tern
