wot no ivory gull.......

Black throated and Great northen Diver passed Whitburn by 10.30 this morning. It was a quiet sea watch with little moving but we still managed three species of Diver and magic mark had a Bonxie that i couldn't get onto
The mistake we made was ending the watch when we did as an Ivory Gull probably passed the Obs sometime this morning. Oh well lets hope its relocated or passes tomorrow
This is what we saw in order of appearance

Saturday 30th November 07.30-10.30 NW 2 broken cloud

Gannet 14n 10s
Fulmar 3n
Brent Goose 1n db
Red th Diver 6n 23s
Common Scoter 9n 36n
Brent Goose1n pb
Cormorant 3n 10s
Black th Diver 1s
Guillemot 9n 1s
Shag 1n 1s
Great n Diver 1s

Sooty saves the day

Sooty Shearwater 2 Great northern and 2 Black throated Divers passed Whitburn Obs by 10.30 today. It was a little disappointing i expected more wildfowl movement in a nice northerly flow but little was passing and yes the Sooty was the star of the show. The passage of Divers continues and it will be interesting to see the months totals
Pink Floyd and Hoggie were in today and this is what we saw in order of appearance

Sunday 24th November 07.20-10.30 N2-3 cloud cover

Black h Gull 36n 12s
Eider 26n 4s
Common Scoter 30n 1s
Wigeon 8n
Gannet 188n
Fulmar 23n
Guillimot 165n
Scan Herring Gull 1n
Sooty Shearwater 1n ( 8.15 )
Razorbill 6n
Kittiwake 7n 3s
Mallard 6n
Red th Diver 21n 1s
Great n Diver 2n
Black th Diver 2s

sloppy seconds......

4 Great northern 1 black throated and 21 Red throated Divers passed Whitburn Obs by 10am today. The northerly has gone and we were left with sloppy seconds but it was still a canny sea watch. New Mark joined me (late as usual) and Hggie at the death
This is what we saw in order of appearance

Saturday 23rd November WNW2 cloud cover

Common Scoter 26n
Eider 31n 3s
Black h Gull 8n 16s
Cormorant 1n 7s
Fulmer 6n
Goldeneye 4n
Bonxie 1n
Shag 13s
Red th Diver 9n 12s
Long tailed Duck 8n
Black th Diver 1s
Gannet 13n
Great n Diver 4n
Wigeon 1n 1s
Velvet Scoter 2n
Red br Merganser 1n
Red necked Grebe 1s
Teal 10n
Goosander 1n
porpoise 1

Skua Surprise 2...........no Skuas

3 Little Auks, 3 Great northern Divers and a Black throated Diver passed Whitburn Obs by 09.45 this morning. The general passage of birds was excellent continuing on from yesterday with lots of Eider, the one difference being the lack of Skuas with just one Arctic passing. Otherwise it was a good mixture of wildfowl and a few Little Auks. Nobody else showed up except Peter Bell and Peter Gill who turned up late on
This is what i saw in order of appearance

Friday 22nd November 07.20-09.45 NW3 cloud cover

Gannet 176n
Cormorant 2n 2s
Eider 257n
Shag 1n 7s
Little Auk 3n
Fulmar 13n
Wigeon 23n
Shelduck 17n
Common Scoter 303n
Red necked Grebe 1s
Long tailed Duck 1n 1s
Goldeneye 9n
Goosander 1n
Velvet Scoter 4n
Red th Diver 13n 4s
Great n Diver 3n
Knot 16n
Brent Goose 4n db
Mallard 6n
Porpoise 1
Snipe 2n
Black th Diver 1n

skua surprise

Long tailed Skua, 2 Poms and 11 Bonxies passed Whitburn Obs 13.00-15.35pm. Sadly work got in the way of sea watching today, so i wasn't able to get in the Obs till this afternoon and missed the Little Auks but still managed to see 3 species of Skua including a stunning juvenile bird so i was glad i made the effort.Add to that 3 Great northern Divers and a Glaucous Gull and you can feel the quality. Magic Mark and Pink Floyd were in from first light and put in a mega shift and the day totals were outstanding
This is what i saw on my afternoon watch in order of appearance

Thursday 21st November 13.00-15.35 NW2-3 rain at times

Long tailed Duck 1n 1s
Eider 227n
Long tailed Skua 1n juv close inshore
Bonxie 11n
Common Scoter 10n 123s
Red th Diver 5n 3s
Mallard 31n 2s
Cormorant 4n
Velvet Scoter 3s
Great northern Diver 1n 2s
Goldeneye 4n
Pom Skua 2s
Wigeon 20n
Shelduck 3n
Shag 1n
Teal 6n 2s
Glaucous Gull 1n juv

Goan home......

Great northern Diver, 2 Velvet Scoters and a Long tailed Duck passed Whitburn Obs by 10.30 this morning. Yes magic mark and myself are back from our winter break in Goa, jet lag doesn't stop keen sea watchers.It was a very pleasant watch and we were joined by pink floyd, hoggie and walter
This is what we saw in order of appearance

Sunday 17th November 07.15-10.30 WNW2 cloud cover

Eider 22n 2s
Cormorant 22s
Red th Diver 17n 23s
Long tailed Duck 1n
Shag 4n 14s
Porpoise 2
Gannet 25n 2s
Great northern Diver 1n
Common Scoter 27n
Mallard 1n
Grey Heron 1n
Grey Wagtail 1n
Velvet Scoter 2n
Pink footed Goose 180s

it is now......

Great northern Diver passed Whitburn by 10.30 this morning. I didn't expect much in a blasting westerly and i was right. Pink Floyd joined me late on and we didn't see much, a bit of vis mig kept the interest up but birds were scarce. Its my last sea watch for a while as next weekend I'm off to do some birding in Goa with magic mark
This is what we saw in order of appearance

Sunday 3rd November 06.50-10.30 W5-6 at first but 3-4 later light cloud

Black h Gull 54n 112s
Cormorant 1n 14s
Goldeneye 1n
Common Scoter 68n 1s
Peregrine 2n
Goosander 5s
Curlew 1s
Teal 1n
Red breasted Merganser 1s
Turnstone 6s
Red th Diver 1s
Fieldfare 15 in off
Great n Diver 1s
Grey Heron 1s
Blackbird 3 in off
Wigeon 1n

they think its all over..........

560 Pinkfeet, 9 Whoopers and a Great northern Diver went south past Whitburn by 10am. It was just me and Pink Floyd in the Obs today, he beat me in i wonder if he slept in the Obs. The fair weather sea watchers have left till next year thinking all the action was over but as you can see it was a canny watch.This is what we saw in order of appearance

Saturday 2nd November 06.45-10.00 W1-2 then SW 2-3

Black h Gull 90n 399s
Cormorant 1n 19s
Curlew 2s
Common Scoter 35n
Eider 1n 2s
Teal 2s
Red th Diver 4n 18s
Red br Merganser 3n
Shag 1n
Pink footed Goose 560s (240 and 320 )
Whooper Swan 9s
Great n Diver 1s
Little Gull 1s
Goldeneye 3n 1s
Mallard 1n
Grey Heron 2
Porpoise 10 plus