Where Eagles Dare.........

Little Gull and 7 Bonxies passed Whitburn Obs by 09.30 this morning. Magic Mark was back from Mull with tales of Eagles, Corncrakes and Minkies. We had a canny watch with the highest Manxie count of the year(just). This is what we saw in order of appearance

Sunday 29th June NNW2-3 cloud cover at first then broken

Manx Shearwater 109n
Gannet 640n
Sandwich Tern 22n 28s
Gadwall 3n
Puffin 213n 12s
Bonxie 7n
Common Tern 10n 5s
Common Scoter 77n 58s
Arctic Tern 2n
Curlew 12n
Teal 5n
Little Gull 1n 1st sum
Redshank 4n
Golden Plover 2s
Whimbrel 1s
Common Gull 1n 5s
Black h Gull 1n 3s
Bar tailed Godwit 3n
Porpoise 2n

Summer breeze!..........

6 Arctic Skuas and 54 Manxies passed Whitburn Obs by 09.15 this morning. A northerly is blowing and it was chilly in the obs, i was joined late on by Pink Floyd who wished he'd brought his gloves. The birds were a little disappointing but maybe later today or tomorrow morning we might see a few more Skuas moving
This is what we saw in order of appearance

Saturday 28th June 04.55-09.15 N2-3 broken cloud

Gannet 230n 27s
Puffin 97n 3s
Sandwich Tern 13n 33s
Manxie 54n
Common Scoter 35n 37s
Eider 2n
Black h Gull 4n 1s
Arctic Tern2n
Arctic Skua 6n
Red th Diver 1n
Puffin 97n 3s
Teal 15n
Common Tern 1n

Scoter Swarm.......

817 Common Scoter passed Whitburn Obs by 07.30 this morning as the healthy June passage continued. Not sure if anyone else will be in the obs today to log further movement. Otherwise it was a fun packed watch on what started out as an easterly and ended up as a light southerly. This is what i saw in order of appearance

Thursday 26th June 04.45-07.30 E2 then S1 broken cloud

Eider 3n
Common Scoter 817n
Puffin 18n 3s
Common Gull 7n 3s
Manxie 36n
Sandwich Tern 1n 11s
Gannet 278n 16s
Black h Gull 3n 1s
Porpoise 1s
Bonxie 1n
Common Tern 2n
07.08 Bottlenose Dolphin 3s (sadly lost the Dolphins counting Scoter and wasn't able top locate them)
Arctic Skua 2n
Curlew 2n

Duck Tales............

347 Common Scoter went north past Whitburn Obs by 07.30 bringing the total for June to 3101. Coverage is minimal away from the regular 3 or 4 observers so please do your best to get in your obs. This is what i saw this morning in order of appearance

Tuesday 24th June 05.15-07.30 W1-2 full cloud cover and calm sea
Common Scoter 347n
Gannet 337n 8s
Black h Gull 4n 3s
Common Tern 3s
Puffin 24n 13s
Curlew 14n
Common Gull 4n
Manxie 1n 1s
Porpoise 2s
Bar tailed Godwit 1n
Tufted Duck 1n
Whimbrel 1n
Sandwich Tern 2n 4s
Swift 2n

Scoter Surprise.

806 Common Scoter went north passed Whitburn Obs by 10.00am. New Mark was in charge today as i had to do my Breading Bird Survey on the moors early doors. He did a good job and I've told him if he keeps this up he will probably get his competent sea watchers certificate by the end of the year!
We had an decent Scoter passage and a nice mix of birds on a very calm sea 
This is what we saw today

Sunday 22nd June 05.30-10.00 NE1 cloud cover dead calm sea
Gannet 493n 52s
Puffin 95n 52s
Sandwich tern 29n 19s
Manxie10n 2s
Common Scot808n 15s
Arctic Skua 4n
Tufted Duck 1n
Red br Merganser 1n
Swift 3n
Black h Gull 5n 1s
Bar t Godwit 1s
Porpoise 1 @ 05.50 and 1n @ 09.20
 Bottlenose Dolphin pod of 8-10 north @ 06.30

wot no Bridled Tern

7 Arctic Skuas a Bonxie and an adult Med Gull passed Whitburn Obs by 08.45 this morning. new Mark joined me this morning on a pleasant sea watch sadly the Bridled Tern and the Black Scoter failed to show, the sum plum Med Gull was a stunner
This is what we did see in order of appearance

Saturday 21st June 04.55-08.45 NW2 full cloud cover good conditions

Common Scoter 152n 1s
Gannet 880n 10s
Curlew 13n
Puffin 48n 44s
Sandwich Tern 11n 18s
Common Gull 6n 2s
Manxie 18n
Black headed Gull 9n
Swift 20n
Shelduck 4n
Canada Goose 11n
Arctic Skua 6n 1s
Red th Diver 1s
Common Tern 11n 4s
Med Gull 1n adult
Arctic Tern 1n 1st sum
Bonxie 1n
07.30 Dolphin sp breached but distant and not seen again

Hi Ho Silver Lining.......

A pod of 12 plus White beaked Dolphins went slowly south past Whitburn Obs this morning. A perfect way to wipe away my world cup blues, every cloud has a silver lining. I missed the Minke Whale seen off Whitburn yesterday by Ian Mills but the return of White beaked Dolphins for the summer was a welcome sight. They were spread over a large area and my best estimate is 12-20. Some were fully breaching and showing the white bands on the flanks to differentiate them from the Bottlnose Dolphins that have been about for a while. Plenty of birds were passing as well including my first Sooty Shearwater of the year. Hear is what i saw in order of appearance

Friday 20th June 04.50-07.10 NW1-2 full cloud cover calm flat sea with moderate swell

Gannet 962n
Manx Shearwater 14n
Common Gull 2n 3s
Puffin 78n 2s
Sandwich Tern 4n 4s
Arctic Tern 4n
Black h Gull 9n 2s
Swift 2n
Common Scoter 63n 2s
Bonxie 1n
Common Tern 5n 1s
06.05-07.10, 12 plus White beaked Dolphins slowly south distantly
Grey Heron 1s
Sooty Shearwater 1n
Shag 1n

now thats what i call a good sea watch vol 1

4 Bonxies and 2 Arctic Skuas passed Whitburn by 07.10 this morning. It was an enjoyable short sea watch this morning. The roar of the sea on a rising tide, a northerly with good light and lots of birds passing.
Sadly work didnt allow me to stay long, this is what i saw in order.............

Tuesday 17th June 04.55-07.00 NNW 2-3 full cloud cover

Bonxie 4n
Puffin 85n 1s
Gannet 1533n 32s
Curlew 12n
Common Gull 16n 1s
Manx Shearwater 8n
Common Scoter 5n 4s
Arctic Skua 2n
Black h Gull 4n
Sandwich Tern 2n 2s
Red th Diver 1n
Common Tern 8n
Whimbrel 1n
Tufted Duck 1n
Shag 1n

whats that coming over the hut is it a red throat, no its a black throat

Roseate Tern 3 Bonxies and 2 Arctic Skuas passed Whitburn obs in 5 hours this morning on a busy sea watch. I was joined by New Mark and Magic Mark with Hoggie and Walter much later. Conditions were excellent and with the northerly continuing we were looking forward to a good watch and were not disappointed. The sum plum Black th Diver was at first called as a Red throated when we only gave it a passing glance but Magic Mark thankfully was more carefull and we got good views of it
This is what we saw in order of appearance

Sunday 15th June 05.30-10.30 NNW 2 full cloud cover

Puffin 205n 36s
Sandwich Tern 23n 18s
Gannet 1367n 113s
Manxie 33n 2s
Common Scoter 228n 24s
Common Tern 24n 5s
Red br Merganser 6n
Common Gull 29n
LBBGull 1n
Curlew 21n
Arctic Skua 2n
Porpoise 2s
Swift 2n
Black h Gull 6n 1s
Arctic Tern 1s
Shag 1n
Bonxie 3n
Grasshopper Warbler 1 reeling
Shelduck 2n
Red th Diver 2n
Black th Diver 1n sum plum
Whimbrel 1s
Roseate Tern 1n 1st sum

prat...what prat, owch!

2 Arctic Skuas a Bonxie and 19 Manxies passed Whitburn Obs by 09.15 this morning.New Mark beat me into the obs as i was delayed chasing moths around my trap. I only missed Little Tern, we were joined later by Pink Floyd.The main discussion point this morning was yesterdays county mega Black winged Pratincole which i missed by 5 minutes, some discussion on twitter seemed to be suggesting  the news was delayed but it cant have been by much, i know a lot of people missed out shame the bird didn't hang around. This is what we saw by 09.15 when i left Mark in the obs

Saturday 14th June 04.45-09.15 NE 2 early mist and rain clearing full cloud cover and calm sea

Gannet 663n 147s
Sandwich Tern 12n 152s
Puffin 109n 78s
Common Scoter 88n 4s
Common Tern 26n 17s
Little Tern 1n
Red th Diver 1s
Arctic Skua 1n 1s
Great crested Grebe 2s (an obs mega and year tick for me)
Shag 1n
Arctic Tern 1n
Curlew 1n
Teal 7s
Bonxie 1n

The Mounties are coming......

The June movement of Canada Geese continued today with a skein of 41 north bringing the June totals so far to 206 north and 62 south. It was a quiet sea watch as it has been all week, but birds were feeding offshore with Gannets diving into shoals of fish giving me hope that our first Minke Whale is on its way.
I sea watch everyday but only tend to do my blog if something of note happens. All of the Whitburn sightings are recorded on Trektellen so if you are desperate to see the daily data check it out
This is what i saw today in order of appearance

Wednesday 11th June 05.00-07.00 SW1-2 bright sun with broken cloud

Arctic Tern 2n 4s
Sandwich Tern 32n 125s
Canada Goose 41n
Common Tern 11n 27s
Gannet 68n 35s
Greylag Goose 2s
Common Scoter 32n 44s
Swift 8s
Swallow 6s

close encounters of the Dolphin kind.......

12 Bottlenose Dolphins went south past Whitburn obs today, its becoming a regular occurrence to see Dolphins passing. The birds were quiet but 11 Manxies is an improvement. Magic Mark joined me today and this is what we saw in order of appearance

Saturday 7th June 04.35-09.30 SE2 bright sun with light cloud

Common Tern 11n 18s
Gannet 170n 149s
Sandwich Tern 235n 277s
Common Scoter 190n 17s
Puffin 18n 2s
Canada Goose 14n 18s
Arctic Tern 2n 3s
Manxie 7n 4s
Shelduck 2n 6s
Red th Diver 5n
Blk h Gull 3s
Curlew 1n
Eider1s

Grasshopper Warbler in the hand was a bonus bird thanks to Jason and Kieran

Now I'm busy trying to identify the moths in my trap.....could take a while

What's that coming over the hut.......is it a Dolphin

8 Bottlenose Dolphins went north past Whitburn Obs this morning on a quiet day for the birds.
After complaining yesterday about the lack of cetaceans, bingo!. The Dolphins showed well this morning i will get the video on to youtube later today. As usual when Dolphins turn up everything else has to take a back seat so I'm not sure what birds i missed, i heard some waders....... This is what i saw in order of appearance

Friday 6th June 05.05-07.10 W2-3 bright sun

Gannet 43n 38s
Sandwich Tern 11n 57s
Common Tern 3n 2s
Common Gull 4s
Canada Goose 66n 4s
Common Scoter 9n
05.55-06.10 Bottlenose Dolphins 7 or 8 north
Black h Gull 1n 11s
Arctic Tern 1n
Shelduck 2n
Puffin 2n
Dunlin 20n

nearly my 5 a day

4 Roseate Terns and an Arctic Skua passed Whitburn on my early morning watch today. Its been a bog standard week so it was nice to get a bit of quality for a change. Conditions were superb with a calm flat grey sea it was crying out for a Minke Whale but so far its a no show at Whitburn this year. Its been a good sea for cetaceans all week but no fins so far
Little Tern let me down on reaching my 5 a day, yes that's right 5 tern species a day is good for your health
This is what i did manage to see in order of appearance

Thursday 5th June 05.05-07.05 SW1-2
Common Scoter 12n
Sandwich Tern 15n 245s
Puffin 22n
Common Tern 3n 9s
Gannet 251n 39s
Arctic Skua 1n
Arctic Tern 1n 4s
Black h Gull 2s
Roseate Tern 4s
Shelduck 6s
Greylag Goose 5n 4s
Red th Diver 1n
Canada Goose 8s