Ducks in the mist...

2 Arctic Terns and a good selection of ducks were the best i could do in the fog and mist at Whitburn Obs this morning. The ducks were often high up and mixed flocks but visability was poor and impossible at times.The Doc called in and i left Hoggie in charge, i may go back later to fight off the Yellow browed's

Monday 28th September 07.10-09.20 SW2 fog/mist/ bright sun

Red th Diver 2n 2s
Common Gull 9n 3s
Black h Gull 226n 26s
Teal 36n 24s
Common Scoter 39n 5s
Wigeon 63n
Pintail 5n
Curlew 1n 1s
Eider 2n 2s
Shag 1s
Common Tern 2n
Coal Tit calling obs tick at last
Golden Plover 45s
Arctic Tern 2n
Sandwich Tern 1s
Grey Heron 1n
Shoveler 2n
Tufted Duck 1n
Great crested Grebe 1s

Mipets and a Skylark went south as i left so may return for some vis mig later

Whitburn Obs Mix Up.......

13 Brent Geese and 50 Pink feet passed the Obs by 10.10 today. On a westerly wind with poor visibility and bright sun we had little hope, add to that Magic Mark was missing...no hope
Saint Mark beat me in and we had a right melee of birds. Not much headline stuff but this is what we saw in order of appearance

Sunday 27th September 06.35-10.10 W1-2 poor visibility with mist early on then bright sun

Eider 17n
Heron 1n
Common Scoter 221n
Curlew 19n
Teal 70n
Red th Diver 12n 17s
Shag 2n 2s
Black h Gull 425n 127s
Shoveler 1n
Wigeon 142n 2s
Arctic Tern 2n
Merlin 1n
Common Gull 16n 20s
Fulmar 16s
Peregrine 1n it was up and down a lot
Goldcrest 1
Sanderling 1n 1s
Goosander 2s
Meadow Pipits 26s
Common Tern 3n 2s
Shelduck 4n
Redpoll 3n
Velvet Scoter 2n
Siskin 1s
Sandwich Tern 2s
Kestrel 1s
Red br Merganser 1n

Pink footed Goose 50s
Arctic Skua 2n
Manx Shearwater 1n
Mallard 1n
Dunlin 1s
Brent Goose 13n pb

Beat that Seaham Birder, tho i could do with your Coal Tits for my Obs list

In the Pink...

390 Pink feet went south past Whitburn Obs by 11.15 today along with a canny supporting cast. Yes Pinks are on the move just a trickle so far but great to have them back. The old team were back together with Saint and Magic Mark in, Pink Floyd and Hoggie arrived late. Keeping tabs on all the sightings wasn't easy, September is such a busy month we will miss it come December when things are quiet
This is what we saw in order of appearance

Saturday 26th September 06.45-10.45 SW1 cloud cover calm sea

Black h Gull 386n 65s
Common Gull 8n 16s
Eider 9n 2s
Curlew 3n 17s
Porpoise 2n
Shag 3n 21s
Red th Diver 23n 38s
Redpoll 22
Common Scoter 119n 23s
Wigeon 34n 2s
Balearic Shearwater 1n 07.05 1s 07.25
Pink footed Goose 390s
Siskin 2
Goosander 2n
Bonxie 4n
Little Gull 1n ad
Teal 31n 6s
Common Tern 10n
Arctic Skua 7n 3s
LBBGull 1n
Knot 2s
Sandwich Tern 5s
Puffin 1n
Fulmar 6n 6s
Pintail 6n
Red br Merganser 4n
Turnstone 6s
Shelduck 3s
Great n Diver 1s
Grey Heron 2n
Manxie 1n

Tara Tarifa Hello Whitburn.....

Roseate Tern, Little Gulls and a Red necked Grebe passed Whitburn Obs by 10.15 today. Back from watching migration and cetaceans in Terrific Tarifa to watching migration and cetaceans in wonderful Whitburn, this is the life.
Looking at the forecast yesterday westerly and no cloud i would have been forgiven for not starting my day with a seawatch but id missed my patch so i headed to the Obs. The Red throated Divers were singing as i arrived. With little wind early on gulls and terns were feeding close in giving me a bit of quality, they moved on later as the wind picked up
Our White beaked Dolphins came along to welcome me back, i will miss them when they move on
Raptors were a feature just like in Spain and i could have done with raptor girl from our trip to help me. Of three species that passed i only id'd one the regular juv Peregrine, the small dark Falcon and large Sparrowhawk type that shot through so fast i couldn't nail
Finally unlucky Dave showed up and asked if id had any Pink feet yet and 30 seconds later a skein went south, lucky or what
And yes the Buff breast did hang around for my return
This is what i saw in order of appearance

Friday 25th September 07.05-10.15 WNW1-2 then 3 bright sun

Black h Gull 54n 28s circa 50 feeding off obs
Wigeon 1s
Red th Diver 6n 11s
Sandwich Tern 8n 2s
Curlew 1n 1s
Red necked Grebe 1n
Little Gull 1n 2s ads
Redshank 1s
Common Scoter 9n 5s
07.30 White beaked Dolphin 3n
Teal 7s
Turnstone 3s
Common Gull 9n 1s
Arctic Tern 2n juvs
Roseate Tern 1n juv
08.15-08.30 ish White beaked Dolphin 10 plus moving south
Tufted Duck 1n
Shag 3s
Sanderling 1s
Common Tern 1n
Eider 2s
Pergrine 1n juv
Pink footed Goose 35s

Cant think of anywhere else id rather be except maybe St Agnes, its been a while since i visited my old haunt should have done it this year....

Like Buses..............

2 Marsh Harriers and a Pom Skua went south past Whitburn Obs this morning. Saint Mark joined me for a wonderful sunrise that i tweeted @pablohugelist. You wait all year for a Marsh Harrier on your Obs list then 2 come in an hour, just like buses. Both cream crown birds and both circa 1 mile out. One of the Harriers was mobbed by a Pom.....
A few more migrants were showing than yesterday and Redstart outside the Obs was nice
This is what we saw in order of appearance

Sunday 13th September 06.05-10.00

Golden Plover 10n 25s
Black h Gull 14n 35s
Common Gull 1n 18s
Red th Diver 6n 40s
Eider 2n 1s
Porpoise 2
Curlew 29n 2s
Common Scoter 14n 8s
Teal 14s
Sandwich Tern 18s
Arctic Skua 1n 7s
Little Gull 1s
Common Tern 13s
Manxie 1n
Puffin 1n
Marsh Harrier 2s 07.30 and 08.15
Pom Skua 1s
LBBGull 1s
Grey Wagtail 2s
Shag 4n
Heron 1n
Meadow Pipit 23s
Swallow 6s
Redstart 1 by obs
Wheatear 4 in field
Whitethroat 1

Everythings coming up Rosies.....

3 Roseate Terns went south past Whitburn Obs in 4 hours this morning. The weather is wild with a strong south easterly and rain and hopefully later it will be dripping with migrants. 4 Wheatear dropping out of the sky were a taster.  But the place to be first thing was the Obs, cosy and dry and loads of birds passing.Common Sandpiper was a new obs tick, but the stars of the show were a family of 3 Roseate Terns flying south into the wind close inshore..........
This is what we saw in order of appearance

Saturday 12th September 06.10-10.10 SE3-4 rain

Common Scoter 87n 5s
Bonxie 4n 1s
Pintail 2s
Shoveler 1s
Curlew 15n 2s
Black h Gull 4n 22s
Common Gull 4n 5s
Wigeon 15n 3s
Tufted Duck 1n 1s
Teal 44n 45s
Puffin 2n
Common Tern 4s
Arctic Skua 9n 4s
Red th Diver 3n 2s
Sooty Shearwater 1s
Common Sandpiper 4s
Grey Heron 2n
Velvet Scoter 1n 1s
Manxie 1n
Sandwich Tern 2n
Eider 1n 1s
Little Gull 1s
Wheatear 4
Arctic Tern 2s
Roseate Tern 3s 1 juv
Swallow 2n

No Fea's...............

2 Little Gulls and 7 Arctic Skuas passed Whitburn Obs by 07.45 this morning. Stony beat me in today hoping for the Fea's. Its one of my work days and with darker mornings i dont get long before i have to go to work. We saw nothing of the Fea's but in excellent conditions lots of birds were passing. I left Stoney and Hoggie to enjoy them.

Wednesday 9th September 06.10-07.45

Common Gull 1n 5s
Wigeon 36n
Black h Gull 6n 18s
Teal 157n
Curlew 2n
Little Gull 2n
Common Scoter 469n
Arctic Skua 7s
Whimbrel 1s
Shag 1n
07.00 White beaked Dilphin 4n
Sandwich Tern 2n 5s
Common Tern 31s
Knot 1n
Dunlin 25n
Brent Goose pb 6n

Pom's, Sooty's, still no ..........

Red necked Grebe and Roseate Tern passed Whitburn Obs today amongst a host of quality birds. Magic Mark was back to catch the last day of the northerlies, i joined him on the last day of my long weekend and Stoney was in the house. I can see i am going to enjoy this semi retirement, 4 days off 3 at work ,canny. Hoggie made an earlier than usual appearance but sadly did not catch up with a Long tail for his year tick. This is what we saw in order of appearance, sort of

Monday 7th September 06.00-11.30 N2 cloud cover, calm sea

Wigeon 21n
Eider 5s
Sooty Shearwater 18n
Redshank 15n 5s
Black h Gull 108n 15s
Curlew 1n 2s
Manxie 17n
Shelduck 2n
Red th Diver 12n 8s
Bonxie 13n
Arctic Skua 61n 8s
Common Scoter 68n
Dunlin 4n
Common Tern119n 8s
Whimbrel 1s
Porpoie 1
Gadwall 1n
Gannet 1800n circa
Grey Wagtail 1s
Sandwich Tern 17n 15s
Turnstone 1n
Peregrine 1n
Teal 108n
Common Gull 5n 3s
Pom Skua 3n ads
Shag 3n 12s
Roseate Tern 1 feeding off shore
Little Gull 8n 3s
Arctic Tern 2n
Velvet Scoter
Puffin 3n
Red necked Grebe 1n
Mallard 3n
Fulmar 85n
Swallow 42n

Pom's, Sooty's.......no Long Tails

4 Pom Skuas, a Balearic Shearwater and 19 Sooty,s passed Whitburn Obs by 10am today.It was a little more civilised after than yesterdays packed house and i was joined by Saint Mark, Stevie Thunder, Aggie Birder and the Birtley Bishop. Stoney was in the house
Our sea watching mantra is Poms, Sooty's,Long tails, today we didn't manage all three but had shed loads of birds
This is what we saw in order of appearance

Sunday 6th September 05.50-10.00 W2 broken cloud and moderate swell

Curlew 37n
Common Scoter25n
Manxie 43n
Black h Gull 72n 14s
Sandwich Tern 41n 8s
Common Gull 21n 2s
Red th Diver 18n 6s
Eider 7s
Common Tern 55n 39s
Sooty Shearwater 19n
Redshank 24n
Dunlin 6n
Arctic Skua 2n 9s
Teal 131n
Goldeneye 2n 1s
Arctic Tern 3n
Wigeon 47n
Mallard 3n
Puffin 1n
Knot 17n 1s
Golden Plover 2n
Little Gull 4n 2s
Wheatear 2
Whimbrel 1s
Shag 14n 4s
Balearic Shearwater 1n
Pintail 9n
Pom Skua 4n
Ringed Plover 1n
Bonxie 3n
Peregrine 1n
Swallow 2s
Sanderling 8n
Kestrel 1n

4 X 4 at Whitburn

Great, Balearic and 20 plus Sooty Shearwaters passed Whitburn Obs on my return from 14.45. When news came through of the Great Shea at Long Nab (thanks Nick) a few of us headed back. The East Coast Tour of the 2014 Fea's is on the Obs wall....Long Nab/Cowbar/Seaham
/Whitburn we were hoping for more of the same. And we were not disappointed as the bird went north at 28 mins past 5. It was a bit confusing as a couple of Manxies were called then a Balearic which most were trying to get on when Andrew Close called the Great amongst them. Everyone got on the bird as it passed under the big transporter ship, get in! making it a 4 Shearwater species day. Then Dave Foster called 8 Poms going south above the horizon, making it a 4 Skua species day
I don't have all the details of this afternoons watch but i did see 9 Bonxies north and 14 pale bellied Brents north
Back tomorrow for more

After the horse has......

Long tailed Skua and 13 Sootys passed Whitburn Obs by 10.30 this morning. It was a full obs with people who had been at work all week hoping for some quality. It was a busy watch but sadly lacked a couple of special birds. Thanks to all the contributors
This is what we saw in order of appearance

Saturday 5th September 05.50-10.30 NNW 4 cloud cover heavy swell

Manx Shearwater 74n
Little Gull 4n 1s
Knot 44n
Arctic Tern 5n
Eider 2n 3s
Curlew 7n
Red th Diver 8n 3s
Sandwich Tern 26n 24s
Wigeon 150n
Pintail 14n
Common Scoter 7n 3s
Common Tern 28n
Sooty Shearwater 13n
Common Gull 4n 6s
Bonxie 8n
Mallard 2n
Oyster Catcher 28s
Puffin 2n
Arctic Skua 7n 9s
Black h Gull 18n
Teal 233n
Dunlin 5n
Ringed Plover 5n
Sanderling 3n
Turnstone 8n
Goldfinch 140n
Shag 4n 9s
Swallow 3n
Gannet 1871n
Long t Skua 1s juv
Tufted Duck 1n 1s
Redshank 17n
Shoveler 1n
Golden Plover 2n
Brent Goose 13n pb
Shelduck 3n
Fulmar 182n

Baroli or Boydi that is the question......

a Little Shearwater went north past Whitburn Obs this morning on an action packed watch. Aggie birder was back and Stoney was in the house. (Later Sir Ian, Hoggie, Pink Floyd, unlucky Dave et al arrived). The northerly was still going and the sea swell was heavy we waited with anticipation for the birds to start moving.
This is what we saw in order of appearance

Friday 4th September 05.50-11.00 NNW4 cloud cover, very heavy swell and rain at times

Black h Gull 97n 8s
Common Gull 13n 2s
Teal 325n
Dunlin 21n
Eider 2n 5s
Mallard 3n
Long tailed Skua 1n juv
Wigeon 134n
06.30 Little Shearwater 1n circa 400yds out
Red th Diver 9n 1s
Arctic Tern 1n
Little Gull 1n ad
Manxie 14n
Arctic Skua 10n 16s
Bonxie 3n 2s
Sandwich Tern 81n 3s
Ruff 2n
Turnstone 2n
Redshank 7n 4s
Snipe 3 in/off
Shag 2n 14s
08.30 Storm Petrel 1n
Sooty Shearwater 5n
Pintail 6n
Common Tern 4n
Common Scoter 13n
Shelduck 7s
Knot 1n
Fulmar 126n
Brent Goose 18n db

Right in the Balearics........

2 Balearic Shearwaters and a Long tailed Duck passed Whitburn Obs by 8 am today. Stoney was in the house and Pink Floyd looked like he'd been kicked in the Balearic's when we told him not one but two Balearic's had passed already, one of which lingered and landed on the sea in front of the obs.....
This is what we saw in order of appearance

Thursday 3rd September 05.50-10.00 NW3 mega heavy swell

Red th Diver 4n 3s
Common Gull 10n 2s
Fulmar 66n
Blue Fulmar 1n L
Black h Gull 28n 6s
Long tailed Duck 1n
Arctic Skua 20n 3s
Curlew 5n
Velvet Scoter 1n
Sandwich Tern 19n 2s
Redshank 1s
Dunlin 1n
Wigeon 18n
Little Gull 4n
Pom Skua 1n
Manxie 2n 1s
Balearic Shearwater 2n 06.50 and 07.05
Eider 1s
Teal 1n
Common Tern 3n
Common Scoter 1n
Tufted Duck 1n

Long tail for breakfast....

1 Long tailed, 1 Pom and 19 Arctic Skuas passed Whitburn Obs by 8am this morning. Saint Mark beat me in today ans Stoney was in the house. Good light makes a hell of a difference and we had a superb sea watch before i had to leave for work. The Long tail was an Obs year tick for me as it flew south behind 4 Arctic Skuas
This is what we saw in order of appearance

Wednesday 2nd September 05.55-08.00 NW2 cloud cover and very heavy swell

Black h Gull 2n 8s
Common Gull 3n 1s
Little Gull 13n 2s
Arctic Skua 2n 22s
Manxie 22n 21s
Puffin 1n
Common Tern 21n 34s
Red th Diver 1n 1s
Velvet Scoter 1s
Dunlin 6n
Common Scoter 4n 1s
Sandwich Tern 18n 45s
Arctic Tern 10n 20s
Curlew 2n
Whimbrel 1n
Pom Skua 1n
Long tailed Skua 1s juv
Sooty Shearwater 1n
Teal 12n
Crow 4n
Shag 1n
Black Tern 2n