Wave goodbye......

Great northern Diver and a Blue Fulmar passed Whitburn Obs by 09.15 today. Yes its say hello to Brazil for me, no more bloggs till the 7th of March at least depending on jet lag. I was only in for a couple of hours today, still suffering from man flu and the conditions were poor but it was much better than Sundays watch. This is what i saw in order of appearance

Monday 22nd February 07.00-09.15 W3-4 bright sun

Black h Gull 4n 15s
Pink footed Goose 9s
Cormorant 1n 3s
Common Gull 5n 26s
Shag 1s
Great n Diver 1n 07.15
Curlew 4n
Turnstone 1n 55s
Redshank 2s
Red th Diver 2n 1s
Common Scoter 7s
Gannet 5n
Ringed Plover 2s
Blue Fulmar 1n L

I'm Back!!!!.....

A drake Long-tailed Duck and 3 Bottlenose Dolphins passed Whitburn Obs by 10.30 today. Magic and Saint Mark joined me today along with Boy Wonder and Skinny Dipper. Youngsters these days have no patience so when i heard the whinges about not much happening i said give it time, and lo and behold...
Yes our first Bottlenose Dolphins went north showing occasionally in good light, remember Freddy?
Sadly we could not get the aptly named Skinny Dipper on the Dolphins
This is what we saw in order of appearance

Saturday 20th February 06.55-10.30 W3 full cloud cover

Scan Herring Gull 1n 5s
Common Gull 3n 35s
Black h Gull 1n 35s
Cormorant 1n 3s
Gannet 13n 15s
Red th Diver 12n 10s
Shag 6s
Eider 3n 5s
Turnstone 26s
Kittiwake 2n
Peregrine 2s and calling
Razorbill 3n
Great crested Grebe 1s
Porpoise 1n 1s
Common Scoter 1n
Long-tailed Duck 1n dr
09.40-10.05 Bottlenose Dolphin 3n

The north wind doth blow ......

Velvet Scoter and 3 Puffins passed Whitburn Obs by 10am today. It was a packed obs with the cream of north east sea watchers lured out of bed by a north easterly wind. Of note were Saint Mark and his dad the Sheriff of Nottingham and Stevie Thunder, Stoney was in the house. I said early on i wasn't expecting much and sadly i was right. My obs year list moved to 90, the local Grey Partridge had returned and were calling as i unlocked the obs door. This is what we saw in order of appearance

Sunday 14 th February 06.55-10.00 NE2-3

Common Gull 17n 12s
Fulmar 132n
Black h Gull 13n 87s
Golden Plover 600n
Puffin 2n 1s
Common Scoter 6n 2s
Kittiwake 32n 1s
Eider 7n 1s
Scan Herring Gull 4n
Velvet Scoter 1n
Gannet 3n 1s
Shag 5s
Red th Diver 1n 4s
Razorbill 3n 1s
Red br Merganser 1n
Redshank 1n
Cormorant 3n
Porpoise 2n

The usual suspects......

Blue Fulmar passed Whitburn Obs by 10 o'clock this morning. I was joined by Boy Wonder, Pink Floyd and Skinny Dipper. After yesterdays westerly i was hoping today's easterly would bring some new birds but it was just the usual suspects. The wind and rain in our faces meant a shortish watch, we enjoyed the start of the annual Shelduck movement and the close Kittiwakes. This is what we saw in order of appearance

Saturday 13th February 07.10-10.00

Common Gull 19n 19s
Black h Gull 52n 27s
Fulmar 50n
Kittiwake 79n 2s
Shelduck 37n 3s
Gannet 7n 28s
Shag 2n 5s
Cormorant 1s
Razorbill 3n
Red th Diver 2n 2s
Goldeneye 2s
Eider 4n 3s
Common Scoter 4n 11s
Blue Fulmar 1n L

Sunday best...

150 Pink Feet and a Velvet Scoter passed Whitburn Obs by 10.10 this morning. Boy Wonder joined me and we enjoyed a good mix of decent birds, a pair of smart Pintail were year ticks for both of us. In the good sharp light all of the ducks looked like they were in their Sunday best. This is what we saw in order of appearance

Sunday 7th February 07.25-10.10 SW3-4 broken cloud

Black h Gull 41s
Common Gull 5n 63s
Shag 2n 6s
Scan Herring Gull 5s
Cormorant 6s
Gannet 14n 1s
Curlew 2n 1s
Pintail 2n
Eider 3n 2s
Kittiwake 12n 2s
Golden Plover 20n
Razorbill 8s
Heron 1n 1s
Pink footed Goose 150n (70 and 80)
Red th Diver 3n 1s
Goosander 4n
Velvet Scoter 1n
Porpoise 2n
Goldeneye 1n
Common Scoter 3s
GBBGull 121s

Having a Lark......

A Shorelark went south past Whitburn Obs by 10 0'clock this morning, it was another quiet and uneventful sea watch. It was so ordinary yesterday i didn't bother with my blog. Conditions were good but few birds are about so when Boy Wonder called a Lark south being hotly pursued by Gulls we were onto it in a flash and yes we are having a Shorelark. The usual suspects were present and Skinny Dipper was a year tick
This is what we saw in order of appearance

Saturday 6th February 07.20-10.00 S2-3 cloud cover

Common Gull 1n 51s
Black h Gull
GBBGull 320s
Scan Herring Gull 16s
Cormorant 9s
Shag 4n 4s
Eider 5n
Sanderling 1s
Red th Diver 3n 2s
Oyster Catcher 1n
Kittiwake 3n 6s
Gannet 1n 7s
Curlew 4n
Shorelark 1s 08.15
Goldeneye 1s
Turnstone 1n
Razorbill 4s
Porpoise 3
Shelduck 2s
Common Scoter 6n