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