Ducks deluxe.....

3 Sooty Shearwaters a Curlew Sandpiper and a Blue Fulmar were amongst the hordes of birds passed Whitburn Obs this morning. Boy Wonder was back and Stoney was in the house and at last we could see the horizon. Things started slowly but the birds just kept coming especially the ducks, 1475 passed the obs today. We had to drag ourselves away in the end so we can do it all again tomorrow
This is what we saw in order of appearance

Friday 16th September 06.20-11.10 NW2 cloud 8/8 rain

Common Gull 18n 4s
Black h Gull 141n 30s
Gannet 516n 112s
Tufted Duck 2n
Common Scoter 182n 266s
Fulmar 75n
Cormorant 25n 282s
Curlew 4n
Teal 408n 157s
Red br Merganser 1n
Redshank 17n
Common Tern 45n 18s
Manxie 23n 18s
Red th Diver 6n 33s
Sooty Shearwater 2n 1s
Shag 3n 8s
Dunlin 213n 1s
Sanderling 16n
Porpoise 1n
Wigeon 419n 25s
Swallow 52n
Arctic Skua 7n 5s
LBBGull 1s
Sand Martin 3n
Golden Plover 1n
Black t Godwit 3s
Turnstone 4n 6s
Sandwich Tern 5n 23s
Eider 9s
Scan Herring Gull 1s
Grey Wagtail 1s
Arctic Tern 1n
Curlew Sandpiper 1n Pintail 2n
Grey Heron 1s
Knot 12n
Shoveler 1n
Bonxie 2s
Ringed Plover 2n 5s
Grey Plover 2n 1s
Blue Fulmar 1s DD
Gadwall 5n

More Teal vicar?......

595 Teal, 186 Wigeon and 214 Common Scoter went north past Whitburn Obs during a mad hour of migration this morning. Its that time of year again when the old puns like 'more Teal vicar' can be used, we missed a canny few that we lost in the fog before but still managed to log a lot of the birds moving. It was a second day of bins only with fog from the off but it lifted for a while at about 7am and it was a bird frenzy for Stoney. Fos and myself before the fog rolled back in on the light easterly circa 8am.

And we almost had Yellow-browed in the hand......
This is what we saw in order of appearance

Thursday 15th September 6.15-10.00 NE1-2 mist fog

Black h Gull 52n
Turnstone 3s
Pied Wagtail 2n 2s
Wigeon 186n  11s
Gannet 126n
LBBGull 3n
Common Scoter 214n
Tree Pipit 1s
Common Gull 9n
Redshank 1n 2s
Dunlin 199n 11s
Snipe 3n
Curlew 2n 1s
Mallard 3n
Meadow Pipit 36s
Shag 1s
Common Tern 30n 2s
Red th Diver 4s
Manxie 2n
Arctic Tern 1n
Shoveler 1n
Grey Plover 11n 1s
Shelduck 1w
Golden Plover 3n 2s
Knot 1n
Eider 1s
Sparrowhawk 1s
Brent Goose 4n pb
Arctic Skua 1n
Sandwich Tern 2n 2s
Ringed Plover 12n
Bar tailed Godwit 8n
Pintail 1n
Grey Wagtail 1n
Swallow 3s
Sand Martin 2s

Record breakers....

4 Yellow-legged Gulls and 13 Snipe passed Whitburn Obs by 11.15 today both setting new Obs records. The previous best being 1YLGull and 8 Snipe. It was a great disappointment when Stoney and myself arrived at the obs in a northerly to find the mist and fog restricting us to bins only. That's how it stayed for the whole watch and it proved to be a fantastic benefit as we concentrated on the close birds pushed in by the fog.
It was very fortunate that Fos called by as being 'the Gull man' he put us onto the Yellow-legged Gulls and i even called one myself. They were part of a massive large gull movement involving a few thousand birds. Hoggie even jammed onto the 4th bird though sadly Sir Ian had left to search out migrants.
So no Shearwaters today as hoped for but it turned out ok in the end
This is what we saw in order of appearance

Wednesday 14th September 06.05-11.15 NNW 3 mist/fog

Curlew 3n 3s
Gannet 313n
Black h Gull 54n 5s
Goosander 6s
Common Tern 71n
Wigeon 299n
Teal 163n
LBBGull 7n 2s
Common Gull 9n
Scan Herring Gull 3n
Yellow-legged Gull 4n all 1st w
Redshank 5n
Turnstone 12n
Sand Martin 1n
Golden Plover 8n 12s
Shag 1n 1s
Pintail 6n
Ruff 1n
Sandwich Tern 5n
Brent Goose 8n pb
Common Scoter 2n
Shelduck 1n
Dunlin 51n
Bar t Godwit 1n 1s
Gadwall 1n
Snipe 12n 1s
Knot 1n
Ringed Plover 1n
Eider 1n
Arctic Skua 2n

Apprentice wanted.....

Balearic Shearwater and a Black throated Diver passed Whitburn Obs by 9am today. Stoney was in the house and we had loads of birds passing, sadly the light conditions were poor with bright sun and thin cloud which is a shame as the birds were first class
From the off Ducks were coming at me from every direction and after Rob arrived we struggled to catch everything, Fos called in and called a mixed flock of ducks well north and high up that we had missed but his stay was brief. It got us thinking we could do with a bins only apprentice to mop up on busy passage days so apply at the obs please :)
We both had other business so it was an early finish and this is what we saw in order of appearance

Tuesday 13th September 06.00-09.00 SSE2 cloud 2/8

Cormorant 15n 217s
Black h Gull 6n 30s
Teal 110n 94s
Common Tern 94n 54s
Wigeon 149n 2s
Pintail 8n
Common Gull 2n 3s
Arctic Tern 2n 5s
Shag 13s
Redshank 7s
Sandwich Tern 3n 7s
Curlew 1n 1s
Manxie 4n 1s
Common Scoter 85n
Shoveler 3n
Red th Diver 3n 7s
Golden Plover 3n
Black th Diver 1s 07.30
Knot 1n 1s
Dunlin 19n 7s
Eider 6s
Sooty Shearwater 1n
Sand Martin 4s
Swallow 15s
Turnstone 2n 2s
Shelduck 15n 2s
Balearic Shearwater 1s 08.00
Bar tailed Godwit 1n
Grey Plover 1s

Goosie goosie gander.........

2 Arctic Skuas north past Whitburn Obs were the best of a bad bunch by 09.15 this morning. The more interesting birds were Goosander, another 6 went north this morning (and 2 south) bringing the sightings this September to 47 birds, and total passage for the year is 154 to date. Considering that October is the month we normaly see the highest passage we have a good chance of beating the best annual total of 186. And to think some local listers still need it.....
The sea watch was abandoned as the local farmer was spreading horse muck in the obs field, should be rather unpleasant for a few days 
A very quiet morning but this is what we saw in order of appearance

Sunday 11th September 06.00-09.15 W2 cloud 4/8

Black h Gull 32n 53s
Cormorant 28n 284s
Turnstone 3n
Redshank 4n 3s
Sanwich Tern 3n 9s
Red th Diver 1n 10s
Common Tern 32n 13s
Shag 11s
Common Gull 2n 5s
Common Scoter 6n 3s
Teal 7n
Eider 2s
Curlew 2s
Grey Heron 1n
Goosander 6n 2s
Sand Martin 26s
Meadow Pipit 468s
Grey Wagtail 1s
Dunlin 1s
Kestrel 1s
Arctic Skua 2n

Almost, but not quite.....

Long tailed Skua , 2 Med Gulls and 8 Brent Geese passed Whitburn Obs by 10.30 this morning. The sea was a lovely grey colour but with full cloud cover it was dark for distance id, and at times we were frustrated. It could have been a mega watch, possible Little Shearwater was reported going south distantly with Manxies and a Balearic was reported heading north from the snook but sadly we didn't nail either bird.
This is what we did see in order of appearance

Saturday 10th September 06.00-10.30 W1-2 cloud 8/8

Cormorant 41n 379s
Black h Gull 63n 45s
Bar tailed Godwit 1n 1s
Grey Heron 1n 3s
Teal 43n 60s
Sandwich Tern 23n 40s
Redshank 7n 8s
Manxie 6n 7s
Red th Diver 4n 18s
Common Tern 113n 22s
Knot 3n
Common Gull 7n 14s
Common Scoter 34n 11s
Turnstone 3n 3s
Ringed Plover 14n
Sanderling 2s
Dunlin 5n 3s
Shag 2n 3s
Brent Goose 8n pb
Shelduck 5s
Redpoll 1s
Arctic Tern 1n 1s
Rock Pipit 2s
Eider 3s
Long tailed Skua 1s juv 08.10
LBBGull 2n 1s
Med Gull 2s both juvs
Curlew 1s
Meadow Pipit 23s although many were reported by others they were behind us
Grey Wagtail 1s
Pied Wagtail 6s
Porpoise 2n 1s

like a kick in the Balearics......

2 Balearic Shearwaters were the stars of the show passed Whitburn Obs by 10 am this morning. Yes if you still need Balearic Shearwater for the year it must feel like a kick in the ....when you here the news from Whitburn. Rob is on a roll and called both of today's birds which were different birds. The second was so close i only just had time to get on it with my bins....We had a good supporting cast and the standouts for me were the 3 Bonxies flying south together and a magnificent 18 Goosanders going north together
This is what we saw in order of appearance

Thursday 8th September 06.00-10.00 S2 cloud 4/8 rough sea and some mist

Black h Gull 73n 52s
Common Gull 4n 8s
Teal 250n 13s
Wigeon 42n
Common Tern 20n 9s
Shelduck 9n 9s
Goldeneye 1n
Common Scoter 83n 17s
Shag 5n
Puffin 4n
Goosander 18n
Bonxie 3s
Arctic Skua 1n 2s
Bar t Godwit 3s
Golden Plover 1s
Sandwich Tern 14n 11s
Arctic Tern 22n
06.49 Balearic Shearwater 1n
07.53 Balearic Shearwater 1s
Grey Wagtail 4s
Turnstone 2s
Grey Heron 1s
Redshank 25s
Red th Diver 1n 12s
Manxie 4s
Ringed Plover 7n 40s
Shoveler 1n
Knot 4s
Whimbrel 1n
Curlew 2n