3 Porpoise were feeding off Whitburn Obs this morning which says a lot about the bird passage today.
It was hard work in a strong westerly and it was more like a typical December sea watch than the excellent watches we've had lately. Gone are the Little Auks and Poms...lets hope the 1st is better than this.
Boy Wonder popped in briefly on his way to check out the Golden Plover flock on the firing range and called the second Gannet of the day. Pink Floyd said hello on his way to the Steel and nailed shut the hut door which is always banging and annoying me, thanks mate
I may make it in for the final watch of the year tomorrow... but just in case my Obs year list ended on 167 compared to 162 in 2013. The number of species seen over the two years is 182 so that just shows what is possible
My highlights for the year included Bridled Tern, Fea's Petrel and Smew, you couldnt have predicted that lot. The lows included just missing Green Woodpecker, no Minke Whale and the Bonaparte's Gull avoided me in the Obs for the fifth year...maybe next year
Thanks to all my sea watching pals who helped my list along especially Magic Mark and Saint Mark
Who knows what next year will bring an Albatross or maybe King Eider.....
This is what we saw today in order of appearance
Tuesday 30th December 08.10-10.25 W3 cloud cover calm sea
Common Scoter 1n 4s
Common Gull 4n 9s
Eider 3n 6s
Black h Gull 1n 7s
Gannet 1n 1s
Red th Diver 4n 6s
Guillemot 7n
Porpoise 3 feeding
Teal 1s
Cormorant 1s
