bring on the westerlys

8 Arctic Skuas, 6 Bonxies and 26 Red th Divers passed Whitburn in 4 hours till 10am.Despite the northerly flow we struggled to find many notable birds and recorded no Shearwaters at all. Magic Mark joined me briefly before going to work, and Stevie Thunder. Later the addition of Drunken Duncan and the Hogmeister didn't improve the list much. The discussion turned to the identification and ageing of Sabs Gull and the flight times of said species between Whitburn and Tynemouth
Here is what we recorded in order of appearance

Saturday 14th September 06.00 10.00 NW2 broken cloud and bright sun at times

Cormorant 10n 99s
Black h Gull 90n 17s
Red th Diver 6n 20s
Curlew 2n 1s
Knot 8s
Common Scoter 13n 2s
Eider 7s
Bonxie 6n
Redshank 24n
Bar t Godwit 1n
Sandwich Tern 4n 25s
Arctic Skua 4n 4s
Common Tern 3n
Meadow Pipit circa 20s
Teal 28n
Turnstone 2n
Sanderling 10n
Dunlin 10n
Peregrine 1n
Gannet circa 3500 n
Yellow Wagtail 1s
Shelduck 1s
Wigeon 1n

we had a mouse moth in the obs

unlucky for some

Roseate Tern, 2 Red necked Grebes, 2 Sooty Shearwaters and 3 Arctic Skuas passed Whitburn by mid day Friday the 13th and unlucky for Peter Bell who wanted to see a Roseate Tern but arrived 5 minutes late for the one i saw at 07.45
It was a decent sea watch but lacked another good bird, i was joined by Peter and Ian Mills, Peter Hogg and Adam. Its still northerly tomorrow so lets hope for better. Here's what we saw in order of appearancd

Friday 13th September 06.10-12.00 N 3-4 cloud and early rain clearing

Black h Gull 36n 2s
Cormorant 14n 30s
Common Scoter 122n
Curlew 2s
Red th Diver 8n 25s
Gannet 932n
Teal 23n 11s
Wigeon 58n
Sandwich Tern 19n 15s
Redshank 1n 1s
Fulmar 70n
Eider 1s
Manxie 5n
Roseate Tern 1n ad
Common Tern 6n
Arctic Tern 1n
Arctic Skua 3s
Sooty Shearwater 2n
Red necked Grebe 2n
Tufted Duck 1n
Pochard 1n
Dunlin 2n

heyup duck

6 Red throated Divers, a Bonxie and good numbers of wildfowl passed Whitburn Obs early morning.
The best conditions to see ducks moving past Whitburn are light south westerlies and a bit of low cloud and mist helps. That's what i had this morning and they didn't disappoint
My morning watches before work will  be ending soon so i am making the most of what little time i have, unless of course i win the lottery
This is what i saw in order of appearance

Thursday 12th September 06.10-07.30 SW1-2 cloud and early mist

Curlew 14n
Black h Gull 41n 5s
Cormorant 1n 25s
Red th Diver 6s
Sandwich Tern 3n
Wigeon 46n
Eider 1s
Pintail 1n
Arctic Tern 1n
Teal 251n
Common Scoter 194n
Manxie 2n
Bonxie 1n

calm after the storm

2 Sooty Shearwaters, a Little Gull and a Med Gull passed Whitburn Obs early morning.The Norherly is going and things have settled down to a nice easy pace. Conditions were very pleasant with full cloud and a nice grey sea
New Mark joined me today and i had to leave him in charge as work once more gets in the way. This is what we had in order of appearance

Wednesday 11th September 06.10-07.45 NW2 full cloud cover heavy swell

Cormorant 5n 22s
Eider 5 on sea
Common Gull 3n 6s
Black h Gull 53n 10s
Common Scoter 3n 12s
Arctic Tern 1n
Red th Diver 4n 4sTeal 74n
Wigeon 34n
Little Gull 1n juv
Manxie 7n
Common Tern 6n
Sandwich Tern 4s
Med Gull 1n juv
Bonxie 1n
Sooty Shearwater 2n

Skua city

Sooty Shearwater 4 Bonxies 10 Arctic Skuas 10 Red th Divers passed Whitburn early am by 07.45 on what could prove to be a very good day. Sadly i am at work
Magic Mark the Chairman and later Pink Floyd joined me for an early look
this is what we saw in order of appearance

Tuesday 10th September 06.00-07.45 NW3 cloud cover great light

Cormorant 2n 65s
Sandwich Tern 3n 6s
Arctic Skua 4n 6s
Curlew 5n
Eider 3s
Grey Heron 1n
Manxie 1n
Grey Wagtail 1s
Bonxie 2n 2s
Redshank 6s
Common Scoter 1s
Teal 12n
Sooty Shearwater 1n
Shag 1n
Black h Gull 20n 8s
Red th Diver 10s
Common Tern 6s

Gilbert O'Sullivan

8 Red throated Divers passed Whitburn Obs early morning were the only birds of note on a quite sea watch. Over 30 observers visited the Obs over the last few days but it was 'alone again naturally' this morning. You can feel the Autumnal chill and my morning watches are getting shorter as the days close in. I didn't see much at all but the forecasted northerly flow over the next few days may improve things.
Here's what i saw in order of appearance

Monday 9th September 06.00-07.15 W1-2 part cloud

Curlew 55 off the Obs field
Black h Gull 24n 121s
Dunlin 8s
Arctic Tern 1s
Cormorant 2n 63s
Common Tern 4n 4s
Redshank 3s
Eider 4s
Red th Diver 5n 3s
Common Scoter 6n
Teal 3n

you might notice no Sandwich Terns!

peace and quiet returns to the Obs

Red necked Grebe, 2 Arctic Skuas Little Gull and Spot shank passed Whitburn Obs early am. Peace and quiet was back after yesterdays noisy frantic packed Obs sea watch. Only Stoney and myself were in i even had time to sweep the floor after you messy lot. Even so i got 2 new Obs year ticks bringing my total to 152, the spot shank flying south with Redshank and a Tree Pipit flying south with Mipets called.The Cuckoo was still in the Obs field and some vis mig was evident
It was quiet, after yesterdays 1000 Manxies today we had 1. This is what we saw in order of appearance

Sunday 8th September 05.50-08.30 S2 bright sun

Cormorant 4n 81s
Black h Gull 41n86s
Curlew 2n
Manxie 1n
Turnstone 1s
Red th Diver 2n 3s
Shelduck 1n
Sandwich Tern 18n 5s
Teal 3n
Common Scoter 5n 5s
Redshank 8s
Spotted Redshank 1s
Little Gull 1n
Red necked Grebe 1n i think that's 5 in 3 days
Eider 1n 1s
Common Tern 5n 1s
Arctic Tern 2s
Dunlin 1s
Arctic Skua 2n
Meadow Pipits 14s as i left the obs many more were moving south and swallows
Tree Pipit 1s flying with mipits called
Porpoise 1s
Cuckoo 1 in field

I'm off to look for a Barred Warbler and do some vis mig, back to the obs late pm