Great Northern Diver, Glaucous Gull and a load more Whoopers passed Whitburn Obs this morning. I was joined by Magic Mark and later Sir Ian. It was not as frantic a watch today just a slow steady passage of birds but when you look at what we saw you would think I'll take that. Star birds though were the Waxwings in my street when i got home. It was great to see them feeding on the deck and I've included a bit of video and more will be on my YouTube channel
This is what we saw today in order of appearance
Friday 17th March 06.00-10.30 W2-3 cloud 7/8
Black h Gull 11n 57s
Common Gull 23n 62s
Cormorant 13n 26s
Common Scoter 17n 13s
Eider 6n 4s
Red th Diver 9n 5s
Gannet 70n 12s
Canada Goose 3n
Chiffchaff 1
Porpoise 5n
Greylag Goose 2s
Red br Merganser 1n
Redshank 22s
Turnstone 41s
Curlew 2s
Great Northern Diver 1n
Whooper Swan 40n (17,2,16,5)
Meadow Pipit 5 in off
Great Crested Grebe 1n
Grey Heron 1n
Pink footed Goose 24n
Glaucous Gull 1n juv
25 Waxwings in Chipchase Oxclose Washington
109 Whooper Swans and 2 Little Egrets were among the wide range of birds we had past Whitburn Obs by 10.20 today. Stoney was in the house and the first Whoopers were going north as he walked in, now that's good timing. I called the second group but they were distant and needed checking and at that point the 2 Little Egrets flew straight over our heads luckily i picked them up as they went south. Probably the same birds that turned up at WWWT later on. I was a very happy camper its a tricky bird to catch up with from the Obs and joins the Great White i saw as my second Egret species of the year just need Cattle now.
This is what we saw in order of appearance
Thursday 16th March 06.05-10.10 S2 then later SW3 cloud 4/8
Eider 2n 11s
Common Scoter 18n 4s
Common Gull 17n27s
Cormorant 12n 18s
Black h Gull 27n 26s
Red th Diver 7n 2s
Grey Wagtail 1n
Shag 11n 1s
Greylag Goose 3n 4s
Pied Wagtail 4n 3s
Gannet 18n 3s
Porpoise 1n 7s
Whooper Swan 109n (4,65,5,6,29)
Meadow Pipit 19n 7s
Little Egret 2s 07.05
Goosander 1n
Ringed Plover 1s
Oyster Catcher 3n
Siskin 1s
Scaup 1s dr
Pock Pipit 1s
Bar t Godwit 3s
Redshank 8s
Pink footed Goose 1n
Knot 1n
Turnstone 2n
Curlew 2n
Snow Bunting 1n
28 Whooper Swans and a Peregrine were the best birds from a quiet early morning sea watch today. Can't be many more Whoopers to come so was this the Swan Song...This gives me the chance to let you know of a recent Whooper error. We did not set a new day record passage on the 10th of March we had a double count in error so the record day passage still stands at 138 only 128 went north on the 10th not 190 as i reported. Still it was a good number but we must be running out...I did get some video of today's Swans see link below
This is what i saw today in order of appearance
Tuesday 15th March 06.30-09.00 SW2 cloud 7/8
Black h Gull 23n 19s
Common Gull 30n 9s
Common Scoter 5n 1s
Whooper Swan 28n
Short eared Owl, Common Buzzard and a Blue Fulmar were seen from the Obs today, all shouts from Magic Mark at his magical best. Saint Mark started well calling a drake Scaup our first duck species of the day and his first year tick. Later a pair of Pintail went north and were my 100th species of the year...Ton Up.
It was a great day loads going on with a light southerly and bit of mist. I had missed SEO earlier in the year so when Mark called it i was very happy, a pull back. It was distant for video so I've included some video from late last year. The Buzzard over Shearwater Estate was a bonus and shows the benefit of a comfort break😏. These are both tricky species to catch up with from the Obs. Finishing the day on 102 species was fantastic and shows the benefit of team work
This is what we saw in order of appearance
Sunday 12th March 06.10-10.30 S1 cloud 4/8 early mist
Grey Wagtail 2n 1s
Scaup 1n dr
Common Scoter 29n 5s
Fulmar 290n
Gannet 24n 11s
Common Gull 6n 10s
Shag 3n 1s
Porpoise 6
Razorbill 11n 2s
Goosander 5n
Blue Fulmar 1n
Wigeon 29n
Red th Divwe11n 10s
Ringed Plover 1n
Black h Gull 14n 18s
Cormorant 5n 14s
Siskin 1n
Starling 36 in off
Eider 3n 6s
Shelduck 6n
Dunlin 6s
Pintail 2n pr
LBBGull 1n
Teal 2n 11s
Turnstone 13s
Mallard 1s
Pied Wagtail 1n 3s
Common Buzzard 1
Grey Heron 2s
SEOwl 1s
190 Whooper Swans went north passed Whitburn Obs this morning a new record day count beating the previous record of 138 on the 26th March 2016. When the first 10 went north at 07.05 i tweeted a big movement could be on the cards with a fresh southerly blowing and I'm happy to say i was right. I was on my own most of the watch but luckily Unlucky Dave called in on his way to Jackies Beach and saw a couple of herds go up. Even better he logged the last group of 62 that broke the record after i had left for the day. Maybe more will be seen as the crab sandwich boys hadn't arrived when i left and they like to have lunch in the Obs.
It was all about the Whoopers today the last group of 40 were right overhead and were whooping. I had tried to get video earlier but the poor light made it difficult to focus, tho i did get a little of the last group see if you can pick out the Bewick's.......
This is what i saw in order of appearance
2 Bottlenose Dolphins went south passed Whitburn Obs, thanks to @elliottatchev for the heads up.I had to leave early on some family taxi business and just managed to fit them into my busy schedule. How did i manage when i worked. The birds were less exciting and my Obs year list has limped onto 99 so a bit more passage would be useful. In recent days I've added Stock Dove, Grey Wag and Grey Partridge. It would be nice to get an early Sandwich Tern or Sand Martin this week...
This is what i saw in order of appearance
Wednesday 8th March 06.25-09.10
Fulmar 58n 3s
Common Gull 35s
Meadow Pipit 1s
Gannet 6n 3s
Guillemot 8n 6s
Cormorant 6n 9s
Blue Fulmar 1n L
Razorbill 8n
Black h Gull 4n 11s
Scan Herring Gull 1s
Pink footed Goose 37n
Red th Diver 5n 1s
Shelduck 8n
Shag 3n 5s
Eider 2n 5s
Common Scoter 2n
Porpoise 2s
Bottlenose Dolphin 2s 09.00-09.10
Arctic Skua went south passed Whitburn Obs by 10 o'clock this morning our first of the year. I was joined by Saint Mark and he was on top form calling the Skua. It was a nice early record but even more important for me he called a Stock Dove flying south behind the Obs a tricky bird to catch up with. Thanks Mark.
This is what we saw in order of appearance
Sunday 5th March 06.35-10.10 SSW2-3 cloud 3/8
Black h Gull 11n 24s
Common Gull 7n 31s
Cormorant 2n 11s
Eider 6n 4s
Red th Diver 1n 1s
Kittiwake 83n 52s
Gannet 14n 2s
Shag 1s
Shelduck 3n
Razorbill 2n 1s
Porpoise 1n 2s
Pink footed Goose 2 on the rifle range and 140n ( a 60 and an 80)
Grey Partridge 2 flew into the nature reserve as per MH hopefully i will catch up with them soon
Pied Wagtail 1s
Skylark 2s
Stock Dove 1s
Arctic Skua 1s
