Banana for breakfast........

White-billed, Great Northern and Black-throated Diver were on the breakfast menu today tho not many were enjoying the meal. Saint and Magic Mark joined me this morning with Pink Floyd not far behind and what a feast of birds we had. A few expected enthusiasts were missing and those few who had made the effort had little expectation on a westerly wind.
It was one of those days when the light was good and the birds just kept coming. The White-billed Diver was the icing on the cake my first since 2011 and new for my Obs list which only started five years ago. It was a good team effort of finding and identifying this special sea watching mega.
On top of all this Pink Floyd called the expected first Whoopers of the year, he's having a good week. As you will see from the video the last in line of the Swans has a badly kinked neck, very unusual and looks painful. Oh and did i mention the 15 species of wildfowl......
This is what we saw in order of appearance

Saturday 7th October 06.45-11.45 W3 7/8

Black h Gull 182n 46s
Common Gull 37n 9s
Gannet 479n 277s
Guillemot 120n 290s
Eider 11n 6s
Common Scoter 99n 18s
Great Northern Diver 1n
Red th Diver 31n 53s
Wigeon 430n
Tufted Duck 2n
Teal 43n 9s
Curlew 4n
Manxie 3n
Red br Merganser 1n
White-billed Diver 1n 07.50-08.00
Pink footed Goose 2n 216s
Scaup 6n
Meadow Pipit 12s
Shag 10n 15s
Redshank 5n
Wheatear 1 on obs wall
Goldeneye 3n
Whooper Swan 4s

Pintail 6n
Grey Heron 2n 1s
Golden Plover 70s
Arctic Tern 3n
Scan Herring Gull 1n
Goosander 1 on sea
Turnstone 1n
Goose sp 3s
Gadwall 2n
Velvet Scoter 11n 1s
Pochard 3n
Pom Skua 2s
Black th Diver 1n

Winter is here.....

circa 2000 Pink-footed Geese passed Whitburn Obs on this mornings sea watch. Not long ago i titled my blog 'Winter is Coming'... well its arrived, the Terns have gone and Geese have arrived. From first light they started moving in both directions and it was a fantastic spectacle, nothings quite like the sound of Pinks passing overhead.
Pink Floyd called the Harrier and it was difficult to nail the id in the strong sun but eventually we could see it was Marsh, a good bird on a sea watch
This is what we saw in order of appearance

Tuesday 3rd October 06.40-10.40 W4-5 0/8
Black h Gull 65n 338s
Common Gull 1n 74s
Pink-footed Goose 708n 1304s

Cormorant 2n 81s
Merlin 1s
Curlew 2s
Meadow Pipit 275s
Red th Diver 1n 29s
Gannet 17n 4s
Ruff 3n
Golden Plover 3n 9s
Shag 1s
Swallow 1s
Eider 6s
Goosander 12s
Wigeon 2n 7s
Teal 8n 20s
Red br Merganser 3n
Skylark 2s
Marsh Harrier 1s prob a juv 09.40

Scops Owl...Oh My God....

Long-tailed Skua and three Scaup passed Whitburn Obs by 08.15 today then all hell broke loose
Stoney was in the house and straight away we realised it was better than expected. The wind was a brisk ESE and birds were moving, Ducks were bombing past and it looked good. We enjoyed our first hour and a half, Rob checked Jackies beach and had nowt..Magic Mark arrived and did Jackies beach and had a Lap Bunt....
Unknown to me i had missed a call from @HarperBirder due to poor reception but Rob got a call and started closing the shutters..@middy_birding had only gone and found a blinkin Scops Owl
I rang the wife and was panicking where was the Albion Pub, where was Ryhope Village Dean.When i arrived it was to an area we both knew well and had birded many times a few years ago the coastal path being good for Lap and Snow Bunts
The rest as they say is History the third Obs team member in three consecutive days to find a rarity. Mark Harper on Monday with the Little Bunting, Dave Foster yesterday with Arctic Warbler and now the latest member of the team Tom Middleton with a real Mega Scops Owl...no pressure on me then for tomorrow

This is what we saw in order of appearance no guesses at what the bird video is

Wednesday 27th September 06.25-08.15 ESE3 8/8

Red th Diver 7n 14s
Bonxie 1n 3s
Black h Gull 52n 20s
Common Gull 28n 2s
Puffin 2n
Gannet 402n 5s
Little Gull 3n juvs
Eider 3s
Teal 7n 4s
Shag 1s
Manxi 1n
Common Scoter 68n 10s
Goosander 3n
Arctic Skua 2n
Wigeon 41n
Scaup 3n drakes
Brent Goose 2n db
Scops Owl 1 Oh My God...

Little bit of what you fancy......

17 Little Gulls and a Roseate Tern passed Whitburn Obs in 5 hours this morning. Yes we got a little bit of what we fancied and more. Magic and Saint Mark joined me and later Prof, Pink Floyd and Mothman Brian. We enjoyed a great sea watch that deserved better light than we got for the majority of it as the early cloud cleared. Long-tailed Skua and Black throated Diver are still scarce birds to catch up with in the County so throw in a few Geese, Ducks and Waders..cracking. Today's video is of a Little Egret on Thursday the 12th of the year at the Obs, sadly Saint Mark still needs it so i thought this reminder of what they look like might help.
This is what we saw in order of appearance

Saturday 23rd September 06.15-11.10 S2-3 1/8

Black h Gull 198n 61s
Gannet 484n 56s
Common Scoter 155n 20s
Common Gull 64n 8s
Arctic Skua 4n 3s
Shag 5n 7s
Curlew 7n
Red th Diver 19n 34s
Teal 382n 25s
Manxie 3n
Puffin 3n
Guillemot 1675n
Razorbill 20n
Eider 6n 2s
Velvet Scoter 1n
Wigeon 52n 7s
Arctic Tern 2n 2s
Meadow Pipit 6s
Black th Diver 1n
Sandwich Tern 12n 15s
Redshank 1s
Shelduck 5n
Pink footed Goose 9n
Pied Wagtail 1s
Goose sp 2n
Little Gull 17n mainly adults
Golden Plover 5n
Pintail 1n 2s
Mallard 1n 1s
Brent Goose 2n db
Ruff 6s
Grey Wagtail 1s
Shoveler 1n
Rosy Tern 1n juv
Bonxie 2n
Long tailed Skua 1n juv
Grey Heron 2n

Show us your bellies.....

Long-tailed and 7 Pom Skuas passed Whitburn Obs by 11.20 today on an action packed sea watch with more birds than i could keep up with. Both Marks joined me along with Pink Floyd and Stoney was in the house on a busier than usual morning, AWOL were Prof and Boy Wonder. A call from Stevie Makem watching at Seaham with the Chairman warned us of a larger diver heading our way and we enjoyed nice views of a Black-throated Diver thanks boys. Brents were moving north and it's always a task to check the bellies, the vast majority today were pale. Both videos below. We left a well manned Obs so the coverage today should be excellent
This is what we saw in order of appearance

Saturday 16th September 2017 06.05-11.20 NW4 7/8

Velvet Scoter 12n
Common Scoter 64n 3s
Gannet 1905n 74s
GBBGull 265n
Fulmar 33n
Common Gull 28n 4s
Brent Goose pb 108n

Sooty Shearwater 66n 2s
Bonxie 28n 2s
Teal 190n 12s
Eider 3n
Black h Gull 93n 11s
Wigeon 316n
Goldeneye 1n
Grey Heron 3n 1s
Red br Merganser 2s
Arctic Skua 15n 12s
Manx Shearwater 80n
Common Tern 17n 1s
Pintail 5n
Curlew 2n 3s
Red th Diver 30n 45s
Canada Goose 2n
Dunlin 67n
Brent Goose db 4n
Peregrine 1n ad
Sandwich Tern 54n 6s
Pink-footed Goose 127n 28s
Porpoise 1n
Black th Diver 1n ad sum plum 07.45 (it passed Seaham at 07.30)

Shag 8n 8s
Long-tailed Skua 1s juv
Turnstone 1n
Swallow 1n
Pom Skua 7n 3ad, 4juvs
Sanderling 28n
Ringed Plover 21n
Redshank 1n 2s
Gadwall 1n
Puffin 5n
Ruff 1n
Tufted Duck 1n
Grey Plover 1n
Goosander 1n
Blue Fulmar 1n

Lucky for some.....

 A ring tailed Hen Harrier went south late into our sea watch today, an Obs tick for me my second in five days following the Red-necked Phal at the weekend. It was the first recorded from the Obs in four years since one was seen on the 13th September 2013...so not such an unlucky number after all. Stoney was in the house and we both expected a rough ride on blasting westerlies, when do they ever get the weather forecast right these days. As it turned out conditions were good once the early rain stopped and birds started moving. We made up for yesterday's lack of Skuas with a good day haul, add in a few Pinks and Ducks and good light, perfect. Did i mention our first Great northern of the winter and shed loads of Red throats...
This is what we saw in order of appearance

Wednesday 13th September 06.10-10.30 WSW3 6/8 rain clearing

Common Gull 2n 20s
Black h Gull 57n 108s
GBBGull 75n 83s
Gannet 354n 275s
Fulmar 13n 14s
Meadow Pipit 5s
Red th Diver 5n 39s
Pintail 6n
Eider 2n 2s
Sandwich Tern 61n 5s
Common Scoter 7n 4s
Pom Skua 2n
Bonxie 1n 3s
Arctic Skua 8n 4s
Manx Shearwater 1s
Great northern Diver 1s
Common Tern 9n
Curlew 1n
Grey Wagtail 1s
Teal 2n 11s
Sand Martin 1s
Swallow 3s
Pink-footed Goose 25s
Wigeon 3n
Redshank 5s
Swift 1s
Hen Harrier 1s ringtail 10.10
Sadly i didn't manage to video today's bird but did try so here is some old footage from my local patch of a bird coming into roost not great quality tho

Vindaloo or Phal......

 Red-necked Phalarope and Pom Skua were the pick of the pops off Whitburn Obs today. Magic Mark was at his best making the impossible possible yet again, what a call for the Phalarope. It prompted the discussion which was the hottest a Vindaloo or a Phal, we all agreed the Phal..... It was staying close to some Kittiwakes and if they flew it did, if they landed it landed. The bird was about till 07.40 tho it went missing a couple of times, it was my 4th or 5th for the County but first from the Obs. Amazingly nobody turned up to see it despite the news updates except Stevie Thunder who was on his way anyway.
Pink Floyd was on top form calling ducks from every which way and Saint Mark a steadying influence in a mad house. For one lucky birder to be known as JB (Jammy being the first word) it was his first visit to the Obs and we got him onto the Phalarope without much trouble.
This is what we saw today in order of appearance

Saturday 9th September 06.00-10.00 W2 6/8

Black h Gull 592n 134s (and no Med's picked out)
Gannet 506n 99s
Redshank 5n 13s
Shag 2n 2s
Golden Plover 1n
Sandwich Tern 12n 52s
Common Gull 5s
Dunlin 4n 10s
Porpoise at least 6 seen
Common Tern 138n 27s
Common Scoter 7n 4s
Arctic Tern 4n 1s
Curlew 5n
Red th Diver 2n 13s
Ringed Plover 15n
Manx Shearwater 12n
Red-necked Phalarope 1 06.45-07.40 (my video but not today's bird tho i did try)

Arctic Skua 5n 5s
Pom Skua 1n
Teal 14n 3s
Whimbrel 12s
Eider 1s
Meadow Pipit 2n 12s
Turnstone 1s
Knot 1n 2s
Pintail 12n
Wigeon 5n
Grey Heron 1s
Sanderling 1n
Pied Wagtail 4n 1s
Goosander 1n
Swallow 14n
Bonxie 1n
Kestrel 2s
Ruff 1n
Red br Merganser 3s