a few more cory's

A morning seawatch produced 26 cory's shearwaters, 4 sooty shearwaters, 1 arctic skua and lots of storm petrels.  Another bash this evening in slackening winds yielded 3 more cory's shearwaters, 2 sooty shearwaters, another arctic skua and more storm petrels.

a better haul

A decent south-westerly this evening produced 52 cory's shearwaters, 4 great shearwaters (109), 1 balearic shearwater, 6 sooty shearwaters, 2 bonxies, 1 pomarine skua and 6 puffins in 2.5 hours. Six common dolphins were  also seen.

more of de same

An hour and a half at Galley this evening netted 1 balearic shearwater, 1 sooty shearwater, 7 bonxies and 1 arctic skua.

new gannetry?

A big fat gannet sitting in the middle of the small colony of herring gulls at Galley tonight was shurely a sign of things to come? On the seawatching front, 1 great shearwater, 1 balearic shearwater, 1 sooty shearwater and 1 arctic skua were seen.

a few bits

An hours seawatching this evening produced 1 balearic shearwater, 1 sooty shearwater, 1 pomarine skua, 1 bonxie and 30 storm petrels.

balearics

The first two balearic shearwaters of the year headed slowly west tonight, before ditching into a big raft of feeding manx shearwaters. At least 4 sooty shearwaters were also knocking about, while 4 common terns heading west were also new for the year (108).  A minke whale and a porpoise represented the blubber side of things.

a few more skuas

Two pomarine skuas, 1 arctic skua, 2 bonxies (106) and a sooty shearwater were tonight's seawatching fare, with 12 common scoter east and c.10 puffins west too.

another wader

A dunlin heard flying over tonight was a welcome boost to the year list (105). The sea remained quiet this evening in a north-westerly.

pickin' up

A late afternoon seawatch (4.30 - 6.30) produced 1 sabine's gull, 1 great shearwater, 1 sooty shearwater, 2 bonxies & 2 arctic skuas.  I managed an hour then from 6.40 to 7.40 gleaning 2 pomarine skuas, 1 sooty shearwater and 31 arctic terns for the year (104), along with 15 puffins and 2 common scoter.

common sand

A common sandpiper calling at Long Strand this evening was the first sign of wader passage at Galley for the autumn (101).

first cory's of the year

Three cory's shearwaters past Galley this evening were a welcome sight, and brought up 100 for the patch year list.  25 common scoter west and a steady trickle of manx shearwaters were the only other signs of movement.

poms

Four pomarine skuas were the highlight past Galley this evening, with 16 common scoter, 1 storm petrel and 2 puffins.

the seawatching starts here....

Hooray, its July! A lunchtime seawatch produced 1 bonxie, 2 arctic skuas, 5 storm petrels and a few common scoter.  I gave it a lash this evening, but could only muster another 5 storm petrels and an arctic skua for my year list (99).