dismal weather for seawatching

Chanced a half hour watch this eve but nothing better than 1 bonxie, and 4 sandwich terns in a mediocre passage of manxies. Hopefully we'll get some better winds in August!

quietening down again

After yesterday's excitement, I snuck up for an hour late morning but there wasn't much doing. Still a trickle of storm petrels, and reasonable numbers of manx shearwaters going through, plus 3 bonxies and an arctic skua, which was most welcome for the year (118).

wilson's on the move

A wet and windy morning, and my lazy start was repaid with news of a madeiran storm petrel and a couple of wilson's petrels off Galley. Bugger! Managed to get out for an hour late morning, but failed to get on anything significant. A second session in the early afternoon was much more successful, with 3 wilson's petrels past in 2 and a half hours, one of which went through with a european stormie, allowing a really good comparison between the two - class! Its been 15 years since my first and only wilson's, so it was great to connect with these ones. A nice balearic shearwater in with manxies, and an arctic tern were useful additions for the year too (117).

quiet on the sea

Not a lot happening this pm off Galley, with 3 bonxies, 1 arctic skua, 1 storm petrel and 13 common scoter past between mid-afternoon and evening. A juvenile wheatear on the walk out was probably local stock, as there was a pair hanging around back in the spring.

warm-up seawatch

My first seawatch for quite a while this afternoon in a promising wind. A few year ticks too, with 4 bonxies, 2 sooty shearwaters, 1 storm petrel and c. 15 puffins all west (114).  Hopefully its the first of many for the season!