A decent seawatch...at last!

10/8/06 Holme NOA Leaders:Simeon, James, Matthew, Connor
James, Matthew and I got dropped off at Holme and met Connor there. Seawatching had been good that morning, with a Manx Shearwater, several Arctic Skuas, plenty of Terns (including a few Arctic) and 40+ Gannets. We were slightly irritated that it had died down a lot! Nevertheless, we got to the watchpoint and within five minutes we had had one Arctic Tern, several Common Scoters and plenty of Sandwich with a few Common Terns. Then Connor joined us and by the time he had left we had seen; four Arctic Skuas, 20+ Gannets and a single Manx Shearwater. Things certainly hadn't died down! When he left we were certainly on the ball, seeing another Arctic Skua, several more Arctic Terns, a few Little Terns, 50+ Common Scoter and another Manx Shearwater. Then something happened. I was following one of the Manx Shearwaters when I spotted two dark Terns (probably Arctic). They flew below the surf and whilst I was trying to relocate them I saw another dark Tern. 'Black Tern' I said, but Matthew couldn't get onto it. It was a lifer for me! Meanwhile James had found a different dark Tern. It was a White - Winged Black Tern! None of us got onto it, but James was sure of it because of the plumage. James spotted one more Manx Shearwater and then things completely stopped with a strong Westerly wind. It had been a brilliant seawatch and we were all pleased with what we had seen.