Super Stuff Seawatching!

3/8/06 Holme NOA Leaders: Connor
As I walked down the path towards the seawatching hide at Holme NOA I was extremely excited as the wind was a near gale force north westerly! I was soon in the hide with the assistant warden and the amount of Gannets was clearly evident with 120+ in an hour. Kittiwakes and Fulmars were also regular as were Sandwich and Common Terns. Common Scoters numbered about 60+. At about 8:20 am I picked up a Sooty Shearwater flying west at about three quaters distance. This was followed by another 10 minutes later. While watching the second bird a Skua flew through my scope. It was extremely thin winged, very grey and barred, much more so than the 15+ Arctic Skuas or so I had been watching. I followed it and was delighted to discover it was a Long Tailed Skua! More Arctic Skuas followed before retreating to the obs for breakfast.

Next the moth trap was emptied and although several interesting species were recorded it was rather uninspering and I was anxious to watch the sea again. On returning to the seawatching hide I was extremely annoyed to find out that I had missed two adult Long Tailed Skuas, a Manx Shearwater and two Sooty Shearwaters, as well as hearing the warden had seen two juvenile Long Tailed Skuas from the dunes!

Two Great Skuas were quickly located and a Manx Shearwater delighted me by putting in a brief appearance. Arctic Skuas were still on the move and the final tally at the end of the day was 33 but the seabird movement was clearly slowing with 5 Arctic Skuas, 12 Gannets, 2 Kittiwakes, 3 Fulmars, 6 Grey Plovers, 2 Greenshanks and a Whimbrel in the next hour.

Other birds seen during the day included 2 more Whimbrel and another Greenshank. Common Tern, 3 Grey Plovers and 12 Sandwiches Terns were on Redwell Marsh and this concluded a super day!