Being so close to Flamborough
Head I couldn’t resist the temptation to carryout and early morning sea-watch,
despite the conditions being less than variable.
There was a fresh and gusting
south-east wind when I arrived in the car park at 05:30 and I was down at the
lighthouse station just before 05:45, where the light was still poor.
As I started to scan the sea
there were a few Gannets moving north and eventually counted over 1700 heading
north in my two-hour watch. I hadn’t
been in position long when I picked up an Arctic Skua heading south but other
than the Gannets, a few Fulmar and Kittiwakes it was quiet. I did have a flock of circa twenty Common
Scoter followed by two more heading north and a single Red-throated Diver also heading
north. After about an hour a few
Sandwich Terns stated to move north and I heard a Whimbrel and saw eight
Curlew. I was beginning to think I wouldn’t
see anything else of note when an Eider flew north closely followed by a Shag,
both of which were year ticks. I then
picked up what I thought might be a Sooty Shearwater but suspected it would
just turn out to be yet another Fulmar. However,
when I got the scope on it I confirmed that it was a Sooty and just before I
departed a second Arctic Skua flying south.
After breakfast, we spent a
couple of hours wandering around Bridlington before setting off home and with
the tide low I counted eighteen Redshank and twenty-eight Turnstone in the
harbour. We set off for home at the
right time as we headed into some very heavy rain, which apparently caused some
local flooding.
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