Monday, 19 December 2016

This mornings sea watch from the turning circle from the relative comfort of the car. The fog horn was blasting out through the mist and steady drizzle over a flat calm sea:
08.00-09.15
Brent Goose: 4 up
Teal: 3 up
Long-tailed Duck: 1 up
Great-crested Grebe: 5 on sea
Red-throated Diver: 17 down   2 up     2 on sea
Gannet: 40+ feeding
Merlin: 1 hunting at sea
Oystercatcher: 1 up
Turnstone: 2 on beach
Great Skua: 1 down
Kittiwake:  3 down    4 around
Guillemot: 200+ down    20+ up         30+ on sea
Razorbill:  14 down       2 up          2 on sea
Grey Seal:  1
Out of interest is it still necessary to have fog horns, surely these days ships have radar, sonar and GPS. If someone knows the reason please enlighten me.  

The Ring-necked Duck was back on Cooks Pool today but no sign of the Long-eared Owl. From the comfort of the VC  an adult Caspian Gull, an adult Yellow-legged Gull and a Goldeneye of note.
Early afternoon back at the beach the regular 1w Caspian Gull came to some bread, while offshore, a Fulmar flew up channel as did 2 Common Scoter and 5 Brent Geese, also 3 Brent Geese flew down channel. The weather closed in again so home for a cup of tea. 
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3 comments:

  1. Paul Trodd21 December 2016 at 08:14

    You`re correct Martin, that due to GPS and the like foghorns are no longer needed as navigational aids by shipping, but are retained as a hazard warning for smaller vessels such as leisure yachts; apparently each foghorn has a distinctive sound. Many have been switched off around the British coastline, with only 24 still in use, and Trinity House are surveying the remainder to see if they are necessary. I can easily hear the Dungeness foghorn two miles from our place, so goodness knows what it must be like at night time on the Ness! I suspect though, due to the volume of maritime traffic and location of the Dungeness foghorn that it will be one of the last in the country to be switched off, so I guess we should enjoy its unique sound while we can...

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  2. Ploddingbirder21 December 2016 at 19:25

    Thanks for that Paul. Do you know where the off switch is?

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  3. Paul Trodd22 December 2016 at 07:36

    I`m afraid not!

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