Wind, Rain and loads of Sea Birds

Gannet past the fishing boats

08.50-11.00  from The Point in heavy rain, wind WSW 6
Brent Goose: 2 up
Red-throated Diver: 243 down.     6 up
Great-crested Grebe: 9 down
Fulmar: 18 down
Gannet: 379 down
Cormorant: c500 around
Caspian Gull: regular 1w bird
Kittiwake: 283 down
Guillemot: 1,463 down  not a single Razorbill noted!

1w Kittiwake

1 of the many Guillemots

1w Caspian Gull joining me at the fishing boats

 1w Glaucous Gull from Makepiece

After lunch the wind was still blowing and the rain still falling, but I made my way to the reserve anyway. From the entrance track several 100s of Golden Plover were flushed by a Marsh Harrier and a Great White Egret looked very dejected at Cook's Pool.

Only small numbers of wildfowl were on Burrowes and very few Gulls when I arrived. A very quick look for the Long-eared Owl unsurprisingly drew a blank. From Firth there were a few Gulls but nothing unusual. From Makepiece more or less the first Gull I saw was a 1w Glaucous Gull presumably the same bird that spent a few days around The Point, the regular 1w Caspian Gull was the next to be found, as the Gulls began to come into roost in the near dark the gleaming white 3w Iceland Gull came in, after a quick bathe it buried itself among the Great Black Backed Gulls.

3w Iceland Gull from Makepiece (16,000 iso)