Bonxies galore!

Wow! What a day of excellent sea-watching. After the slight disappointment of yesterday, the wind had moderated slightly, moved into the NE, and the seawatch today was simply superb. Micky, Dave Bowes and I enjoyed one of the most memorable seawatches it has been my privilege to experience. A pre-dawn start found Micky and myself in position and by the time Dave arrived just around 7.30 am we were already clocking up the Sooty Shearwaters and Great Skuas. At 0820 a Leach's Petrel appeared in my field of view and after a tense couple of minutes we had all latched onto it. The birds came thick and fast, so much so it was hard keeping up with the flow of birds being called out. The stars were the Bonxies, which totalled 221 by the end of the watch and totally smashing the previous best Scarborough area count of 115 back in 1984. Sooty Shearwaters were also impressive with 206 being the highest count for the site in quite a few years.

Other highlights before 11am included Storm Petrel, juvenile Long-tailed Skua, Black-throated Diver, two Balearic Shearwaters, good numbers of Common Scoter, a few Red-breasted Mergansers, five Pale-bellied Brent Geese and a few Arctic Skuas. The pace slowed after 11am, but Storm Petrel and a petrel sp were added before Micky decided to check the bushes near the hut. He discovered a Firecrest so the hut quickly emptied but it appeared to move on through quickly. Nevertheless with the action at sea slowing, we headed off to check the fields and hedgerows. Not a lot was found although a Great Spotted Woodpecker is unusual here and given that it was a juvenile still sporting a red crown was presumably a Northern bird? A few Goldcrests were newly arrived in Crook Ness which bodes well for the next few days...

The main totals for the period 0700-1330 were as follows.

Red-throated Diver - 23 N, 1 S
Black-throated Diver - 1 N
Fulmar - 857 N
Sooty Shearwater - 206 N
Manx Shearwater - 79 N
Balearic Shearwater - 2 N
Storm Petrel - 2 N
Leach's Petrel - 1 N
Petrel sp - 1 N
Gannet - 1112 N, 5 S
Cormorant - 3 N, 52 S

Shag - 1 S
Pale-bellied Brent Goose 5 N
Wigeon - 21 N
Common Scoter - 399 N, 14 S
Goldeneye - 1N
Red-breasted Merganser 8 N
Arctic Skua - 3 N
Long-tailed Skua - 1 juv N
Great Skua - 221 N
Little Gull 1 N
Kittiwake 1539 N

Part of a closer group of Bonxies

Common Scoter

Great Spotted Woodpecker - a scarce bird at Long Nab