Record Eider movement

With a fairly long series of pretty dismal seawatches at the Nab recently, it was great to enjoy an excellent and varied movement today. Wildfowl dominated proceedings with 307 Eider heading north creating a new record movement for the species in the Scarborough area. The previous best was 190 on 10th November 2001. Scaup, Long-tailed Duck, Goosander (3), Red-breasted Merganser (5), Goldeneye (12) and Common Scoter (481) all featured amongst a dozen species of ducks on the move. Three Great Northern Divers were well received along with a single Black-throated Diver and a reasonable number of Red-throated Divers. 

The highlight for Dave and myself was a Leach's Petrel heading north at 0925, but unfortunately Micky missed it as it slipped in and out of the troughs. A second winter Glaucous Gull was rather more accommodating as it moved north early afternoon. The only real disappointment was the lack of the hoped for Little Auks although it seems fairly likely that the odd one probably slipped through unnoticed in the deeper troughs between the waves. Maybe tomorrow...

One of the many flocks of Eiders flying past the Nab today