Up at aaaarrrgh... o'clock this morning for the first time in seemingly forever [and boy did I feel it - I'm definitely out of practice.... ] and over to Berry Head to see what the sea would bring me [say that one fives times fast!]
But first.
Yesterday I got myself another 'Birds Out the Window During Lunch at My Course' tick - Geeb! Stonking great [unsurprisingly] adult - out terrorizing the cute ickle fluffy baby Herring Gulls no doubt!
Right, back to the fun!
Despite getting up later than I should for this time of year, I still managed to start watching at a creditable 0650 [What does the 'o' stand for? "Ohhh, I need more coffee......"]. I admit to feeling a little surprise at finding a couple of intrepid watchers already there, even more so that one wasn't MD [he arrived a bit later]. The nice front we'd been promised had evidently decided to have a lie-in, and so the birds were late getting started too. Still, while it wasn't quite what you'd expect from the weather and the date, there were some very nice little birds indeed.
I'm talking Puffins, of course. :) As you may have guessed by now, I'm a fan. I got a treat today - 18 Puffins came past south in 6 hours and I got on 16 of them. :D A couple even settled, one at bin range for a whole 8 minutes [yes, I timed it] - which was utterly gorgeous through the Big Scope. Manxies did pretty well; 440 past south [outnumbered only by the resident Guilles] - and again some nice close flypasts, also a couple of brief settles and some feeding.
Other than that, however... Total of 20 Common Scoter, 5 small waders [Dunlin or Sanderling], a Whimbrel, a half dozen Razorbill, and a moderate passage of Kittiwake all passed south, plus a few Swift in/off in gaps after the front had passed. No Stormies, not a sniff of a Skua, and no Balearics. The Harbour Porpoises put in an appearance, and the local Fulmars and not so local Gannets put on some aerobatics.
It was good, don't get me wrong - despite some long spells of nothing [even the Guilles dried up at some points] I would happily do it again for those wonderful Puffins. It has been said that seawatching is often just that, but this is only a problem if you don't find watching the waves [and passing ships, yachts, and floating bags of rubbish {yes really}] interesting and even relaxing. I do. The getting up unnaturally early and the sustained concentration does take it out of you [as soon as I post this I'm crashing] but it also gives a very deep feeling of inner peace [and the universal birder's elation if you're lucky enough to get something like an adult Longtail, of course!].
I'm burbling.
More than usual, that is.
Night, folks.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
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