Trippin' In The Rain

Oh boy oh boy oh boy, what a day!

:D

Tried to get up early this morning and almost succeeded, starting my seawatch at the Nose at a vaguely respectable 0640 [What does the 0 stand for? Oh, I wish I'd been here an hour ago....]. Straight up without even looking through the scope, first good bird was a Bonxie in with the gulls at the end of the Nose - looked like a young one, 1s maybe. Cracking start, though the blustery wind [in a particularly evil mood today, with gusts from 2 directions other than the way it was blowing] put paid to my attempts to use my bumbleshoot, leaving me in day-long rain. I now know I definitely need to re-proof my jacket and get new boots..

I may have been cold and soggy, but I lasted until 3-00 and though the birds dried up now and again [oddly out of synch with the few easings in the rainfall] there was plenty to keep me happy! Not just me, either, as [Famous Devon Birder] and [Famous Devon Birder, plus dog] joined me for 4 and 1 1/2 hours respectively. One hardy fisherman was present when I arrived [looking like he'd camped, the naughty boy] and quite a few more joined him over the course of the day, some even lasting more than an hour as the seas mounted with the wind and the rising tide..

The sea itself was a real spectacle, with white water breaking 30' into the air [before being smashed down by the fiercely gusting wind that sent sheets of spray whipping across the bare rocks in front of me - wow it was good] - which was high enough to block my view completely! The rain and the spray whizzing past made the visibility pretty iffy at times, despite the Ore Stone always being this side of the murk line and combined with the impressive swell it made for some tricky times finding and then staying on birds - only one Stormy was seen by both present, for example. [[Ok, this may have something to do with me and my near-legendary inability to get onto birds, no matter how good the directions are... {Ahem.} ]]

What was that? 'Get on with it and tell us what you saw!'?

Star bird was definitely the light morph Pom Skua, which got in with the gulls off the end of the Nose and showed quite cripplingly as it went by. It had immaculate spoons, but not on very long handles, and the hint of paleness under the wing, set against its overall duskiness made me think 4s. But this is perhaps overanalysing a glorious bird. Said Skua was not alone in its quality, though. 2 more Bonxies and 4 Arctic Skuas passed south, a couple of the Arctics also giving very close flypasts, all appearing to be either adult or close to it. A Sooty Shearwater zipped through at 0809 - well out and making irritating use of troughs and other birds to give [Famous Devon Birder] no more than the briefest of glimpses. Manxies ebbed and flowed all day, with several groups stopping to feed to the north of the Nose, building up some big numbers [largest single flock was 97 birds] before they moved on en masse - a final total of 1170. 3 Balearics also came by, picking their times well so that only I saw them - the last one tarted by inside the lead Stone minutes before [famous Devon Birder] arrived. [Dratted bird.] [It was gorgeous, though..]

Storm Petrels started slowly, before suddenly kicking up after 1400; with 6 in the last hour that I was there compared with 7 others [of which I got on 4] in the more than 7 hours before then. Perhaps more a reflection of their coming closer to the slick from the outfall than a change in passage? Certainly none had been seen to come onto the main part of the slick before then. 7 Common Terns, 14 Common Scoter [in two groups], a 2s Med Gull [lingering in the outfall] and 2 Puffins [which flew in from the north and settled quite close inshore] were the best of the rest. I counted 310 Gannets south, with auks [mostly Guilles, but a few Razorbills mixed in] and Kittiwakes* uncounted but in the hundreds and at least 2 adult LBBs in the area [though there may have been a light passage instead - I'd occasionally find one or two around the Ore Stone among the Herrings and Geebs, so there might have been an unseen turnover].

[* The first Kittiwake didn't come by for some time, and by then I'd committed my second clicker to Manxies {Good thing too!} - it was far too wet to tally count them, and they eventually came too fast for it to have been accurate if I'd tried..]

[[As it was, my notebook got very soggy and looks like it'll take a fair while to dry out. I need to find a small professional survey notebook for the next one.]]

Its a treat to get such a juicy complex low coming in on the right track on a weekend, now I'm back in work. All those variables that need to coincide, 'tis a veritable wonder.

PYL: 124