Bright and Breezy. Well, Sort Of..

Weekend, no blogging, oops..

It's been pretty quiet, to tell the truth. I've been prowling around the Patch [having not done much of that for a while] seeing nowt to report about, really. The only bloggable stuff was on Friday.

Got in from work, it was all wet and windy. Nice strong gusty wind blowing manky rain - perfect! I grab a bite to eat, tool up and head for the Nose. When I get there there are white clouds around the horizon and blazing blue sky everywhere else! WTF!!??!!

Yes, the wind is still blowing, but the visibility is almost to Beer Head - not good. I say some very rude things about the Met Office - their parentage and general competence are called into some detailed question, among other things - but as I'm there I figure I'll still watch something, even if its only the auks on the Ore Stone.

The Goddess of Birding, She tests us. The clouds at least, came back. There were birds. Not many, mind.. In 5 hours [I had the big flask - as it seemed good and the weather liars forecasters agreed] there passed south 202 Gannets, 40 Manxies, 20 Kitts, and 12 Fulmars. A few of all went north.

So much for the standards. Odds and ends? A bit better. The [pretty much expected] Balearic, 2 Arctic Skuas, 13 C. Scoters, 2 Little Egrets, a Curlew, 4 Med Gulls and 4 Puffins went south, while a lone Common Tern went north. Not too shabby, I think. There was also the first fun gull of the season...

WARNING.
Those of a delicate disposition should stop reading now.

What can I say? Definitely a 2cy, certainly big and bulky. Catches the eye by its very pale head on the deck and all dark tail in flight. Yes, the tail coverts were heavily barred. Interested? I was. I've spent much time consulting the Big White Book of Sanity-Blasting Horror*, among others. Not a classic individual, but close enough to have me prowling around the rest of the weekend looking for it. No joy, of course - the big gulls are thin on the ground right now, what with all the breeding and so on. But worth looking out for, I think. As for an ID.. HAHAHAHAHA..... Yeah, but seriously, it didn't have the classic Glonk bill [though some don't, apparently] and thus could be - and probably therefore is - a most despicable Herring [[Ie. a bird of mixed genetics, like 99% of large gulls. Tell me I'm wrong.]]. But it might not be, so heads up..



[[*Malling Olsen & Larsson, naturally]]