The Blog I Should Have Blogged On Friday

Seawatching after you've done a night shift and haven't slept since the afternoon before is always a challenge. On Friday I did grey out a little now and then, when the sun shone and it got warm, and I suffered Head To Eyepiece once or twice. I also only twigged after it had passed that that wasn't a juv Kitt but a Little Gull, and almost missed the Black Tern. The Whimbrel was better, it went by point blank and calling. As did a couple of Turnstones and 21+ Dunlin [where did they go to?!?]

Getting back to where I should be.. The weather was pretty reasonable, at least once the showers cum rain bands started kicking through, and the wind, which was barely west enough for me to squeeze into the south corner of The Steps, stayed nice and brisk until the sun really came out in the afternoon. After a Gannet-rich start - first scan was 15 Gannet, 5 Fulmar, 5 Kittiwake, 3 Manxie! - some huge post-rain Manx surges gave a final score of 1232 south / 7 north for Manx and 232 south / 5 north for Gannets. 157 Kitts went by, with 25-30 juveniles among them, and while 55 Fulmars passed, how many zipped back north over the top? I didn't take hourly figures [tut tut] - I didn't think of it until about 2 1/2 hours in - which is a shame as there were some big variations in there.

Despite the very nice attacks of rain, there wasn't the array of 'interesting ones' you'd expect. Skuas were thin indeed - 2 Bonxies and a lone Arctic. 3 Balearics and another shearwater sp. among the Manx - though rain and the very annoying habit they all had on the day of really staying low in the troughs may have obscured more. 5 Common Scoter, 3 Razorbills, 2 Guillemots, a Swift... Oh, and the other terns. 60 Common Tern, 21 Sarnie, 5 Commics - not bad. On shore a Painted Lady was my first of the year [I think..].

Last's the best... As my watch was coming to an end, I noticed some bright spots way out and a way to the north. Light on waves? They would appear, grow, and wane, over a few seconds, all in irregular timing, in a discrete patch of sea. Which was slowly moving. Into the wind. Oh ho, thinks I, that's the sun reflecting off the dorsal fins of cetaceans!
So I waited while they gradually got closer, deciding that there were at least 5 of them, and that they had good-sized fins on them. Finally when they were east and at their closest I could make out some better detail; tall falcate fins on grey bodies with lots of scarring - Risso's Dolphins!

I also had some company for almost half my watch - a 1s female Herring Gull. This character, coverts very well barred, dark bill with fancy pale tip, interesting tertial pattern*, gradually sidled up to me until she was standing in reach. Definitely a cool customer, she'd worked out I was happily sheltered from the wind [and rain - the bumbleshoot was something she found both scary and interesting!] and those big nasty GBBs were keeping clear of me. Plus, human equals food, right?
Being so close to a wild bird was great; I looked at her and she was looking back - iris just starting to get paler, btw - but once it got to lunch time, there was a definite overtone of 'Can I get one of those sarnies off him?'. Deciding charity was better than violence, I used the old 'toss a bit of food over there' routine. After fighting off 3 juveniles, she stayed put [in hope of more low-flying rations!] for the rest of the time I was there.


[[*Inner few had the typical edge notching, but most had broad pale tips with a thin dark subterminal band. Interesting.]]