Short and Sharp

Unlike the rain today..

My first post-Nights Friday was spent at the Nose, mostly getting rained on while watching gulls tripping and trying not to lose my bumbleshoot...

The wind was frisky getting up to yikes and SSE, so the Steps were out. I found a decent spot on the TSWP - after much fine adjusting - where I could balance my stool, see a decent chunk of where the slick would be [I was in ahead of the rain], and still be sheltered. Ah, the joys of seawatching at the Nose!

Mostly it was pretty dead. I gave it 6.5 hours and with good birds dripping through I had some hopes of something starting up in one of the easings of the main frontal rain, but nada. Oh well, that's seawatching, and I didn't do too badly.


An average of 50 Kitts an hour was top passage, and that was more than twice the Gannet rate! The odd diver kept my eyes open - 5 RTDs, 2 BTDs and a GND went south, with a GND being joined by another Black-throat in Hope Cove. My first Balearic of the year was too far out to coo over, and a lovely adult Little Gull - while closer - didn't hang about to be admired either.. Otherwise; the female Eider showed right up close and is indeed the same bird as was hanging around last year and again 4 GC Grebes were on the sea to the north. On the Ore Stone, 256 Guillemots [It's lovely having a big scope and good light to count them] were on the ledges, with no Razorbills.

When the outfall kicked in it gave high counts of 68 BHG and 11 Common Gull among about 400 birds in attendance.



Late News:
Tuesday I gave the Inner Harbour a passing glance; two Moorhens and a Turnstone - the latter being harassed by the former! Also, on the gulls' pontoon a dead Guillemot - as with the Goldeneye it wasn't ringed. It was moulting into s/pl and had no obvious injuries or oiling, but I didn't have optics with me to be sure [oh, the shame...]. It was right in the middle of the pontoon and looked like it had been dumped there by human hands - perhaps caught by accident in one of those nasty little inshore gill nets you see held up by old plastic bottles?
Yesterday, the first Blackcap of the winter in the Garden; a female.