It's Raining Again!

He says in what to a normal person would be far too cheerful a voice.


After a long spell of frustration, finally a frontal system [and quite a nice-looking one, too] that I could get to grips with!


Yes, it was all with the seawatching at the Nose on Saturday. I managed a little over 5 hours before the sun came out and there were birds, oh yes!

Not the storm petrels I was hoping for, mind, but there were skuas and assorted gulls to go with the reasonable Gannet and moderate auk movement.


And rain it certainly did, with several vicious squalls - most notably the 15 minuter around 0900 - that had me hunkered down under my bumbleshoot. [Their arrival being announced by the wind sharply backing to SE didn't help... ouch]. There had been plenty of rain overnight, which was still going as I arrived with the useable light, and the SWBCM was going nicely. So nicely that I even took a little montage of it..

The actual outfall is around the corner.

Lead and Ore Stones [and the blow hole] are due SE

Two of those white dots are breaking waves, the rest are gulls

Now looking pretty much towards The Backwater.

The slick is spreading out N to NNE 

Despite that pretty slick, the conditions weren't spot on for storm petrels, but they weren't awful either. I suspect the old 'you can't see what isn't there' may apply. Ah well.


Gannets and Kittiwakes were the main movers, with circa 250 and 350 in the first hour alone - final scores 580/3 and 674/12. Auks started slowly and evenly [6 each in the first hour], but ended with 89 Razorbills and 12 Guillemots. Nope, not one Puffin. Also light on the shears, with 2 probable Balearics [together, only seen head-on] the only ones, and only 1 Fulmar.

The skuas did better, and made up for some of the slack; no less than 4 Poms - including one on the first scan! - came by, with a light imm accompanying a dark-intermed juvenile and team-harrying Kittiwakes the best showers. A sudden slacking in Gannet numbers preceded a lone juv [intermed] Bonxie powering through [with a fair-sized group following it at a respectable distance!]. 4 Arctic Skuas [again 2 singles and a twosome - this time adult light and markedly bigger intermed juv] also didn't tarry.

At least 4 Common, 12 LBB, and 11 BHG were attracted to the slick with the Herrings and Geebs, but the best gulls were right at the start; a 1w Little and a cracking [if only it had come in and tarried] juv Sabine's! :D The latter went through inside the Lead Stone at 0750. Also of note, one of those interesting LBBs just after 0830 - it too didn't hang around, the bugger.


It was a good watch - though a very soggy one - and I wasn't surprised to eventually have company [though said birder didn't dare the Steps and went to the TSWS] a little after ten.



Sunday.. My blimmin' head attacked again, and though I eventually got out it wasn't until well into the afternoon. I gave the sheltered bits of the near Patch a bash [a Mistle Thrush at Tessier being the highlight] and wound up making my first check of Blackball of the winter. There were at least 78 Kittiwakes in a raft, but no grebes.


This afternoon I went over to Blackball again. This time no Kittiwakes were discernible, but the light was not great. Not great at all. There were a whole heap of roosting gulls - at least 6000, and still arriving at the light went - in big rafts and on the cliffs past Petitor. No grebes either, but I was delighted to get something; scoter! A group of 8 Common Scoter were tootling about not far out - 2 adult males with them - and looked like they were staying put for the night. Not a common sight [ho ho].


Finally.. I keep hearing Redwings after dark. I'm starting to suspect they're roosting hereabouts. More on this if I get it.



Be Seeing You.