PPMS

I keeps on sayings it 'cos it be true.

Patience.

Persistence.

A Massive Scope.

These things aid birding in general and seawatching in particular.

Keep at it. The Boss is The Boss in part because he's always at it when the weather's even slightly right at the right time of year.

And so he gets to see every Balearic Shearwater in existence [statistically, at least]. And all the other stuff.

And so I sometimes get to see some of the same things.

Of course, me being me, where he goes 'Ah, a juv LTS, intermediate morph' I goes.. 'OOh LTS...No, wait it's gone all gingery in the sunshine; despite the structure and flight action and all that, it must be a funny little Arctic....'

So it got recorded as that and time not noted. It was between one and two, that I do know [I keep hourlies {when I have the time/remember/can be bothered...}].

[[And yes, it is entirely possible the TwoBirdTheory applies, but life being the way it is, and the Goddess of Birding being the way She is....]]

Ahem.

[Note for the curious, sunshine CAN change a bird's apparent colour, especially through blown-up sea spray.....]

[Note for the more curious, Long-tailed Skuas, juvenile, are famously cold-coloured and a gingery tone is textbook 'I'm a juvenile Arctic Skua!']

Dear oh dear.

Despite having my traditional 'Back to school with you, ha ha!' week off, I didn't get much birding midweek due to an unlikely combination of events robbing me of my car and added to that my head demanding I spend a day clutching same and going 'aaaaaaarrrghhhhhh....'

But before that;

Med Gull

Adult, in secondary moult

After all the fun on Sunday, the Monday morning saw a less amenable forecast. I toddled over to the Nose early anyway and saw buggere all on the sea. Feeling somewhat justified, I toured the Patch and met.... Well, not that much.

[The Boss started watching later and scored, of course. He's The Boss]

Tuesday saw me give it eight hours, mostly in sheer bloody-minded spite of all the unforecast blazing sunshine. I got a near-miss shower at about 1500.

 

Hmmm

 

To be fair, early on it wasn't bad at all [look up, and down :) ].

Even the sunny bits had the odd good bird. And the odd very good one;

For your horror and confusion, here's a bit of notebook, showing how blazing sun won't save a Sabine's;

The Artist I really

am not.....

Yes, Sabine's Gull; in a large passage of Kittiwakes. By the time I was in on it it was getting into the extensive sunblasted area, so it was a silhouette. Following a 1cy Kittiwake. Direct comparisons made it joyfully obvious [ok, Sab's are usually pretty obvious; like Goshawks, when you see one oh boy you see one!*]. This being said, I have no proof whatsoever as to the age of the bird - it went into the full Sun and I lost it, as turned out for good - I think it was a juvenile, I hope an adult would have stood out more as I was getting on it [the head/neck contrast stands out on approaching birds].

I'd better put up some numbers, hadn't I?

 

8 hrs, from Glonk Corner;

Gannet  438

Kittiwake  397

Med Gull  35*

Balearic  134

C Scoter  8

Fulmar  21

BHG  32

Sooty Shear  4 [0741,0850,1013(2)]

Manx  4

shear sp.  1 [0840]

Sabine's Gull  1 [0828]

Razorbill  22

Guillemot  2

auk sp.  1

Sarnie  1

Arctic Skua  11/12

LT Skua 0/1

LBB  5

Also 2+ H Porp, N of The Toe at 1352

* I suspected I had most likely under-counted Meds on my last watch, so I used a clicker.

The big difference between the Nose and Berry Head is quite likely explained by the numbers lurking in the Bay. [See relevant post. When I put it up...]

Much of the passage was early on. Gannet hourlies illustrate; 142, 95, 42, 29, 42, 36, 21, 31  

A trickle of passage studded with the odd goodie kept my spirits, if not up then off the floor. Also a big flask of coffee.**

Inevitables;

Spot the Arctic Skua

[no, really!]

Count the Scoter

I'd apologise for the awfulness of those, but you probably expect this stuff by now, don't you?

[Admit it, you'd be disappointed if you didn't get at least one...]

Anyways, far better than I either expected or deserved.

Be Seeing You...

[[* At close{ish} range. Adults, [obviously...] Even juvs and the rare 2cys stand out; those massive wings! Further off, the Arctic Tern vs Common Tern is a classic in terms of direct structure.

NB. Distinguishing between the two terns in similar conditions, the extent of translucent primaries would be distinct. ]]

[[** The Rules state that you stay until you run out of birds or run out of coffee, whichever is later. ]]