The Forecast Said... Pt.1, Sitting In the Rain, or 'Being A Good Brider'

The Forecast for the weekend said it would be wet and windy, with an ex-hurricane lurking with intent* in the near-Atlantic.

So it was early if not bright on Saturday morning that I dragged up and got myself down to the Nose. With the wind meant to shift from South to SouthWest, and actually being more SSE when I arrived, I again chose Glonk Corner** and ended up giving it 6 hours [which is moderate by proper standards, but not bad for me this year and probably more than the weather deserved..., but I'm getting ahead of myself]

Magnificent Seven?

You never quite know what you'll get seawatching, and these immature Mute Swans were a bit of a surprise.!

They were also quite vocal and jusst for a moment... ::wistful sigh::

My camera - which had seemed to be getting better - took a turn and so even less usuable identifiable pics are a bit limited, I'm afraid [stop cheering]

The weather was windy, yes, but the hoped-for overnight rain just didn't materialise and indeed we got little more than blowy dizzle with the odd thicker bit the whole time.

 

Not saying there wasn't passage, there were actual almost nationally respectable numbers for almost an hour there!

Take a look at these hourlies;

Gannet                  : 79,    56,    56,    22,  57,    27

Auks [more Raz]  : 657,  97,    50,    9,    3,      1

Kittiwakes            : 136,  203,  214,  71,  131,  269

451 of those auks were in the first half hour and included groups of up to 92.

[It was rather fun]

Also [S or S/N unless stated] 0730-1330;

 

Mute Swan 7

C Scoter ~88 / 19

large shear sp. [Probably Cory's] 1 [1220]***

GND 2/2 + 1 on sea off Black Head

RTD 1

Arctic Skua 2

Med Gull 3/2

Com Gull 5

BHG 26

LBB 9

Also now near-adult male Eider around Lead Stone, 2 Little Egret into rock pools of The Sole, Redwing, Woodpigeon and Mipit groups overhead South.

Also observed;

The Veteren leads the

Hope's Nose Irregulars

They having given up at The Point. [You may note that The Teacher is the only one who knows the reach of my camera and is thus hiding his face... ;P ]

It wasn't that bad and even quite exciting at points [when you have three sets of clickers going for birds coming past in anything from singles to big groups at all ranges.. :) ].

The skuas only turned up after The Artefact ::Onimous Chanting:: was wielded at them, and the near-lack of sexy birds was a bit of a let-down [BH got a Grey Phalarope, he sulks..], but that's seawatching.

Be Seeing You...

[[* Not proper intent, which should be barrelling through right over us; bringing Serious Weather, a shot at insanely good seabirds, and a hatful of Yankee vagrants for the aftermath.

But you just don't get good weather systems any more... ::sigh:: ]]

[[** I have, I think, finally admitted to myself that The Steps is now pretty much unusable in anything east of a SW, what with all the erosion of anything you can rest feet {assorted} on. ::second sigh:: ]]

[[*** Got a pretty good look at it, but couldn't get The Teacher - who was with me at the time - on it. On the Manx Line, too. 'sp' as I can't rule out Scopoli's.!! {Took eyes off it too soon.. Schoolboy error, there}

Of interest, not that long after, he picked up a Manxie which I was utterly unable to locate. What goes around.. ]]