Go seawatching!

[Michael Frankis]

Good looking conditions for UK east coast seawatching tomorrow (Saturday) and early on Sunday!

http://129.13.102.67/wz/pics/brack0.gif

Hoping for Leach's Petrel & Sabine's Gull myself

Michael

[CJW]

Yeah and I bet we get sod-all in the Irish Sea.

[Grousemore]

I'll take your word for it,Michael,although I didn't really understand the Met office hieroglyphics in your link!

Some Skuas reported on the Thames down at Tilbury today,so maybe that counts as the East coast.I'll certainly give it a look over the weekend.

[CJW]

Hi Grousemore, try this link. Lots of pretty pictures and easier to understand. I'm not good at reading meteorological charts either.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/ukweather/wind.shtml

[Grousemore]

Thanks,CJW,that's just what is needed on this Site,a 'Fool's Guide' to the weather!

[Stephen Dunstan]

CJW,

Will you be seawatching tomorrow? I will be so we could compare and contrast with Michael tomorrow night.

I don't expect too much, but I'm 'sure' some half decent stuff will be seen from Anglesey.

Stephen.

[Andrew]

Monday looks to be the better day for South Devonians,

[Andrew Whitehouse]

I think I'll be down to Fife Ness tomorrow for a combination of rare eastern migrants and quality seawatching. I hope. I'll let you know how I get on tomorrow.

[Karl J]

Looking at the map, and my (possible lack of) understanding of it, wouldn't the french coast near Calais or the cross channel ferry be the place to go ? ... if you wanted to take it to the extreme, that is.

[digi-birder]

Has anyone tried the World Weather link on the BF home page? That gives you as much info as anyone would need to know.

[Steve]

There is one at the top of the forums page, right next to the tide table, which is by Birdsong which is also under used?

[Michael Frankis]

Originally posted by Grousemore
I'll take your word for it,Michael,although I didn't really understand the Met office hieroglyphics in your link!

Hi Grousemore,
As a brief starter's guide, winds blow more-or-less parallel to the isobars (the thin 'contour' lines on the map), anti-clockwise round lows ('L'), and clockwise round highs ('H'). Not completely parallel, as they do move a bit out from highs in to lows (like a whirlpool, which is exactly what a low pressure area is).

The closer the lines are together, the stronger the wind - the little scale bar in the top left corner gives an indication of windspeeds (the strongest ones, between Iceland and Norway, are around 40-50 knots, a severe northerly gale there).

Seabirds tend to get pushed by strong winds, and then when they find themselves stuck in a big shallow bay like the North Sea, they try to fight their way back out again, flying against the wind to get back into the open Atlantic.

The other info shown (by thick lines with blobs) on the synoptic charts is fronts, the bands of cloud & rain that develop where different air masses bump into each other. Warm fromts (warm air pushing cold air aside) are indicated by lines with round blobs, cold fronts (cold air pushing warm air aside) by triangular marks.

Where round & triangular alternate on the line, that's an occluded front, where a cold front has caught up with a warm front and run into it, forcing the warm air up high above two lots of colder air. These tend to dump particularly large amounts of rain.

Hope that helps a bit!

Michael

[Karl J]

Originally posted by Michael Frankis
when they find themselves stuck in a big shallow bay like the North Sea, they try to fight their way back out again, flying against the wind to get back into the open Atlantic.

Michael

So ...... don't they fly down the English Channel ?

[Michael Frankis]

Originally posted by Carlos GY
So ...... don't they fly down the English Channel ?

Hi Carlos,

Mostly, no, they don't. Roundabout Flamborough Head, the North Sea gets markedly shallower (60m to 30m deep), and shallower again around Norfolk (much of the southern North Sea is only about 15m deep or less). The likes of Sooty Shearwaters can dive 60m deep, so they know they're in a shallow bay; birds can probably also tell this from the shape of waves (shorter wavelength, steeper crests, in shallower water). Bays don't normally have an exit at the shallow end, and they have no way of knowing there is one at the south end of the North Sea.

On the map below, strong NW winds (red arrows) blow oceanic seabirds into the North Sea (green arrows); when they reach the shallow water (thin black line), they realise (or believe) they are in trouble, time to head back. I've also shown the Channel as the birds probably think the North Sea is - a big bay. So they try to head northwest back to where they know the Atlantic should be, actually head west because they are fighting the headwind, and hit the UK east coast. So there with the shelter of the land, they turn north and follow the coast.

This is why almost all seabirds fly north along the UK east coast (something I promised to detail a while back - here it is!)

Skuas, which don't dive deep, are more likely to go through the channel (and may do so in fairly large numbers, too). Despite this, most Pomarine and Great Skuas still like to get back out by going north.

Michael

[Michael Frankis]

Forgot me credits: base map from Encarta World Atlas (they allow use as long as you credit it!)

M

[Karl J]

Hi Michael. A very good post which explains it well.

Many thanks & good luck for tomorrow.

[Grousemore]

Hope that helps a bit!

Helps a lot,Michael;thank you for a very interesting exposition.

[Michael Frankis]

Thanks all!

It'll be interesting to compare everyones' results - I'll post mine here tomorrow evening too

Michael

[CJW]

Originally posted by Stephen Dunstan
CJW,

Will you be seawatching tomorrow? I will be so we could compare and contrast with Michael tomorrow night.

I don't expect too much, but I'm 'sure' some half decent stuff will be seen from Anglesey.

Stephen.

Well, if Anglesey gets something, it should pass us first! Yeah, I'll be up at the Point of Ayre tomorrow (as usual). I'll post on here if there's owt worth posting.
Good luck everyone.

[cuddy]

Anouther fairly easy to understand weather site can be found at Metcheck. Com.

[Stephen Dunstan]

I stuck at it for an hour and a half at Blackpool first thing. The scoter were engaged in some precision to and froing, with flocks of up to 300 at a time passing and making it look much busier out there than it really was. Otherwise Gannets, Kittiwakes, Eider, 1 GC Grebe. Divers don't tend to be seen in numbers when it is really blowing.

Stephen.

[CJW]

I hour at the Point of Ayre (10am - 11am) produced 2 Sabine's Gulls (both juvs) and 1 Bonxie, plus the usual auks, gulls and Gannets.

[Doug]

What do you think it will be like on Flamborough on Monday? I can't get there tomorrow but can on Monday.

What parts of the head would you recommend we focus on as being best for birds this time of year? We have never been before but I do have a map showing the various key features.

any suggestions much appreciated

[Michael Frankis]

My seawatch got:

Sabine's Gull - 1 juv
Long-tailed Skua - 1 juv
Pomarine Skua - 1 juv
Bonxie (Great Skua) - 7
Sooty Shearwater - 2
Manx Shearwater - 2
Little Auk - 9 or 10

Also Fulmar, Gannet, Cormorant, Shag, Little Gull, Kittiwake, Razorbill, Guillemot, Puffin, etc.

Spent some time looking for warblers etc but no joy, largely due to the strong wind making it difficult to find anything.

Michael

[Michael Frankis]

Hi Doug,

Doesn't look too good for Monday, I fear - strong offshore W to WNW winds, not enough northerly component to bring many seabirds into the North Sea. But it could 'recirculate' any that are still stuck in from this weekend, so it may not be completely unproductive.

In terms of small birds, South Landing is probably the best, as it'll be reasonably sheltered there.

Michael

[Andrew Whitehouse]

I managed about 2 and a half hours at Fife Ness mid-morning to early afternoon. Ok but not brilliant:

Little Gull 56
Bonxie 2
Manx 1
Sandwich Tern 8
Common Tern 1
Common Scoter 6
Long-tailed Duck 1
Velvet Scoter 1
RT Diver 1
Wigeon 4
Purple Sandpiper 1

I walked up the coast in the afternoon and there seemed to be quite a big movement of Kittiwakes and I had a further 4 Little Gulls, an Arctic Skua and an unidentified Skua (poss a Pom). Also 3 Brent Geese. There seemed to be fairly vast numbers of birds 5+ miles out all day.

[StevieEvans]

An hours walk along the coast near Sunderland produced :-
1 Little Auk
1 Whimbrel feeding at close range on football field
1000+ Golden Plover roosting on seashore, very well camoflauged against rocks
1N Arctic Tern
2N Manx Shearwater
1N large diver ssp
numerousN Gannets
biting cold N. wind with heavy hail & rain showers.
S

[cuddy]

Did an hour at St Marys today massive Gannet and Auk movement also good numbers of little gull and rt diver, teal, kittiwake and a single dark phase artic skua,

[Doug]

Thanks Michael we will perhpas try delaying our visit to later in the week to see if things improve.

[postcardcv]

A good morning at Sherringham, stacks of gannet, guillemot, little gull, kittiwake and red-throated diver. Highlights were:
2 Sabine's gull (juv)
1 sooty shearwater
7 manx shearwater
10 great skua
19 arctic skua
1 black-throated diver
Alas no leach's, and I missed the puffin that went through, so let's hope we get more good conditions so I can try again later in the week.....

[CJW]

We've got 'Severe Gale force 9' from the NW today, so I'll have another go tonight.

[Norfolk Coot]

Hi

We're acouple of novice birders, just started this year, so please excuse the ignorance, but can someone tell us what a Bonxie is??

Thanks

Colin & Kay

[Michael Frankis]

Bonxie = Great Skua. It is a traditional Scottish name (derived from old Norse), which has caught on a lot with the birding community. Sorry, I should have put 'Great Skua' there!

While you are reading, another popular one you will probably meet sooner or later is Tystie, for Black Guillemot. Again, an old Norse name (it is still called 'Teiste' in Norwegian and 'Tejst' in Danish, with the same pronunciation).

And welcome to BirdForum, of course!

Michael

[Norfolk Coot]

Thank you Michael for that info and for your welcome. Reading through the posts, in particular the Identification Q & A, we are very impressed at the friendliness and helpfulness of everyone here. No doubt we shall be in dire need of that help many times as we enter our first winter birdwatiching!!

Once again thank you

Kay and Col

[CJW]

Hi Both and welcome to Bird Forum from all the moderators and admin staff.
There's some real experts on the site, who will help you in anyway they can - Michael being one of them.

Chris

[postcardcv]

Hi Kay and Col

Yeah - Bonxie is a confussing one. I was out seawatching with my mum (who's only just started birding in the last year) and when someone called Bonxie she just started laughing... I did explain to her what it was but it still makes her laugh eveytime we see them.

Good luck with your first winter birding, Norfolk is a great place to see stuff.... I may even bump into you out there somewhere....