Birdspotter
Well-known member
Today at Hound Point I had an excellent end to the weekend although it didnt quite start off so good.
After a leisurely start I arrived on site at 12.00 for some Skua watching, however the sea haar was rolling in right up the Forth to obscure the bridges.
With visibility very poor down to a few hundred yards I had to make do with the odd Skua appearing out of the mist for the first 3 hours.
I hung on for so long because the wind was force 6-7 and in the east, prime Hound Point weather.
Lots of birds could be seen trying to get back out the Forth these included Gannets, Fulmars and Kittiwakes along with the odd Bonxie or Arctic Skua to keep the interest going.
At around three in the afternoon the mist cleared to an extent that I could at least see some of the islands and landmarks offshore, this resulted in a pulse of Skuas heading west including one fine adult Long Tail.
It gave superb views as it flew close past the headland, however the bird of the day was a lone Sooty Shearwater that was first observed way out in the Forth before it headed right past us !
Sooty are very rare this far up the Forth, a friend of mine who literally has hundreds of hours at Hound Point has only ever seen them twice before there.
This was a Hound Point tick for myself :bounce:
The days tally was 19 Bonxies,15 arctics, 1 Long Tail, 1 Sooty and 26 Manx.
After a leisurely start I arrived on site at 12.00 for some Skua watching, however the sea haar was rolling in right up the Forth to obscure the bridges.
With visibility very poor down to a few hundred yards I had to make do with the odd Skua appearing out of the mist for the first 3 hours.
I hung on for so long because the wind was force 6-7 and in the east, prime Hound Point weather.
Lots of birds could be seen trying to get back out the Forth these included Gannets, Fulmars and Kittiwakes along with the odd Bonxie or Arctic Skua to keep the interest going.
At around three in the afternoon the mist cleared to an extent that I could at least see some of the islands and landmarks offshore, this resulted in a pulse of Skuas heading west including one fine adult Long Tail.
It gave superb views as it flew close past the headland, however the bird of the day was a lone Sooty Shearwater that was first observed way out in the Forth before it headed right past us !
Sooty are very rare this far up the Forth, a friend of mine who literally has hundreds of hours at Hound Point has only ever seen them twice before there.
This was a Hound Point tick for myself :bounce:
The days tally was 19 Bonxies,15 arctics, 1 Long Tail, 1 Sooty and 26 Manx.
