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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

My First Seawatch (1 Viewer)

Ruby

Ruby

Well-known member
Yesterday 2 friends and myself set out for a sea-watch at Shell Ness on the Isle of Sheppey. They are two 'old campaigners' but this was my first go.

It had been a bit of a last-minute decisiontaken that morning, brought on by the strong NE winds, so we didn't get down there until about 10:30 and things didn't look promising as we arrived to be met by a stream of people just leaving, as there 'wasn't much about'.

Carried all the required gear (much clothing, food, hot drink, BINs, scope, chair etc) down to the beach and found only 3 others already esconced on what is a popular sea-watch spot.

Settled in and initial scan revealed.....nothing!!..... not a Gull, absolutely b***** all.

Prospects not improved when our 3 companions gave up a few minutes later.

Can't say that I was having too bad a time though, as there was quite a few waders feeding along the shoreline - Oystercatchers, Curlew, Dunlin, Redshank, Turnstones, Knot etc - but this wasn't what we'd came to see....

After about 1/2 hr, things started to heat up (ie we saw our first sea-bird!!) 4 Great Skuas moving up the Swale estuary - quite a ways out in slightly misty conditions but unmistakable (to my knowledgable friends at any rate!!)

After that, things were moving along pretty steadily for the remainder of the day and we finished up with totals of...

9 Great Skuas
7 Arctic Skuas
5 Poms
2 Unidentified Skuas

Many of the birds moving up the Swale, discovering a dead-end not to their liking, and then coming back out again.

All-in-all a very enjoyable day out and this has whetted my appetite for another go... particularly since one of the 'unidentifieds' was thought likely to be a Long-Tailed, and we also caught momentary glimpses of an unidentified Shearwater of some kind.



All the best.... Ruby (just off to clean my optics!!)
 
robinm said:
You finally made it ! Not a bad list - any lifers?
Click to expand...

Hi Robin - Yes... I had been lucky enough to see a solitary Arctic Skua last week at Dungeness, but other than that, they all were!!

Also thought we saw a Velvet Scoter, which would have been another lifer, but it turned out to be some sort of weird Wigeon-hybrid...

Did you and Woody make it to Oare over the w/e?? Any good??


Rgds.... Ruby
 
Ruby said:
Did you and Woody make it to Oare over the w/e?? Any good??


Rgds.... Ruby
Click to expand...
Yes we were both there at dawn on Sunday.

Managed to find Little Stint which was a lifer for Woody. After a poor showing on Thursday we had 30+ Little Egrets over in the first 5 minutes there. Best of all was 3 kingfishers (at the same time) flying over the East Flood viewable from the road. One even perched on a post a few yards off the road but not long enough for any pics - it was directly into the sun anyway.

I shall be there tomorrow for a time.
 
Welcome to the addictive world of seawatching Ruby.
Just wait 'til you've done it off somewhere good! (Mind you, that's not a bad list of skuas!).
 
robinm said:
Yes we were both there at dawn on Sunday.

Managed to find Little Stint which was a lifer for Woody. After a poor showing on Thursday we had 30+ Little Egrets over in the first 5 minutes there. Best of all was 3 kingfishers (at the same time) flying over the East Flood viewable from the road. One even perched on a post a few yards off the road but not long enough for any pics - it was directly into the sun anyway.

I shall be there tomorrow for a time.
Click to expand...

Hi Robin - That's nice, and congrats to Woody for the Little Stint. I popped in myself on Monday afternoon - plan was to spend the evening high-tide trying for some nice photos in that good evening sunlight...

Didn't quite work out as planned, as the sunshine disappeared about 10 miles W of Oare, and it was very dark and dreary with a howling wind blowing everything all over the place. Quite nice birds though - nothing special but several Curlew Sands and Little Stints again.

What time are you planning to go tomorrow?? - I think I'll be too busy working.... but you never know!!


Rgds... Ruby
 
CJW said:
Welcome to the addictive world of seawatching Ruby.
Just wait 'til you've done it off somewhere good! (Mind you, that's not a bad list of skuas!).
Click to expand...

Yes - it's peculiar isn't it.....

Sitting there for hours in the wind, peering into the mist about 1 mile away, sand getting everywhere... in your eyes, in your sandwiches, in your tea, in your optics.... action steady, but hardly frenetic....

Doesn't really sound like a recipe for a good day out does it.... but I had a great time!!
 
Ruby said:
Yes - it's peculiar isn't it.....
Doesn't really sound like a recipe for a good day out does it.... but I had a great time!!
Click to expand...
It's the weirdest thing. I'm not the most patient person in the world (apparently), but I can sit for hours, literally staring at an empty sea, in the hope that something flies past. I suppose it stems from my first succesful attempts at it - St.Ives Island, Cornwall, October 1987. Once you've seen stuff like that, you're hooked.
 
Edward said:
Go on, tell us then.

E
Click to expand...
It's the stuff of legend 'E'. I don't think it would fair to hi-jack Ruby's thread with it. Perhaps one day, I'll start a thread on it.
 
I don't mind.... ;) Jack away....(I was intrigued myself...)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hi Ruby,

What I meant to do was comment on your first seawatch, but CJW's enigmatic comment led me astray. I must say I am very put out ;-) that on your first seawatch you saw no fewer than five Pomarine Skuas which is my ultimate bogey bird - several thousand must migrate past Iceland each year and they are rare but regular from land. Have I looked? Spent many hours watching and waiting. Have I seen one? Have I 'eckers like. Congratulations

Anyway I'm sure you'll continue to sea watch now you've had that first experience. It I've been out birding in the last week with a visiting German birder and two mid-West US birders and seeing dozens of Manx Shearwater, Great Skua, Arctic Skua, hundreds of fishing Gannets and a pod of 15 White-beaked Dolphins was the absolute highlight of their trip.

As for hi-jacking threads, well it's the nature of these boards to meander and discuss other related topics. Very few threads stick 100% to the original theme and as long as the topic continues to be about seawatching, isn't that OK?

E
 
Ruby said:
I don't mind.... ;) Jack away....(I was intrigued myself...)
Click to expand...
Manx, Sooty, Great, Cory's and Little Shearwaters. Storm and Leach's Petrels, Sabine's Gull, all 4 skuas, Grey Phalarope, Sabine's Gulls, Black Terns, etc.
And not just one's and twos but 'good numbers' (only one Little Shearwater though ;))
There was a better/similar seawatch in Sept' 83 off the same spot, but I only caught the tail end of it (missed the claimed South Polar Skua).
 
Hi Edward,

I must confess to have been delighted and not a little surprised when the first 3 parties of Skuas were all different species.... I had been talking to sombody the day before and he had seen a good number of Arctics, so I kinda expected them, but the others were a real bonus - particularly as they were lifers for me.

Chris - Sounds fantastic.... Is it an annual pilgrimage to that spot?? Sounds great!! That list would have given me 9 (yes 9!!!) new lifers....
 
I think St.Ives has been 'over-shadowed' in recent years by Pendeen, but it remains my favourite seawatching point in the whole of the UK. If you get a prolongued (say 2 or 3 days) NW6 wind, it's unbeatable.
 
CJW said:
I think St.Ives has been 'over-shadowed' in recent years by Pendeen, but it remains my favourite seawatching point in the whole of the UK. If you get a prolongued (say 2 or 3 days) NW6 wind, it's unbeatable.
Click to expand...

Thanks Chris - I'll file that one away...under 'possible future bird-trips!!'
 
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