Well, the sea was given a hard look. And I can tell you that coarse oaths were exchanged. Well when I say a hard look, I mean a few bits off and on from the flat and just over an hour from Girdle Ness late afternoon. And it was certainly a refreshing day here in Torry. But not refreshing in the sense of being knee deep in big rares but refreshing in the sense of it being cold. And windy. And raining a bit. Sadly the seabirds seemed to prefer to be elsewhere. In the AM, 1 Red-throated Diver on the sea, 1 Common Scoter and 85 'Goose sp' north and, err, the Bottle-nosed Dolphins again - half a dozen or so. The highlight, and the only house tick of the day, were 4 Mistle Thrushes going north. You'll have to ask them why. Also a couple of Swallows (which seem to have largely cleared off with these raging northerlies) going through.
Had a bracing seawatch from 4:15 to 5:30 up by the foghorn at Girdle Ness, hunkered down against the wind. The highlight was a flock of 4 Pale-bellied Brent Geese north. Also 13 juvenile Arctic Terns, 3 Common Scoter, 1 Red-breasted Mergansers, 2 Wigeon, 13 Teal and 31 Pink-footed Geese north and 2 Red-throated Divers south. As for the skuas and shearwaters, nada, rhien, nichts, nyet komrade. Down south probably. I will have my vengeance.
Some nice pictures:
1. The north breakwater. I've never known a night like it! Or a day for that matter.
2. Somewhere, over the rainbow... there's a great big tanker.