Sea Bird Colonies & Golden Orioles (1 Viewer)

Dear All,

I return home to the states in a couple months and am planning an exscursion back to E. Anglia and then onto Scotland to fill in the holes in my British list. I will be peppering you all with questions for the next week or two. I promise to reward all who help with rewards beyond imagination in our next incarnation. First couple q's.

Is Lakenheath (or head can't recall spelling) in East Anglia the best place for Golden Orioles and when are they usually in by?

Where is the best multi-species seabird colony in Britain. I mainly want Puffin, Black Guillemot & Razorbill but would also really like to see both Storm-petrel Species, especially European. Where is best to tick them?

More to follow.

Gratefully,

Hi Blake,

Lakenheath is probably the best place to see Golden Orioles (at least that's publicly known about). I think they should be around during most of May and June. Might even be there by now but they're more likely in another couple of weeks.

For seabirds, the two Storm Petrels are difficult from land particularly during the spring. Possibly if you go to an island with a Storm Petrel colony (don't think there's any on the mainland) then you might get them at night. Mousa in Shetland is a famous place for seeing Stormies like this. Leach's only breeds on very remote islands, so you might have trouble getting out to see them. If there's a good westerly blow during May then it might be possible to see some off the west coast of Scotland (e.g. the Western Isles) but otherwise they'll be difficult.

For Puffin and Razorbill you could go to quite a lot of places (saw them both myself today, around Aberdeen). Bempton Cliffs in Yorkshire is a particularly good and accessible seabird colony and has breeding Gannets too. Black Guillemots only breed further north and probably your nearest colony is St Bees in Cumbria (I think). They're common up the west coast of Scotland and in Orkney and Shetland but are much rarer on the east coast. Ireland might also be a good bet for them.

All in all, I reckon Shetland would probably be the best bet for the most species of seabird. If you can make it up there then there should be a few other good species to see as well.

As Andrew says Lakenheath is the best place to see Golden Orioles. I've only been once (June 2004) and was lucky enough to see them as soon as I arrived (very early in the morning, c. 7 o'clock). It's also close to Stansted airport from where you can fly to Iceland and see all those seabirds you mentioned plus Brünnich's Guillemot very easily ;-)

E

Edward said:

As Andrew says Lakenheath is the best place to see Golden Orioles. I've only been once (June 2004) and was lucky enough to see them as soon as I arrived (very early in the morning, c. 7 o'clock). It's also close to Stansted airport from where you can fly to Iceland and see all those seabirds you mentioned plus Brünnich's Guillemot very easily ;-)

E

Click to expand...

Quit tantalizing me.