turkish van
Number 1 celebrity badger
I can't decide whether to go back again tomorrow. The forecast is for an improvement, but my wee lassie is getting married. I'll probably do the decent thing.
I hope she's not reading this!!!!
I can't decide whether to go back again tomorrow. The forecast is for an improvement, but my wee lassie is getting married. I'll probably do the decent thing.
I hope she's not reading this!!!!
Richard Schofield, who's seen Brunnich's before, arrived and after getting some decent views he reckoned it looked fine.
Oo, well first, congratulations, then second, do say hello to the above guy, he has probably forgotten me, but this is the very guy that I saw Brunnich's Guillemot with! We chartered a boat in Shetland, and first met one dead Brunnich's, then remarkable an alive one not long after!
He did say it was quite a long time ago that he saw Brunnich's - I guess it must have been if you were around!
girdleness has not been itself this autumn......this is the worst autumn I can remember for the site.
All is not lost yet, i suppose....we have about 10 days left to pull a goody out of the bag
I think the idea of seeing six species of auk in a day was so unimaginable that I was unable to add them up properly.
I trust you saw them in the right order?
I think you're right about the skuas Andrew....I think Poms are probably one of the most frequently miss IDed species out there. I seldom see things that are probably poms, and I rarely see things that are definitely poms, and have seen enough big bulky looking arctics to be cautious with bulky looking distant skuas. A recent thread on birdforum has shown that these things are not as simple as many people think.
So there!
Mark
Having had my appetite whetted at the birdforum bash last week, the week's excitement at Girdleness led me to return today, for an hour at least, to indulge my new enthusiasm for sea-watching. The main attraction was the chance to finally catch up with Little Auk. With 'hundreds' having been reported at Girdleness and 18,000 heading north past the Farne Islands yesterday, it seemed likely that there should still be plenty around.
Cleverly combining my visit with a family shopping trip, I was dropped off at the Torry Coo, in steady rain, at 11.15. There were a couple of others there when I arrived and I very soon picked up a group of four auks whirring northwards about quarter of a mile out. My expert companions confirmed that these were Little Auks, although I wouldn't have liked to have relied on my own skills to ID them. Over the next hour, I gradually got my eye in and saw over 20 (although I missed at least as many again that the others were seeing). Some of them were a bit closer in, and I was happier of my own ability to ID them.
Other highlights included two distant Sooty Shearwaters (the second of which I found myself using my new found sea-watching skills ), although I missed at least two others, and a Great Northern Diver also flying north. Just as I was packing up to leave, I spotted a Little Auk on the water below us, only about 10 metres offshore. Excellent views of it being battered by the crashing surf for a couple of minutes before it took off and flew back out to sea.