Today was an interesting, frustrating, rewarding and educational session. With a moderate NE wind, I spent quite a few hours seawatching in the hope a few birds would be on the move. For long periods of time, nothing was to be seen which was frustrating considering the quite strong wind. However, from time to time, birds were on the move which included 2 Teal, 14 Common Scoter, 21 Oystercatcher, 2 Common Sandpiper, 1 Turnstone, 1 Dunlin, 7 Arctic Skua flew West at some distance and c75 Black headed Gull. I picked out a 'small' distant Skua around 6am which flew very lightly and Tern like. It also paused over the water a couple of times before dropping down on to the water and was not seen again. My gut feeling was that it was a probable Long tailed Skua but with the distance involved and quite brief views, I wasn't happy to tick it. Also seen were 8 Mediterranean Gull, 1 Common Gull, c45 Herring Gull, 8 Great Black backed Gull, 1 Little Tern, 1 Black Tern (137) which flew east and gave good views through the scope. I was hoping to see this species this year on the patch and I suppose, if you keep looking, you stand a chance of getting some rewards. There were 35 Sandwich Tern, 1 Great crested Grebe, 9 Gannet, 12 Cormorant, 1 Peregrine and a few frustrating waders crept through and by the time I had got on them, I struggled to identify them. A session full of different emotions but pleased to have added Black Tern to the growing year list.
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