Isn't Seawatching Brilliant!

What a brilliant seawatch today!

1 1st Summer Sabine's Gull - found by the Mr. Miyagi of Whitburn Obs!
2 adult Pomarine Skuas
1 Balearic Shearwater - flew through our field of view while watching the Sabine's !

and this:


... it's in the top left hand corner of the picture if you can't see it!





Wow - I actually managed to photograph a Minke Whale!

It was found by someone on their first visit to the obs this year!

The third image shows both its fin and tail as it is diving.

Here's a blow-up of the best picture:

Whitburn Obs - 0530 to 0830

A seawatch with the Whitburn Obs regulars this morning.


Whitburn Obs on a sunny day!

Despite the very strong sunlight in our faces, today's seawatch was excellent, the highlight being an adult Roseate Tern.




Also of interest was a small passage of Curlews:

Dawdon Blast Beach

Dawdon Blast Beach and the nearby Hawthorn Quarry have a pretty good history of turning up migrants. Radde's Warbler, Richard's Pipit, Pallas's Warbler, Great Grey Shrike, Wryneck, Quail and Yellow-browed Warbler are just some of the birds which have turned up over the years.

But I can empty a migrant hotspot just by turning up with my bins!

So it's no surprise that over the last week, with the hundreds of scarce and rare birds on the east coast, the best bird I have seen at the Blast Beach is this cute juvenile Stonechat.



At least the council, as part of their "improvements", have installed some convenient Red-footed Falcon and Red-backed Shrike perches!

Wintering Chiffchaff

This Chiffchaff is wintering in Seaham.


It's a rubbish photo!
It was hovering around after insects like I've never seen one do before.

Tufted Ducks

So, are male Tufted Ducks' heads blue ?



... or green ?

Cormorants - gular angles !

So, looking more closely at the gular patch angles of these three birds, perhaps I was right that C1 is the best candidate. And when comparing C3 with the Coot next to it, perhaps it doesn't look quite so big. Although its bill is still very deep. I would now say that C1 and C3 are possibly sinensis and C2 is possibly carbo


C1


C1


C2


C2


C3


C3


C3