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Seawatch 17.06.07

Posted by on June 17, 2007 5:06 PM | 

cwatch1706.jpg

Tempted by the high tide and the vaguest hint of a westerly, I went down to Formby Point today for a spot of seawatching.
Weather was way too nice, but there are worse ways to spend the day than lazing in the sun with the sound of the light surf lapping gently in your ear....zzzz.
Anyway, I was there from 11.30am to 1.30pm and saw:

Gannet: 120+ (but lots of cyclical feeding in the bay)
Sandwich Tern: 33
Arctic Tern: 9 south
Common Tern: 3 north
Common Scoter: 27 south
Cormorant: 2
Canada Geese: 3 north (!!!)
Red Breasted Merg: 1 m south
Swallow: 1 north
Kittiwake: 1 north
Great Crested Grebe: 1 north

Not the most exciting of seawatches granted, and now that the Burbo Bank windfrarm is up, towering like a gigantic scoter mincing machine in the bay, and with all the rigs and Blackpool to the right, seawatching from Formby is like sitting in a giant shopping trolley.
Metal to the left, right, everywhere in fact.
Although I did have a Spitfire zooming thro' and some US fighter I couldn't i.d, oh yeah, and a few Red Admirals.
Gave up and headed off to Ainsdale for a spot of bughunting - more of that later.
Eyes to the skies everyone, eyes to the skies...

Comments (6)

TC wrote...

Hi John, I had that U.S. warbird flying over me at Seaforth, it was a Douglas Dauntless, nice to see, dipped the Spitfire.
No sign of the Roseate Tern here today but 3 Arctic Tern, 1sts Med Gull and an ever increasing number of Sandwich Terns now at 27, cheers TC.

Posted by: TC  | June 17, 2007 6:55 PM

john wrote...

Thanks Tony, really must brush up on my fighter id.

Posted by: john  | June 17, 2007 7:57 PM

david blundell wrote...

john,
maureen and i saw a grey seal off formby point this afternoon at approximately 3 30

Posted by: david blundell  | June 17, 2007 9:36 PM

Ian McCormack wrote...

I think your warbirds were actually a Hawker Sea Fury and a Douglas Skyraider both flying from Woodvale for the Whitehaven Maritime Festival.

Posted by: Ian McCormack  | June 17, 2007 11:07 PM

Bazzo wrote...

I can confirm the Skyraider ID; that old workhorse of the Vietnam War passed over Horse Bank at about 1300,in company with another I couldn't figure out; like a Hurricane but not quite.
That must have been the Sea Fury.
There's more wonders in the world than birds,you know.
Speaking of birds, both Hobby and Osprey passed over Marshside (before I got there, of course).
Otherwise, dead as only a June afternoon can be.

Posted by: Bazzo  | June 18, 2007 10:55 AM

TC wrote...

I see there was a bit of debate on the I.D. of the plane, the one I saw was definitely a Dauntless, long glass canopy, short round tipped wings, radial engine, have I done enough to convince a rarities committee?
Ha ha, maybe there were a few warbirds out on Sunday!

Posted by: TC  | June 19, 2007 6:22 AM

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