Although the wind had dropped overnight, I decided to go for another seawatch off Formby Point anyway today, from 11.15am to 3pm.
There were still a few birds offshore, and later in the day, Sandwich Tern numbers began to build up, but compared to yesterday it was decidedly quiet.
Best bird was probably a single Bonxie, which spent some time resting on the sea close in, before flying off towards Wirral looking for something to pull the wings off of.
It had a few gos at Lesser Black Backs before it disappeared to the left.
Red Throated Diver 3
Great Crested Grebe 2
Common Scoter 350+
Guillemot 2
Little Tern 1
Sandwich Tern 223
Common Tern 39
Arctic Tern 6
Kittiwake 14
Bonxie 1
Arctic Skua 1
Fulmar 1
LBB 45
Whimbrel 1
Good views of the vast strung out scoter flock today - frequently flushed by passing dinghies, but no sign of any white wing panels on 'em yet....
Eyes to the skies everyone, eyes to the skies...
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derek forshaw wrote...
Was also at Formby today from 1315 to 1715. Thought it was pretty good, though nearly everything is just a speck in the distance and ident is more often by jizz than by any plumage features. Wish the things would come closer. List as follows:
Shelduck 36; est. at least 500 scoters right out on the horizon; Sandwich Tern 253 (a conservative figure - many terns were simply too far out to indentify with safety); Common Tern 10 (comments as for previous - probably missed quite a few of these; Gannet 26; Grey Plover 20; Kittiwake 16; Great Crested Grebe 1 on sea; Little Tern 1; Arctic Skua 3; Great Skua 1 fairly close in chasing a kittiwake at 1630 before disappearing out to sea; Manx Shearwater 4. I also saw a skua heading south on the horizon at 1615 which I think was probably a Pomarine, judging by it's bulky structure, largish size and steady direct flight, but it was simply too far out to be sure.
Posted by: derek forshaw | September 1, 2007 8:26 PM