What a splendid day (and before I forget Happy Anniversary baby!!!) - raging hooley, mountainous seas, merciless squalls and just an indestructible Land Rover Defender to navigate 'em by - heaven!!!
Pretty much the first bird I encountered this morning at 8.30 on Ainsdale beach was a knackered dark phase juv Arctic Skua, seeking respite from the WSWly. Sorry about the quality of the pic, it's my first attempt at digi-binning, and can I just say, what a right royal pain in the posterior that game is, especially in a force 6-7 (if God had meant you to stick a camera up to your bins, thereby scratching the lenses, he/she'd never have invented Leicas). Initially I had high hopes of this bird being a Pom (despite the obvious wee pigeon head in the pic), cos it looked so big sitting on the sand, and when it flew it showed a nice square tail, but closer inspection could not ignore two sharp central tail feathers.. d'oh!!!
Another attempt at digi-binning later in the a.m. just about captured a tired adult Kittiwake getting a battering from various juv gulls - the last thing Mr Elegant needs in a life-draining storm.
A small gull roost revealed a nice big adult Yellow Legged Gull, which I tried my best to make into a Caspian until Ralph Jones's 'scope put paid to any of that mullarkey.
Good bird to see tho - it dwarfed LBBs and its legs shone brighter than the hopes and dreams of the whole planet.
A quick seawatch/lunchbreak over the tide was difficult given the relentless sheet of excoriating flying sand, and receding surf, but 1 Fulmar came through to add to a single Gannet and Manxie earlier over the swell.
Not a sniff of the Balearic infestation that was plaguing the Welsh coast.
Bird of the day was a superb, although somewhat storm-challenged Manx Shearwater that swept north over Ainsdale beach, and within 6 feet of me in the Land Rover, long after the high tide - the bird was so close over the sand that I managed a brief, respectful conversation, along the lines of "Bon Voyage, watch the gulls, and congrats on being such a sexy beast".
Talk about touching the hand of God.
I know, I'm just a seabird tart, but it was so close I could almost smell it.
If anyone is out there still reading this blog (and it is still getting 23,000+ hits a month, so someone is reading it), please use the comments section to let me know what you're seeing, it's always nice to hear from sane people once in a while.
And I get real bored talking to myself real fast.
Eyes to the skies everyone, eyes to the skies...
- Post to:
del.icio.us
Digg
Newsvine
Nowpublic
Reddit
« Previous | Home | Next »
Just responding to you your request for someone to talk to! I have been visiting your site fairly regularly for a number of months now and always find it entertaining but also frustrating seeing the birds that I have missed! Your latest post is particularly pertinent as I was sea watching from Starr Gate Blackpool while you were at Ainsdale and saw only Gannets, Kittiwakes and a 'shearwater' species (probably Manx but it had rather dark undersides so it may have been Balearic - too small for a Sooty) but no skuas which I was hoping for as I haven't had ANY skua species this year yet. Eyes to the seas never mind the skies!
Nowt wrong with talking to yourself John, just means you're getting on a bit. I'm about to re-subscribe to "The Oldie" magazine whose list of "do you qualify?" questions includes:
Do you not only talk to yourself but see nothing odd in it?
Do you know who Chantelle is? Do you care?
Do you write letters?
Do you know what a pronoun is?
etc etc etc
I'm sure you qualify!!
I really fancy joining you on the beach but my Defender is rather more delicate than yours.
Per the Bardsey blog " adult Sabines Gull in close" yesterday plus Balearic Shearwater.
About time those 'Feet showed up.
Now three Black Swans on Banks Marsh.
Ron
Hi John
Did one hour either side of high tide today at New Brighton, saw;
Ad Sabine's Gull
Manx Shearwater
3 Leach's Petrel
Great Skua
Cheers - Ralph
Leach's, Sooty and Balearic Shears off New Brighton earlier, Sabs off Wallasey.
John,
Can you please give directions as to where to go to sea watch at New Brighton. I think it possible to watch from vehicle which would be handy.
Ron
Hi Ron - best place always used to be around Fort Perch Rock, that way you can keep an eye on the mouth of the Mersey as well as the bay - for full details of prime seawatching spots on Wirral, check out the site guide on the excellent www.deeestuary.co.uk
Ron's Lapwing `is 'in the system' - first indications seem to suggest German. Will let you know.
Winds are better for us = Morecambe Bay tomorrow but not really wild enough
Regards
Pete
Just a quick note to ask you as an obvious fan the finer points of sea watching. Do you scan, stick to one location, how do you avoid your eyes getting tired and full of sand, tears or other flying jetsam.
Do you use a zoom or wide angle, what magnification.
I have dabbled in the black art and need to improve if I am ever to see the big shears.
Tried my first seawatch from the hide at Hilbre today and though it was apparently quiet according to the assembled veterans it was productive enough for a mere rookie like myself; 4 juv Kittiwakes,1 Storm Petrel (missed out on 2 Leach's earlier) 4 Manxies, 2 Little Terns, 1 Common Scoter, 3 Arctic Skua, 4 Gannet, 2 Fulmar, 1 Black Guillemot, 1 Guillemot, 1 Razorbill amongst others. I can see why you call this "dark art" addictive John.
Hi Ian, re seawatching, I tend to watch a fixed point for a period of time before my eye gets tired (length of time varies depending on weather conditions), then have a bit of a scan to cover a wider area, before settling on a fixed point again.
Try to remember to speak like a pirate whenever possible.
Best way to keep all the flying garbage out of your eyes is to keep one firmly jammed to the scope eyepiece and the other tightly shut.
Never rub your eyes in the field if you get sand in 'em, it hurts like bugger and you can't seawatch anymore! Better to wash 'em out when you get home.
I use a 30x wide eyepiece on a 780 ED Nikon scope, which does the job very nicely, but I bet one of the new Kowas would be pretty sexy.
Finally re the big shears - go to Cornwall in August for them (Pendeen or Porthgwarra), you're much more likely to encounter them there.
Hope this helps.