Well, like the man said, we're all inexorably drawn to the sea, and while I consider myself privileged to work on the coast, I have been sorely missing decent seawatching conditions so far this summer.
Fortunately the south westerly was still holding up at about force 4-5 this morning and the tide was a reasonable height off the Tobacco Dump at 1125, so I picked up Bazzo and Tropical and we got in about two and a half hours, in good light and remarkably benign conditions.
A small movement of Arctic Terns was clearly taking place offshore, and it was a pleasant enough morning, with not much downtime - nothing hugely unusual, but good seabirds passing south to enjoy.
Good showing of Arctic Skua and Bonxie, with three of the latter landing on the swell a few hundred metres out, waving their wing flashes about and doubtlessly conspiring towards their next brutish deeds.
Tobacco Dump 0955-1230:
Arctic Skua 7
Bonxie 4-5
Kittiwake 10
Manx Shearwater 78
Fulmar 1
Arctic Tern 55
Sandwich Tern 29
Common Tern 30
Gannet 210
Great Crested Grebe 1
Common Scoter 130
Stock Dove 3 (weird)
plus Grey Seal, Cormorant etc.
Manxies were all a bit distant today.
The Stock Dove whizzed along the tideline, so hardly count as seabirds, always feels odd to see 'em on the beach though.
Small Tortoiseshell, Gatekeeper and Meadow Brown, plus Green Flowered Helleborine on the stiff legged walk back to the NT car park.
Wind may hold tomorrow, so it'll be time for another crack - regardless of whether that lovely summer plumage Grey Phalarope turns up at Martin Mere again.
Eyes to the skies everyone, eyes to the skies...
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Hi John, I watched a Painted Lady careering around Ainsdale Cemetery today and stopping to feed at Privet flowers, only the third one I've seen this summer, which is slightly better than the single Red Admiral that I've seen so far!
Hello John, I'm new to the area but have been birding and I must say, Seawatching, on the east coast for quite some time!
I appreciate the rewarding moments as the rarer seabirds fly past your field of view, great.(never enough though!)
I've now relocated to the Merseyside area due to family and work ties and I am eager to suss out the best sea-watching sites and get birding again on this side!
I have a pager and access to various birding websites (RBA) so I decided to do some homework in way of preperation, I also bought myself a copy of Birds of Lancs.
I have a to say i'm a little confused! I've looked at your blog for some time now and also perused your blog history and find you and your friends sea-watch from Formby Point.
The majority of my pager messages and the filter for RBA has most sea-watching news coming from from Ainsdale, with some very impressive species and numbers.
Which would you consider to be the best site?
Nearly all the news from Ainsdale comes from early morning birding, presumably the birds are passing then, but numbers are not consistant with Formby or the Blackpool side. I'm struggling to know where to go.
The birds from Ainsdale where impressive, almost east coast standard (sorry). I didn't realise Black-Throated Diver was so common at this sight 46 records this winter, yet Birds of Lancs shows it as a scarce annual visitor averaging 4-5 records a year for the whole of lancs, presumably this particular stretch of coast has been to their liking this year.
Pom Skuas do well at Ainsdale from what I can see, with a very good average. Best I can see where the only records of Corys Shearwaters last summer again from Ainsdale with no other records from the North West....Brill.
So the question is, do I sea-watch from Ainsdale or Formby?
Hi Craig,
Stick with "Birds of Lancs", seawatch from Formby/Freshfield - either Formby Point itself, or the Tobacco Dump (south end of the National Trust reserve at the end of Victoria Road, Freshfield, in front of the huge nettle bed).
Ainsdale beach can be good for Leach's wrecks and the occasional quality bird, otherwise the sea is way too far away, except on the highest tides and then your range is severely limited by low elevation.
Just my own personal observation - although I do work on the coast and am frequently on Ainsdale beach for up to nine hours a day.
Hello, Craig
I have been seawatching off Ainsdale/Freshfield/Formby for 37 years, in all weathers and at all times of year and times of day.
In that time I have seen Lancashire's only record to date of Fea's Petrel, in September 1995.
In those 37 years I have seen: 5 Sooty, 1 Cory's and 1 Balearic Shearwater; I get 1 Black-throated Diver about every 3 years, one Great Northern every 2-3 years; I have seawatched intensively off Ireland, SW and east coast England, Oregon, Ecuador, Chile, Argentina and Thailand, so I know what of I speak.
I suggest you follow my long-time seawatching buddy John's advice: consult Birds of Lancashire, seek the high dunes before and at high tide, preferably at Formby Point just south of the National Trust Car Park, and be very modest in your expectations.
Good Seawatching
Barry McCarthy
Hi Craig,
Welcome to our area, John is being his usual very diplomatic self, if you want to see seabirds off this coast then Formby is the best place, you just need to look at a map of the coast to see that, you also have the height of the dunes.
The Mersey mouth from Crosby or New Brighton can also be very productive on constant autumn blows for Leachs and Sabines.
As for the recent spate of records from Ainsdale beach I'm perplexed, I've only see a handful of Black-throated Divers and no Corys in 30 years of seawatching from Formby Point.
Good luck though wherever you go.
Tropical.