1.5 hours of seawatching this morning produced a pair of westbound
Velvet Scoters, 30
Red-throated Divers, 21
Red-breasted Mergansers, nine
Dark-bellied Brent Geese, six
Gannets, a
Kittiwake, four
Great Crested Grebes, four
Razorbills and 12 very distant
auks. Other than 22
Ringed Plovers, the high tide wader roost didn't really materialise for some reason or other but seven
Mediterranean Gulls were strewn among the loafing gulls: four adults, two second-winters and - most interestingly - a first-winter bearing a white darvic ring on its left leg with the black code '332H'. Thanks to information from Camille Duponcheel, the bird was ringed as a pullus at Anterwerpen, Belgium, on 17th June last year.
Sanderlings,
Dunlin,
Turnstones and
Grey Plovers were present but not fully counted. The improving conditions encouraged a
Buzzard to soar over the area and other sightings included a
Chiffchaff, one of the wintering
Stonechats, five
Skylarks and a
Kestrel. Last but not least, I
finally logged a patch
Jackdaw - heard calling beyond the north side of the Gap.
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| 2cy Mediterranean Gull '332H' |
