Friday 16 July 2010

Berry Head Seawatch 07.30 - 09.30


Balearic Shearwater, photo by Joe Ray


Having decided not to go Berry Head with Joe yesterday and subsequently missing an Alpine Swift, I couldn't resist a couple of hours this morning. Will picked me up at 06.40 and having collected Joe en route we were in situ by 07.30.

Optimism was not high when we arrived, bright sunshine with clear skies was a huge contrast to yesterday's heavy showers and strong SW winds, which produced good numbers of Shearwaters. Nevertheless, after a slow start the weather eventually change in our favour and we managed some good results. All the usual suspects were present including Kittiwake, Gannet, Fulmar and numerous small rafts of Auks, giving us something to look at between the patchy trickle of Manx Shearwater groups. The moment of the day was when 2 Balearic Shearwater slowly passed through at a range of less than 100m, a single Storm Petrel was also an added bonus. Totals are as follows,

Manx Shearwater - 31
Balearc Shearwater - 4
Great Skua - 1
Storm Petrel - 1

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