Well I had to try didn't I .....?

So 06:15 this very morn I tried a new seawatch place. Having studied my "Badseawatchers' Manual" with care I decided that there was very little chance of a Great Shear from Upgang Ravine (in the bay). Logistics dictate that Kettleness and work don't go or most likely = a sicky (which I can't do these days - being the boss n'all). So Whitby West Pier it was.

Obstacles had to be surmounted (like an inconvenient gate put in place to prevent the unwary from being washed away) but on a falling tide and a settling swell all looked safe enough to me.

And instantly there was a Sooty Shearwater, 30 seconds later there was another. Wow, maybe this is my new seawatch place. An Arctic Skua and then .... then rather a lot of Gannets, close Guillemots, various flocks of Wigeon heading west, which were jolly. A pile of Arctic Skuas roaring around and causing the Kittiwake and tern worlds considerable grief.

Then rather a lot of terns, like 100+++ mostly Common but a few Arctic and a good number of Sarnies passing east, some going behind me.

Eventually it became very clear that a Great Shear was unlikely (as I had guessed from the outset really). I did get a couple more Soots and 3 Manx. There were Red-throated Divers and Teal. Loads and loads more Gannets and piles of terns to look at all the time. Walking back along the pier the Turnstones were at my feet I resolved to return in better light and calmer seas as this is a place with great photographic potential. But sadly not a spot for 7,114 Great Shearwaters to pass; unless they were ill or without a compass and map or in some rare and unusual state of mind.

My interest in Puffins the other day was reflected in Norfolk where they are even less common and where amongst more exotic things two flew by. So something was indeed up in Puffin World.

I have now managed just over two years without finding a rare bird or even a fairly uncommon one. This might indicate incompetence on my part, or "Wrong Place" or just that rare birds are well, quite unusual really. So it goes.