For once the expectations for a good days seawatching came to fruition with an excellent 6+ hours from the patch producing 2 Leach's Petrels, 3+ Long-tailed Skuas and a few Arctic Terns and Little Gulls, all of which were new for the year bringing my tally up to 176 so far and already breaking last years total of 174.
However the most notable event of the day was the sheer numbers of Great Skuas which were passing, with a near constant stream throughout the day including numerous double-figure flocks, and were by far the most that I have ever seen passing in a single day. I've never been one for counting birds as they pass, but there was easily well over 300 during the day, and probably many more further out that were kind of ignored as we were busy concentrating on all the birds passing closer by, with numerous giving excellent views through the surf.
Other birds of note seen included a few Sooty Shearwaters, good numbers of Manxies including one flock of c30 birds, numerous Arctic Skuas and Kittiwakes, plus Purple Sandpipers, Brent Geese, Red-throated Divers, Sandwich Terns, Gannets, Fulmars, Common Scoter, Pintail, Wigeon, Teal and a few distant auks.
Hopefully with the strong northerlies persisting overnight and birds continuing to pass up till dusk, tomorrow should also be good although today will take a lot of beating.....
