With a good northerly blow, a seawatch was definitely the order of the day today and during the six hours of observation an excellent variety of species were noted.
Patchwise, the undoubted highlight was 3 Avocets which flew west, with my only previous record on the patch being back in 2005 when a pair were seen passing on two consecutive days in late March. Other patch year ticks seen were a single Little Auk which flew west close in with 4 Dunlin, a Long-tailed Duck and a Pomarine Skua which was seen to take what was probably an auk off the water.
Others notable species seen included a Grey Phalarope which was watched feeding on the sea amongst a flock of gulls, 3 Bonxies, a few Little Gulls and Kittiwakes, an Arctic Tern and a Woodcock in-off.
Last but not least, good numbers of wildfowl were also on the move with Shelduck and Wigeon being the most abundant species, plus lesser numbers of Teal, Pintail, Common Scoter, Red-breasted Mergansers, Goldeneye, Eider, Mallard, Gadwall, Shoveler, Pochard, Tufted Ducks, Scaup and Brent Geese were all noted and kept the interest up throughout.
