Whilst having a look at the sea off Overstrand late afternoon, it quickly became evident that there was a huge shoal of fish offshore with a large area on the waters surface positively bubbling away as they broke the surface.
Obviously this attracted the attentions of the local birds and over the next hour a massive flock of Gulls, Terns and Gannets congregated in a mass feeding frenzy and in turn attracted more and more birds from further afield, until the flock was of a size I've never witnessed before. A few Little Gulls, Guillemots, Red-throated Divers, Med Gull and Kittiwakes joined the throng, which inevitably also attracted the attention of well over a dozen Arctic Skuas.
Knowing that there was a chance something better could be pulled in I continued to sift back and forth through the flock which by now was spread out about a mile long, and that finally paid off when I picked up a Balearic Shearwater on the sea, which subsequently did a few fly rounds to better position itself within the shoal before it finally drifted off east on the sea.
I thought that was going to be the star bird but after a few more checks of the flock I located a small brown backed gull on the sea, and after an agonizing wait whilst it drifted off into the distance it finally took flight to reveal it was as suspected a juv Sabines Gull. Like the Balearic it too slowly drifted off on the sea towards Trimingham until it was lost to view, but shortly after presumably the same bird again appeared feeding out over the sea with the other birds, and then after a bit of a feed it settled back down on the sea, presumably to roost along with the other gulls.
Obviously this attracted the attentions of the local birds and over the next hour a massive flock of Gulls, Terns and Gannets congregated in a mass feeding frenzy and in turn attracted more and more birds from further afield, until the flock was of a size I've never witnessed before. A few Little Gulls, Guillemots, Red-throated Divers, Med Gull and Kittiwakes joined the throng, which inevitably also attracted the attention of well over a dozen Arctic Skuas.
Knowing that there was a chance something better could be pulled in I continued to sift back and forth through the flock which by now was spread out about a mile long, and that finally paid off when I picked up a Balearic Shearwater on the sea, which subsequently did a few fly rounds to better position itself within the shoal before it finally drifted off east on the sea.
I thought that was going to be the star bird but after a few more checks of the flock I located a small brown backed gull on the sea, and after an agonizing wait whilst it drifted off into the distance it finally took flight to reveal it was as suspected a juv Sabines Gull. Like the Balearic it too slowly drifted off on the sea towards Trimingham until it was lost to view, but shortly after presumably the same bird again appeared feeding out over the sea with the other birds, and then after a bit of a feed it settled back down on the sea, presumably to roost along with the other gulls.
