Cory's Shearwaters might not qualify just yet as Portland's new Balearic Shearwater but the ongoing climate breakdown is giving them ample opportunity to take up that mantle - if the rest of the world continues to behave like trainspotters birders then they should be able to get there before too long. Today's 20 through off the Bill in pretty benign conditions marked a further gathering of momentum in their recent arrival in local waters; 30 Balearic Shearwaters, 9 Manx Shearwaters, 3 Arctic Skuas, 2 Great Skuas, a Sooty Shearwater and good quantities of departing Lesser Black-backed Gulls and passing Mediterranean Gulls were also logged by the seawatchers. The hiatus in passerine migration continued - even Willow Warblers barely got into double figures at the Bill - but waders fared slightly better with 124 Ringed Plovers, 40 Dunlin, 2 Sanderling and a Redshank at Ferrybridge and another Redshank at the Bill.
The mid-morning movement of 9 Cory's off the Bill happened so rapidly and without warning that after seeing the first few from the Obs we barely had time to get to the Bill tip before the last of them disappeared eastward. It'd be hard to draw any conclusion other than that the westward movement that developed a few hours later involved largely the same individuals but of course that can't be proved. The morning's birds were nice and close but those in the afternoon were typically a lot more distant, with this one being easily the closest:
With any luck there'll be lots more opportunities for better looks at Cory's in the next few weeks but in the meanwhile here are some decent looks that we had a couple of days ago during the course of our family holiday in Cornwall © Martin Cade:
