It's fair to say that the prevailing turbulent conditions are getting pretty tiresome - it'd be OK if they were coming up with the goods but today's returns again fell a good deal shy of expectations given the fierce southwesterly that blew for the best part of the day and the preceding night. At the Bill, c500
Manx Shearwaters, c100
Balearic Shearwaters, 14
Arctic Skuas, 3
Cory's and 2
Sooty Shearwaters, and a single
Storm Petrel (...why do we really struggle for seawatch Storm Petrels these days?) were the chief rewards from all-day coverage; Chesil Cove chipped in with similar-ish numbers that may or may not have involved many of the same birds, whilst away from the main watchpoints an
Arctic Tern passed through at Ferrybridge.
Balearic Shearwater and Kittiwake off the Bill © Mike Trew:
The Ferrybridge Arctic Tern © Pete Saunders:
Amongst the Manx Shearwaters it was interesting to see several that were in quite heavy moult - conventional wisdom has it they shouldn't be in this state until mid-winter so it's presumed that they're immatures or non-breeders © Mike Trew:
