With the weather looking 'good' from early in the week, and a free Saturday, I plotted a day trip up to Boulmer for some seawatching. Monitoring Twitter on Friday evening to see just how bad the Storm was, I got up at 4am and set off from a fairly tranquil Lincoln. Just over 3 hrs later, and after a dodgey 5 miles around Leeds where the A1 turned to slush, I started the climb up towards Alnwick. It was here, about 20 mins from Boulmer, that I started seeing my first downed trees: things then escalated exponentially as I turned off the A1, with scenes reminiscent of those after a Hurricane. It took me half an hour to get to an apolocalyptic Seaton Pt, with 2 roads completely blocked and numerous flooded patches and downed trees.
On arrival, I was met with horizontal sleet, the strongest winds I've ever experienced and flying debris from the caravan site. Nevertheless, I knew there would be some shelter to be found, so donned the waterproofs and headed out with my gear for the day. 3 completely disintegrated caravans made for a scary scene, and the waves were considerably bigger than anything I've ever seen. After trying a few spots, I settled on the very Eastern tip of the point, on the sheltered side of the mound there - 'shelter' perhaps pushing it.
Anyway, onto the birds. Viewing conditions were truly difficult, so I undoubtedly missed tonnes, but Long-tailed Ducks were both frequent and easy to pick up: more than I've ever seen and some great views of 49N, including flocks of 7 and 13. Ducks on a whole were the main group braving the conditions, with 236 Eider and 126 C Scoter the most numerous. Hiding in groups and passing in smaller numbers, I managed to pick up 11 Pintail, 15 Teal, 150 Wigeon, 2 RB Merg, 5 Velvets, a Shoveler and 4 Gadwall which were nice to see.
With the weather system and increased records, Brunnich's Guillemot was on my mind, but despite grilling every Auk, none of them even remotely looked good, just one sum plum Guillie initially caught my eye. That being said, 15 Little Auk and a couple of Puffin, some fairly close in, were really nice and especially impressive given the conditions.
Mark arrived mid-morning, and whilst catching up I picked up a nice Black Guillemot, not too far out and only my 2nd on the patch. I managed to get some record shots, and tried to photograph as much as possible, mainly as practice for when the big one went past. When conditions momentarily improved and vis got better, I managed to pickup a couple of Sooties and a Manx going N - frustrating really as there was obviously more stuff moving out there, I just couldn't see it for the spray and showers.
Bigger stuff moving included 5 GND, 63 LB Brent and 21 Barnacles - the Geese seemingly displaced from Lindersfarne alongside the impressive numbers of waders heading N along the tideline. Mark had picked up a Slav Grebe in the bay, which I had a quick look at, as they're pretty to catch up with on the patch.
Though it lacked the real bit of 'rare' I was looking for, the event in itself was definately worth the effort, and I drove back south through the snow in awe of nature. As expected, Sunday looks to have been the better day, with some great birds picked up in the area: Brunnich's is still missing from the Boulmer list though, but perhaps an opportunity for one on the next blow with so many around?
Brilliant, well done.
ReplyDeleteGreat shots Dan, very evocative...
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