Monday 11 August 2014

Lots of Birds




Exmouth Seafront yesterday evening - looking towards the Lifeboat Station from the Orcombe Point end.

As is often the case with storms, the weather yesterday has stirred things up a bit. There was a sizeable food source offshore today with big shoals of fish making the water 'boil' beneath circling gannets and gulls. Lesser Black-backed Gull numbers have increased dramatically with birds apparently moving through as well as stopping to feed. I did a short pre-breakfast watch from the raised beach huts from just before 0600 but I couldn't find anything too unusual among the masses of gulls. Best birds were 6 arctic terns that flew in and headed towards the river. A distant small skua species was possibly a long-tailed but I struggle like mad with skuas so I was happier to leave it unidentified. Three arctic skuas present late this evening were more straight forward. An adult winter-type little gull was also present with several black-headed gulls.
 Other birds this morning included at least 4 mediterranean gulls, 4+ 'commic' tern (probably commons), 2 whimbrel, 2 ringed plover, 6 fulmar, several kittiwakes, gannets and sandwich terns.


The Moon at dawn this morning.


Juvenile Lesser Black-backed Gull - loads of these offshore at the moment.



Ringed Black-headed Gull.



Juvenile Mediterranean Gull moulting to first-winter.

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