North sea birding.

After a brilliant spell of Scottish autumnal birding I find myself back at sea - a big reality check as the North sea can be very daunting at this time of the year- and I'm looking at being here until late December! Anyway, gotta earn the dosh to pay for next years trips to Shetland and the Hebrides!

Still some light vis. mig. ongoing with wrens, robins, goldcrest, starlings, black redstarts, a woodcock, brambling, redwings and fieldfares all recorded on the deck or flying south past the vessel. Bird of the trip so far was a very tidy grey phalarope sitting on the sea about 5 NM east of Peterhead a few days ago. Today saw some good seabird passage with several thousand fulmars, hundreds of kittiwakes, scores of gannets, two pomarine skuas and 40+ little auks all heading south past the ship. Hopefully there is still time for a 'big' sibe to grace the deck of my vessel- or maybe even a firecrest! Here's hoping. I was quite content seeing several 'blue' fulmars today though.

Olive-Ridley turtle

Last day of my survey work today, so lots of 'computer work' to tidy up and finish- spreadsheets, day report, weekly report, monthly report, final report…….after sorting that lot out I then had time to do what I'm supposed to do and actually survey marine fauna!

Anyway, we had a nice close pass from an Olive-Ridley turtle today. Also a mini-surge in bird migration with pomarine, arctic and long-tailed skuas past the vessel- also a few more Sabines gulls and my first Arctic terns of the voyage. In very calm conditions I also saw a few rafts of grey phalaropes sitting on the sea, a number of black terns and a couple of Leach's petrels.

I should get off the vessel tomorrow and commence my 3 day journey home- looking forward to getting back to the UK for some spring migration and much anticipated visits to the Outer Hebrides and Cornwall! Hopefully catch-up with some cracking migrants at PG and the Lizard!!

Olive-Ridley turtle

close-up showing the scute layout

Black tern

Sabine's gull

Corys' on the move?

We have moved North to within 20 nautical miles of the coast of Ghana and inside the 200 metre depth contour. The change in the numbers of seabirds is very noticeable with a steady, albeit light passage of pomarine and arctic skuas, a handful of grey phalaropes, single 'comic' tern and hundreds of Corys' shearwaters. The shearwaters are becoming increasingly restless, forming into rafts of several hundred birds- this possibly being the precursor to their north-western migration back to higher latitudes- I have seen similar behaviour with regard to great shearwaters before they head south from Greenland for their autumnal migration. Both Cory's (C.borealis) and Scopoli's (C. diomedea) are found here and as Paul Stancliff of the BTO pointed out the bird immediately below shows the white primary 'fingers' extending into the black 'hand' - a good feature for Scopoli's. 

part of a 'raft' of several hundred Cory's/Scopoli's shearwaters

pom skua

Shear delight

After a few days of fog and light, variable winds, the forecast of a reasonable blow with a significant westerly element raised my pulse rate and guaranteed that I was on watch early the following morning. I was not disappointed, as two great shearwaters flew 100 metres or so off the port bow as I gathered my waterproofs, hat, notebook and binoculars from the bridge! From then on and over the last three days I have enjoyed three figure counts of great shearwaters, intermingled with scores of Cory's! Some birders would say that when you have seen one large shear you have seen them all, but I disagree, find them totally captivating and have no problem watching them shear and glide over the swell and waves for hours on end. Surprisingly, and contrary to the large numbers of sooty shearwaters reported from Irish sea-watching sites, I have only seen one in the last 3 days- maybe they hug the Irish coast more as they drift SE? I also had the bonus of seeing flocks of Sabines' gulls- a group of 3 and a group of five. Unfortunately being on a 92 metre vessel, with a GRT of over 9000 tonnes means that many birds are rather ship-shy, occasionally however, a large shear made a relatively close pass, allowing me to try for a couple of shots. Good numbers of Arctic and 'comic' terns have also been seen flying south and an additional grey phalarope and a turnstone have been the only other obvious passage birds. I suppose we should see some significant skua passage before too long, but with the exception of a solo, spoon-laden pom and a few locally foraging bonxies they have yet to make an appearance. Happy days!

great shearwater- close pass at last!

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Cory's - unusually close in!

brilliant birds!

a very tasty sandwich

Not much to report on the migration front with stiff NW winds currently halting the passage of passerines, with the exception of a solo swallow. A few pom skuas and several arctic skuas have been noted pushing north but unfortunately they have all been rather ship-shy and not been close enough for photo. attempts. Sandwich tern passage remains fairly steady with a dozen or so recorded most days. One individual did a wonderful close pass and allowed me to get some decent flight shots- a very nice bird! The real highlight however was a raft of grey phalaropes- I watched them resting and apparently feeding on a surface slick for 5 minutes or so before they resumed their northward flight- cracking birds! Aside from that I have been treated to a good number of common dolphins swimming around the vessel.

distant raft of grey (red) phalaropes