Vis mig begins!

My fondest birding memories are of looking for spring migrants on the south coast of England- in particular searching a headland such as the Lizard in Cornwall or Portland Bill, Dorset- oooh the excitement of watching multiple lbj's come in off the sea! Saw my first hoopoe at Portland in April 1981 (along with Black kite, woodchat shrike, pied fly, etc. making a brilliant day) so it is always good to see one. Migration has kicked in here off Morocco- small numbers trickling through but all the birds are heading north, presumably for Europe and the British isles. Over the last week there has been a light,  steady passage of bonxies and sandwich terns. More recently several distant flocks of waterfowl have been recorded plus a distant, probable red-rumped swallow. Yesterday 3 chiffchaffs and a hoopoe briefly visited the vessel before continuing north. This morning at first light another unidentified leaf warbler and a chat sp. were flushed and a second hoopoe was seen flying past- exciting times! Hopefully the tempo of passage will increase over the coming weeks as will the number of species encountered.

I have also been lucky to see plenty of common dolphins, a sunfish and a small (circa 2.5 metre) basking shark.

hoopoe

ocean sunfish

basking shark

common dolphin

Butt of Lewis-sea watching!

Just back from a great 4 day birding break at the Butt of Lewis- the most northerly point in the outer hebrides and one of the more remote points in NW europe! Although rather early for a sea watching stint I had to visit now as I'm heading back to work next week and so will miss the more traditional sea passage time- in the UK at least!

Since I was a child and saw my first light house at Lands end Cornwall, I have always had a fascination  for the way they dominate land and sea scapes. I always fancied working as a light house keeper in my youth.

looking across the machair at Eorpie towards the butt light house 

looking NNE

Despite being early in the season for sea- watching, there was enough to keep me occupied for four days:- in addition to the usual suspects of fulmar, gannet, kittiwake, puffin, guillemot, razorbill, common, herring, gbb and a few black-headed gulls,  there was a light passage of sooty and manx shearwater and sporadic sightings of great skua, arctic skua, arctic tern and red-throated divers. Around loch Stiapabhat I also recorded hen harrier, peregrine, golden plover and lapwing. On occasion it was great to see whimbrel and redshank coming in off the sea.

Other marine sightings of interest included a basking shark and an ocean sunfish. On the cetacean front I also recorded minke whale, Risso's and bottle-nosed dolphins, harbour porpoise and two orca! Not bad for a shore-based sea watch stint! 

golden plover

gannets 

distant ocean sunfish (Mola mola)