Casp

After a quiet seawatch at Whitburn I popped up to Amble, where the returning Caspian Gull was in the harbour. Spending most of its time asleep, it did wake briefly for a quick wander and some photos.

Caspian Gull

Further down the coast, East Chevington continues to look good with Spotted Redshank, 2 Garganey, Little Gull and 10 Ruff of note. Painted Lady, Small Copper and Wall were by the path to the hide.

Painted Lady & Small Copper

Quiet at Druridge and Cresswell, but a smart Ruff was just north of the causeway at Cresswell. 2 Yellow Wagtail were at Lynemouth Flash.

Ruff

Back in Gateshead a Little Egret dropped in for a few minutes at Shibdon. 3 Green Sandpiper were at a refreshed Lamesley.

Little Egret

Scilly Pelagics 4 (Foggy Sunday 19th August 2018)

An early start for my final pelagic of the trip was greeted by fog. Not thick, but dense enough to stop us seeing and hunting down the shoals of feeding Tuna. The plan was to head out and drift with chum over the side to draw some Wilson's Petrels. It worked and we were treated to close passes, their speed, small size and unpredictability made them a nightmare to try to photograph.

Wilson's Petrel

Wilson's Petrel

Wilson's Petrel

Wilson's Petrel

Wilson's Petrel walking on water

Alongside the Wilson's were British Storm Petrels.

Storm Petrel

Storm Petrel

Storm Petrel

We also passed a couple of Ocean Sunfish .

Ocean Sunfish

Later the fog lifted and we were able to hunt out some feeding Tuna. The frenzied flocks of gulls and Gannets were visible from miles off.

Feeding frenzy

Again we had cracking views of Cory's, Great and Sooty Shearwaters.

Cory's and Manx Shearwater

Great Shearwater

Great Shearwater

Fulmar

Fulmar

Manx Shearwater

Sated we headed back to shore. From there it was straight to Lower Moors where the juvenile Citrine Wagtail that had been found while we were at sea was still around. Initially elusive, it eventually showed superbly at close range.

Citrine Wagtail

Citrine Wagtail

Citrine Wagtail

The next day I had a few hours to kill waiting for the boat home. I spent some more time with the wagtail as it fed just in front of the hide.

Citrine Wagtail

Citrine Wagtail

Citrine Wagtail

Water Rail

A trip to Porthellick gave a distant, yellow-legged 'common ' Sandpiper, but without a scope I had to leave it. Luckily a little later it dropped in front of fellow pelagicers Stu and Gary, who's cracking photos confirmed the id of a juvenile Spotted Sandpiper.

Spotted Sandpiper (Gary Hobson)

A tremendous few days!

Scilly Pelagics 3 (Big Saturday 18th August 2018)

This was an epic day where no anchovy was safe! It was clear just a few minutes after leaving port that a lot was going on. Large numbers of shearwaters were streaming past us towards distant spots of boiling sea, each speared by hundreds of Gannets. Reaching the first of these feeding frenzies we could see the manic, dolphin-sized Bluefin Tuna breaking the surface as they feasted on the panicking Anchovies. The latter leaping clear of the water in clouds as they tried to escape the carnage.

Bluefin Tuna

Anchovies

Carnage

We moved from feeding frenzy to feeding frenzy, seeing huge numbers of Cory's, Great and Sooty Shearwaters feeding, travelling and resting up in large rafts.

Cory's Shearwater

Cory's Shearwater

Cory's Shearwater

Great Shearwater

Great Shearwater with Anchovy

Great Shearwater

Great Shearwater

Great Shearwater

Sooty Shearwater

Sooty Shearwater

The bulk of the shearwaters were of course Manx, with the very occasional Balearic. The Balearics were fleeting and difficult to pick out in the swirling flocks, but one showed distantly, resting on the sea.

Balearic Shearwater

Balearic Shearwater

Manx Shearwater

Gannet

The day continued with bigger and bigger feeding frenzies and a couple of glimpses of Minke Whales at their edges. For me the highlight of the day was when we parked close to a feed where first a wave of Tuna charged just a few feet from the boat and then a Minke Whale broke the surface just 30 yards away. This was the first time that I had seen a whale hunting, rapidly twisting and turning just below the surface, then breaking through with open mouth to scoop up the fleeing Anchovies. Bella, the ship's dog went wild about the whale and the Common Dolphins that zipped through.

Minke Whale

Through the day we had several Bonxie, Storm Petrel and to keep the run going, 3 Wilson's Petrel.

Bonxie

Wilson's Petrel

Totals for the day were 3 Wilson's Petrel, 5000+ Manx Shearwater, 750+ Great Shearwater, 350+ Cory's Shearwater, 5 Balearic Shearwater, 50+ Storm Petrel, 20+ Bonxie, 12 Arctic Tern, 300+ Bluefin Tuna, 3 Minke Whale, 30+ Common Dolphin, 1 Blue Shark and 2 Ocean Sunfish. This was an unforgettable day!