Today’s seawatching produced single Great and Arctic Skuas, 442 Common Scoters north, 25 Manx Shearwaters, a Bar-tailed Godwit and 230 Fulmars north, with six Knot and a Turnstone among small numbers of waders on the Brigg and a juvenile Grey Wagtail at Carr Naze pond; East Lea hosted a Little Ringed Plover, two Shelducks, a Shoveler and a Common Sandpiper. Yesterday (12th), a Little Owl was close to a potential breeding site south of the town (a rare bird locally in recent years), while 11th saw 28 Redshanks, 10 Knot and five Sanderlings among wader passage south over the sea and a pale-bellied Brent Goose on the Brigg.
Dunlin on the Brigg (Mark Pearson)
16 Manxies and a Bar-tailed Godwit flew south on 10th, when a Little Egret dropped in at the Dams, 69 Whimbrel, a Grey Wagtail and three Pochard headed south at the Gap, and Common Sandpipers were there, at the Dams, East Lea and the Brigg. The ringing team’s petrel-trapping success had continued, with a further three caught on the night of 9th/10th and seven on 11th/12th.