Flamborough Seawatching Festival!!

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 Flamborough Seawatching Festival!!






We arrived at Flamborough Head at 7:00am in hopes of seeing some lifer seabirds. When we arrived, we had heard that they have had a Pomarine Skua (a lifer for me) and a Sabine's Gull earlier in the morning. We seated ourselves in the seawatching hide and scanned the sea. Tony, one of the members of the observatory, gave me a scope to use while in the hide since it was a guided seawatch. There was a big bouy as well as a distant rig and fishing boat that we used as landmarks. It didn't take long for me to get my first lifer, a Manx Shearwater, as a flock of them flew past the bouy, soon after followed by a lifer Sooty Shearwater. We continued to wait as two juvenile Long-tailed Skuas were reported flying past Hornsea towards us. About 40 minutes after that report, someone says "Long-tailed Skua juvenile distantly heading North." The same bird then landed on the sea and with the approaching fog, came out of view. A couple of Great Skuas, Arctic Skuas, Common Scoters and more Manx & Sooty Shearwaters came past. Then, just as we were about two leave, two Red-throated Divers came flying north and were visible with the naked eye. That made us stay a bit longer but we then eventually left and went to Spurn YWT.

We arrived at Spurn YWT at 1:30pm and parked in Blue Bell Car Park and then walked along Beacon Lane before reaching the beach. We asked a couple how to get to Beacon Ponds- where two lifer Red-necked Phalaropes were visible- and they showed us a map. We then walked along the beach until we reached a spot to view the lake, but didn't see the Red-necked Phalaropes, only three Curlew Sandpipers were visible. We then back to Flamborough Head for an evening seawatch where I saw a lifer Mole that stayed above ground for ages, probably due to the dry ground. Just as I stepped out the hide to see the Mole, a birder ushered me in as a juvenile Long-tailed Skua and just flew past and was really close. He said it went around the headland but I had sadly dipped it. I wasn't too bothered though as who can complain with 3 lifer birds, and a bonus lifer mammal (Other things seen mentioned in the labels).

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