Another day with two notable seawatches; early morning, two large shearwater sp flew SW at 07.00 & 07.07, one too distant, the other dividing opinion, Also passing SW over the course of 1hr 30mins, 169 Gannet, 110 Kittiwake, 51 Common, 38 Sandwich and five (four juvs) Little Tern, 27 Balearic, six Manx and three Sooty Shearwater, 20+ Mediterranean Gull, three Arctic and a Great Skua and single Storm Petrel, Black-throated and Great Northern Diver.
A 1hr 10mins watch late evening was quieter with no skuas or shearwaters, but 78 Lesser Black-backed Gull, 32 Storm Petrel and an Arctic Tern flew SW. The petrel count was the highest since Aug 2017.
Interest was not however confined to the sea, with seven Pale-bellied Brent Geese unexpected on Bull Hill on the evening tide. These are the earliest ever autumn arrivals, a week earlier than the only other August records, seven on 30/08/2008 and 28 on 30/08/2012.
Also in the estuary a juvenile Yellow-legged Gull was in Shutterton Creek and Tuesday's Osprey put in a reappearance. Counts included 237 Redshank, 205 Dunlin, including 157 juvs, 167 Ringed Plover, 18 Whimbrel, 11 Sanderling, nine Greenshank, eight Shelduck, six Turnstone, the six Eider, four Bar-tailed Godwit, two Teal and a Knot.
Elsewhere two Willow Warbler were on site and a Kingfisher was on the Main Pond.
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