November 4th

Matt and I arrived at Reculver for a seawatch just as it was getting light at 0630 with a cold, strong NNW wind blowing and Richard Collins joined us a bit later. I left after three and a half hours by which time we had counted the following mostly flying west: 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull, 41 Gannets, 20 Shelduck, 4 Pochard, 158 Dark-bellied Brent Geese, 2 Guillemots, 13 Teal, 8 Wigeon, 290 Cormorants, 1 Peregrine, 41 Dunlin, 21 Common Scoter, 10 large auks, 5 Red-throated Divers, 3 Great Crested Grebes, 15 Kittiwakes, 3 Razorbills, 6 Lapwings, 5 Little Gulls, 2 Curlew, 111 Starlings, 1 Black-tailed Godwit, 1 Tufted Duck and 15 Golden Plover flyng inland.

After I had left, Matt remained at the Towers until 1400 and added 223 Dark-bellied Brent Geese, 126 Dunlin, 28 Common Scoter, 3 Great Skuas, 52 large auks, 63 Starlings, 13 Skylarks, 10 Razorbills, 2 Ravens E, 35 Gannets, 45 Kittiwakes, 17 Guillemots, 3 Mediterranean Gulls, 1 Shag, 7 Pintail, 3 Snipe, 2 Curlew, 18 Wigeon, 17 Shelduck, 3 Red-throated Divers, 5 Teal, 3 Great Crested Grebes, 70 Common Gulls and 4 Little Gulls.

The colour ringed Cormorant that Matt saw at Minnis Bay yesterday had originally been ringed as a nestling on 2nd June 2014 at Insel Heuwiese, Vorpommern-Rugen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, GERMANY which is 863 km ENE.