September 27th

Matt arrived at the Towers at 0700 and stayed until 1800 seawatching - he was joined by Derek Smith from 1100. The strong wind  was initially from the west but after a heavy shower at about 1000 veered to NNW and strengthened. Birds seen were 180 Black-headed Gulls, 1 Rock Pipit, 69 Sandwich Terns W, 1 Red-throated Diver, 480 Gannets with many more further out, 4 Curlew, 7 Sand Martins W, 2 Little Egrets, 87 Arctic Skuas, 27W and 60E, 5 Mediterranean Gulls, 30 Swallows W, 12 Great Skuas, 9W and 3E, 1 Merlin in off the sea, 10 House Martins W, 124 Kittiwakes,W, 11 Commic Terns W and 26 Balearic Shearwaters, 26W of which 25 were in a five minute period (185th). There were also 6 Arctic Terns W, 43 Common Terns W, 33 Little Gulls W, 10 Common Scoter, 3 small shearwater sp, E, 2 Pomarine Skuas, 1 adult W and 1 adult E, 1 Purple Sandpiper W (186th), 1 juvenile Long-tailed Skua W (187th), 4 Golden Plover W, 8 Wigeon W, 1 Grey Plover, 1 juvenile Sabine's Gull W at 1548 (188th), 1 Leach's Petrel W at 1635 (189th), 4 Dunlin and 3 Turnstone.

Adult Arctic Skua - Derek Smith

Adult Pomarine Skua - Derek Smith

This morning we had a wander around Reculver in windy and damp conditions. We saw 24 Chiffchaffs, 1 Kestrel, 3 Blackcaps, 1 Cetti's Warblers, 6 Chaffinches, 1 Stonechat, 18 Swallows flying W, 12 Meadow Pipits, 1 Little Egret, 10 House Martins flying W, 1 male Merlin flying W at sea out by the green buoy and then making landfall at Bishopstone, 1 Mediterranean Gull and 1 Wheatear. Later we joined Matt at the Towers for a couple of hours.