December 24th

With a northerly gale blowing overnight we had a seawatch at Reculver this morning, Anne and I watched from our car whilst Matt was at the Towers. Between 0730 and 1030 together we counted 297 Dark-bellied Brent Geese, 46 Gannets W, 92 Red-throated Divers E, 2 Wigeon W, 200 Herring Gulls, 6 large auks, 19 White-fronted Geese flying in off and then S, 24 Great Skuas W, 13 Little Gulls W, 20 Kittiwakes W, 7 Common Scoter W, 1 Eider E, 1 Black-throated Diver on sea then E, 2 immature Shags on the sea, 2 Grey Plover W, 2 Dunlin W, 2 Shelduck W, 5 Razorbills W, 1 Great Crested Grebe E, 1 adult Mediterranean Gull and a female Goldeneye (208th) and female Scaup flying W (209th) together.

Whilst we were at Reculver, Marc Heath was at Minnis Bay and saw 120 Dark-bellied Brent Geese, 165 Red-throated Divers, 33 Kittiwakes, 44 auk species E, 85 Cormorants, 39 Gannets, 1 Razorbill, 3 Great Skuas E, 1 Red-breasted Merganser, 4 Guillemots, 94 Oystercatchers and 40 Turnstone.