A northerly wind strengthened late morning when a series of heavy and squally showers tracked down the coast; temperatures reached 16 degrees C. Given the weather conditions, seawatching was the obvious birding activity for the first time in many weeks. Single Great Shearwater and Cory’s Shearwater provided the highlights: the Cory’s flew north close inshore at 1320hrs, while the ‘Great Shear’ headed north before landing amongst a feeding flock at 1910hrs. Three juvenile Long-tailed Skuas were logged: two flew south together early morning, with a single tracking back north in the evening. Seven Roseate Terns and a Black Tern fed offshore amongst 1690 Arctic Terns, 354 Common Terns, 690 ‘Commic Terns’ and large numbers of Kittiwakes. Other notable sightings included 104 Sooty Shearwaters (99 north, 5 south), 41 Manx Shearwaters (38 north, 3 south), a Blue Fulmar, a Greenshank, a Bar-tailed Godwit, a Ruff, 55 Arctic Skuas, eight Bonxies, four juvenile Caspian Gulls and a single juvenile Yellow-legged Gull.
South Landing attracted five Eider, 20 Ringed Plovers, five Dunlin, two Bar-tailed Godwits and a Ruff, while a Hobby flew along the adjacent cliffs.
