Scarborough Birders: Sunday 27th August 2017

Monday 28 August 2017

Sunday 27th August 2017

The undoubted highlight of the day was the pelagic trip out of Scarborough Harbour which departed at 07.00 this morning. Admittedly a pelagic into the north sea is never going to produce the numbers or the species that they get off Cornwall or the Isles of Scilly but there is still that feeling that anything could come flying past the boat and we don’t have to travel a huge distance to see seabirds at close range. Although the numbers of birds seen was not very high the quality was a little better than anticipated. Our list for the trip included a lovely Balearic Shearwater which was initially on the sea but then proceeded to circle the boat once at close range when we were approximately 3 miles out. The rest of the species seen today were 3 Manx Shearwaters, 4 Arctic Skuas (one of which came within 10 metres of the boat), 2 Great Skuas, 80+ Common Terns, juvenile Puffin, 3 Common Scoter, 17 Cormorants, 2 Teal, 15 Dunlin plus Gannets, Guillemots, Fulmars, Kittiwakes, Herring Gulls and Greater Black-backed Gulls.

At Wykeham Raptor View Point around midday ish there was an Osprey carrying a fish and during the afternoon a Hobby, at least 4 Goshawks and possibly as many as 15 Common Buzzards (including a group of 6 together). A Red Kite was seen north of Hutton Buscel at 10.40 and then it or another went southwest over the harbour with two Common Buzzards at about 12.30. At Rodger Trod, between Cloughton Wyke and Hayburn Wyke, 18 Common Scoter went north and there were 2 Red-throated Divers as well.

This evening at Scalby Mills we had a 1^st winter Mediterranean Gull and about 150 House Martins and Swallows were on the wires nearby.