3rd September 2009

A full gale this morning produced the goods with the rare Balearic Shearwater flying west close in with 2 Manx Shearwaters off the north end before the high tide. There have been many sightings around the British coast in the last few days, but this is the first seen from Hilbre for some years. Many of the Manx Shearwaters seen today passed very close in shore (see left and below with Common Terns).














Another excellent record was 2 Bonxies (left and below right) that were close enough for photographs, birds that have been hard to come by on recent sea watches.

A list of other sightings shows what a rewarding morning it was :

87 Manx Shearwaters, 11 Arctic Skuas, 325 Gannet, 275 Sandwich Terns, 30 Common Tern, 15 Little Tern, 3 Kittiwake, 7 Fulmar, 106 Common Scoter, 1 Red-throated Diver and 3 Great Crested Grebes.

(DCT,PT,NDW et al)