Sept 11th

Up at dawn to seawatch before work. Was raining with poor visibility at dawn so pulled in to Links Road car park to watch from car. It was soon apparent that a large northerly passage of Wildfowl and waders was happening, very close inshore. 100s of Teal and Wigeon, some Mallard, Scoter and Gadwall, 100s of Dunlin, many Knot, good numbers of Grey Plover, some Curlew etc. A close group of 20 or so Dunlin flew past and I got my scope on them and noted 2 considerably smaller, paler waders which were clearly Little Stints, a real bonus. Some extremely close Arctic Skuas were also passing north. As the weather abated and the visibility improved I decided to watch from Corton for a wider field of view. Sheltered by the benches hedge it was very pleasant, the horizon appeared and viewing was very good. Skuas kept appearing, often close. A dainty pale juv Long-tailed Skua flew north with an Arctic, the difference was remarkable with completely different flight action, size and jizz, the Arctic was low and purposefull while the tiny Long-tailed was very bouyant and kept dipping to surface, very Tern like and easily one of the better examples ive seen off here. In total 16 Arctic Skuas went north during the short watch. Most birds were passing north and close but the Gannets were passing south and distant. Then a real patch crippler occured as 2 magnificent Avocets passed close north, easily the highlight of the watch.