Another beautiful calm and clear day but with the forecast not looking so good for tomorrow we decided to complete the WeBS counts for Norwick and Burrafirth. The morning was dominated by a trickle of incoming Gulls at Norwick that numbered c.300 Great Black-backed Gulls and c.200 Herring Gulls including a high percentage of argentatus. Looking through them as best we could we saw 3 Glaucous Gulls (2 juv & a 2w) and a juvenile Iceland Gull. Similar arrivals usually spanning the entire morning have been seen on nice bright sunny days in past winters. Are these birds arriving from an offshore trawler fleet or from further afield? I guess we'll never know... Otherwise the most notable birds we saw were 2 Diver sp. flying distantly north past Lamba Ness, a Red-throated Diver, a Great Northern Diver and 11 Goldeneye on the sea at Burrafirth and 2 Water Rails at Norwick.
Haroldswick from Upper Sotland
Great Black-backed & Herring Gulls arriving at Norwick
Water Rail at Norwick
