The weather at dawn was better than forecast, and in what felt a rather uninspiring light and mild southwesterly wind, I took the opportunity to start gardening. At 9.40am I heard some Great Black-backed Gulls calling, and being easily distracted from gardening, I looked across Norwick and could see a flock of Gulls arriving... were we in for a repeat of yesterday? Instead, today there was a steady stream of Gulls arriving and in the next 25 minutes I estimated 500 Herring Gulls, 100 Great Black-backed Gulls and counted 10 Glaucous Gulls. It started raining, and although the main thrust of the arrival was over, by 2pm we'd seen a total of 15 Glaucous Gulls. Whilst the ageing won't be an exact science, as some were at a range where any third-winter's would likely have been overlooked as adults and some juveniles/second-winters can be tricky, my best stab at ageing them was 5 adults, 3 second-winters and 7 juveniles. I'd also seen my first Peregrine of the year. At c.2pm Robbie kindly sent a message to say that he was watching a flock of c.1,000 Gulls viewed from the south end of the Loch of Cliff among which he could see c.10 white-wingers. We therefore decided we'd head for Burrafirth, but just as we'd donned our coats, Brydon sent a message to say Rory had let him know that a dead Sperm Whale had been washed ashore at Underhoull that was quickly followed-up with an image from Connel making the whale appear huge. We therefore headed to Underhoull meeting Robbie and Catriona there and seeing our only Iceland Gull of the day - a juvenile. After viewing the dead Whale we then made a dash for Burrafirth arriving just before dusk in time to see 5 Glaucous Gulls on the beach.
click to enlarge!
Gulls arriving at Norwick
Robbie, Catriona & dead Whale at Underhoull
Four of the five Glaucous Gulls at Burrafirth beach
With a similar arrival of Glaucous Gulls witnessed on the 10/1/2017 - that time in a light westerly wind - it's perhaps interesting to look at today's weather charts and speculate whether the arrival was a direct result of the Gulls moving just ahead of (or on) the cold front that arrived at about the same time on Shetland today.
