I waited for the rain to ease before venturing out to Lamba Ness at 10am where I sea-watched until midday. An exhilarating seawatch with literally thousands of Gannets and Fulmars and hundreds of Puffins all flying north. Highlight of the morning was an aberrant extra-pale Fulmar that flew north at 10.45am. Variety was provided by a single Manx Shearwater flying north at 11.10am, a Curlew, a few Bonxies, 2 Great Black-backed Gulls, several Kittiwakes and 2 Arctic Terns. A look at Norwick during the afternoon produced 2 juvenile Sanderling on the beach and a single Willow Warbler.
Aberrant extra-pale Fulmar passing Lamba Ness
Considered rare in the North Atlantic by Flood & van Grouw (BB June'15). They include an image of a similar individual photographed in Norway that they caption 'the light grey of the primaries indicates a quantitative pigment reduction, or dilution - which results in a lighter shade of grey.
Puffins passing Lamba Ness
Curlew passing Lamba Ness
Kittiwake and Gannet passing Lamba Ness
Willow Warbler at Norwick
