Change of Wind Direction and Increased Strength Brings in the Gannets, 29th September 2008

Overnight the wind had veered to a WNW force 3-4, so seawatching was the order of the day. Unfortunately the tides weren't in my favour as high tide wasn't until 1150 and I was at Rossall Point at 0725! This meant until the tide started to run in I would have to look over a lot of sand to 'get' to the sea! Someone should dismantle the Coastguards Tower and move it further west to Rossall Scar that way you would always be looking over the sea.

Coastguard's Tower at Rossall Point giving valuable shelter

for seawatching

I knew that I would need at least another day of strong westerly winds to bring in Leach's Petrel so I was hoping for a Skua or two and looking forward to some Leach's in a few days time. No Skuas materialised but numbers of Cormorants remained fairly high at 74 and there were no Shags today.

Numbers of Oystercatchers had built up to 581 but numbers of other waders were fairly low. Although to be fair as I was stood in one place for several hours I was reliant on them flying past me. 11 Curlews were pushed off the muscle beds along with 50 Knots and 3 Snipe flew high west.

Roosting Oystercatcher at Rossall Point

'Real' seabirds were represented by 87 Gannets, 3 Guillemots and a single Manx Shearwater that battled west along the tide edge. 14 Eiders bobbed up and down on the swell and 5 Common Scoters scurried along the horizon.