Cley Coastguards 2 Nov

At last! A window of opportunity and a decent N/NE wind coincided, so at about 9:30 Mike, David and I pitched up in the car park at Cley Coastguards.

If you've looked at a bird alert provider you will know it was a cracking sea-watch with lots of decent birds. So what was it like to be there? Did we get them all?

Kittiwakes were continually piling past East, and Gannets were around in number. Also Auks in hundreds passing, and a handful of Red-Throated Divers flying past. A nice background to the main dramas.

Leach's Petrel. I got a place amongst the sea-watchers in the front bay of the Coastguards, where you can see the sea over a high shingle ridge. Soon after I got in, a shout went up of a Leach's along the beach. We piled out and searched as it went west. I'd given up hope of seeing it when a small pair of black wings elegantly crested a wave and went back down. That was it, less than a second. Can I tick it? Absolutely!

Grey Phalarope. The call went up of one coming through close in. I just couldn't get on it. Mike got it all the way through. Win some, lose some.

Pomarine Skua. Two skuas through left, with immediate shouts that the rear one was a Pomarine. I know I'm marking my own homework here but I thought it was pretty straightforward. A big solid bird going straight through. The one in front looked a bit smaller, id unsure. We were fortunate in having a Name birder in the line, a leader of bird tours, and he was commenting on the short square tail. Good enough for me.

Sooty Shearwater. I called this one! A distant shearwater just continually arching heading east. Looked very dark all over. And The Name called it as a Sooty. Good enough for me again. I had excellent views last year at Portland but there is something about seeing one in classic shearing mode that is very satisfying.

Puffin. These were being called on a regular basis. A learning point for me, as nearly all my sightings have been close up birds. In summary, in flight it looks like a cross between a Razorbill and a Little Auk; noticeably smaller, dark wings below, dark tail. Couldn't get the darker face. 

Scaup. There were a few decent flocks of Scoter and single numbers of Eider. Twice had single Scaup with these flocks, and also a flock of four females. Nice white bill flash.

Short-Eared Owl. One was called out so sea. We saw it lumbering in, then swooping past and into the corner field. Owls are always great and migrating owls in off are doubly great.

Little Gull. Found a flock of likely birds out amongst the Kittiwakes and got a good first-year. Called it to the person next to me "yes there's been a few going through" and Mike had one go through just off the beach.

Otherwise a distant Great Skua, an Arctic Skua belting through low, two Pintail, and a Med Gull completed the notables.

So much for a fantastic sea watch. We headed off to Salthouse for Shore Lark and Twite but got the timing all wrong and came away with just 13 distant White-Fronted Geese. Back at the corner field we had 11 Barnacle Geese, which meant we had all the British Geese apart from Bean. 

And that was that. A truly excellent day. I didn't mind the dip at Salthouse in a way because it got us searching for birds, which is what we like doing.

Salthouse today. No avian pot of gold at the end of the rainbow sadly.