Sarnie on a Seawatch

7 March 2013;

managed to be down at Splash Point for 06:40, and in two hours saw a decent variety of birds, mostly passing east. However, numbers were low, and at times it was awfully slow. Totals are;

Curlew- 4E

Red-throated diver- 5E, 20+o/s

Razorbill-1W, 20+o/s. almost were in breeding plumage

Guillemot- 1o/s

Auk sp- 10E, all looked like Razorbills rather than Guillemots

Shelduck- 1E, 6W

Gannet- 11E

Ringed Plover- 1E close inshore (presumed local movement), 1 on the beach heard calling twice at c07:05

Mediterranean Gull- 1E at c07:05

SANDWICH TERN- 1E at c07:15, my earliest ever, and the first (I believe!) for Splash this year

Brent Goose- 3E

Common Scoter- 1E

Great Crested Grebe- 3W, together all summer-plumage

BLACK-THROATED DIVER- 2E, 3o/s

Oystercatcher- 1E, 2W

Diver sp- 2E, 3W, 20+o/s

The Black-throated Diver numbers were excellent for early March, and I'm positive there were a fair few others among the divers offshore that I just couldn't clinch. Normally you can only expect numbers like this in late May/early April, but with a fantastic movement of Red-throats at the moment there are a few other divers mixed in. There were also two mystery divers, (possibly Great Northerns), that I'm undecided about. One group of three Black-throated Divers was showing brilliantly quite close inshore as they slowly drifted east. The Sandwich Tern was also great, my first spring migrant and the earliest summer migrant of any I've ever seen in the UK!