Sandwich Tern: Once again the usual crew of Scott, Laim, myself and this time joined by Mr Alex Jones himself made our way across to Hilbre Island for a spot of sea watching.
After a very wet and windy walk across to the main island we hunkered down in the sea watch hide.
The tide was out but slowly creeping in, pushing the tern roosts further up the shore and displacing the waders and gulls.
Cormorant: For the first few hours we mainly saw flocks of Sandwich Tern, Common Tern and a few Cormorants.
The light was good and wind OK, but could of been better and we sat with bated breath while the haze lifted and the birds moved closer with the tide.
Fulmar: With the winds picking up slightly Liam spotted a single Fulmar soaring past the hide, this was the only Fulmar we saw all day.
Common Tern: Around mid afternoon the tern numbers picked up and we saw streams of Common Tern and Little Tern flying past towards he welsh side of the Dee.
One of the highlights of the day came from the haze as couple of Maxies emerged banking around the tops of the waves.
Arctic Skua: Out in the distance we spotted a couple of Arctic Skua chasing terns just in front of the wind turbines.
For most of the day the skua stayed far out at sea we were hoping for a Pomarine to make an appearance but we were only rewarded with Arctic Skua.
Just before we left the hide a single skua came pretty close busily chasing a tern. The tern made a dash for it and got away with its fish meal leaving the skua to bomb back over to the wind turbines.
Whimbrel: On the way off the Island we spotted a few Whimbrel feeding among the newly exposed rocks and a huge number of Ringed Plover and Dunlin.
A good day birding.
Laim Langley's blog:
www.liamsbirding.blogspot.co.uk
Alex Jone's blog:
www.birdingnorthwales.blogspot.co.uk
