A seawatch from Ynyslas from around 7-8:30am yesterday morning produced a pale
phase Arctic Skua, huge numbers of Manxies moving north yet again, 60+
Kittiwakes moving north and 35+ Common Scoter on the sea. Around 8am I zoomed in
on what I had earlier presumed were 3 distant Guillemots sat on the sea, as I
zoomed in to 60x I noticed that one of them was in fact a Diver and not an Auk.
I had on and off views of the diver as it rode the waves for a few minutes
before it dived and somehow it remained lost to view. The bird struck me as being
a Black-throated Diver that was in intermediate plumage with a bill and
overall jizz that was not as heavy as I'd expect from a Great Northern Diver.
Unfortunately I didn't manage to get that clinching view of the bird before it
was lost to view, and after half an hour of fruitlessly scanning the sea
without the confidence to separate it from GND I left, feeling
very frustrated.
4 Cattle Egrets were briefly on Ynys Tachwedd fields, most now have developed that brilliant blood red base to the bill. They seem to be spending a lot of their time somewhere further up the estuary at the moment. Their habits have significantly changed from when they were first found. An attempt to watch the wader roost at the tern posts was probably a poor decision on my part with the hoards of holiday makers and Jet Skis to contend with. 30+ Dunlin, Ringed Plover and Sanderling were incredibly flighty due to the circumstances.
Edward O'Connor
4 Cattle Egrets were briefly on Ynys Tachwedd fields, most now have developed that brilliant blood red base to the bill. They seem to be spending a lot of their time somewhere further up the estuary at the moment. Their habits have significantly changed from when they were first found. An attempt to watch the wader roost at the tern posts was probably a poor decision on my part with the hoards of holiday makers and Jet Skis to contend with. 30+ Dunlin, Ringed Plover and Sanderling were incredibly flighty due to the circumstances.
Edward O'Connor