A sea-watch from the brick house at Ynyslas was very productive yesterday morning with hundreds of birds feeding in tight flocks off-shore (some 220 gannets, 600 kittiwakes, 320 sandwich terns, 12 Med. gulls, 400 black-headed gulls and the odd manx shearwater). Between 0730 and 0930 these flocks attracted nine arctic skuas and a long-tailed skua, all appearing from the north and gradually heading south after a few chases. Around 25 red-throated divers and hundreds of auks also provided a bit of variety. Leaving to go for a scheduled walk with my wife (Hafod estate with a few crossbills and a marsh tit) I got back to Ynyslas at 1430 to find an eerily almost empty sea. Where had everything gone.
This morning arriving at Ynyslas at 0700 there was very little out there apart from gannets moving north and the same number of divers as yesterday.