I had a hunch that this weather might bring some birds into Borth Bay so I went up there early this morning.and was not disappointed. A couple of quick checks confirmed very large flocks between Ynyskas turn and the estuary. First count was from opposite the golf clubhouse from where I could see an enormous feeding frenzy of gulls at the mouth of the Dyfi.
Further offshore were some huge feeding rafts of Manx Shearwater; a rough count of around 15000. I carried on to the brickhouse, but the gulls were dispersing rapidly onto the beach and sea. I got a count of 2000+, mostly Herring Gulls. The manxies were also slowly dispersing and moving south so my last viewpoint was by the toilet black near the railway station.
Panning across the sea I came to the conclusion that my original count of manxies was on the low side. There were probably nearer 20000. Other species were Med Gull; at least 40 on the beach north of the brickouse, others scattered on the sea all along to Borth, c55 in total. Among the meds were a few Kittiwakes and black-headed G, but i was quite surprised at how few Gannets were around. I would say no more than 30 during the whole session.
My last stop was Aberystwyth prom. On College Rocks were eight Med Gulls, five Lesser Black-backs and three Redshanks.