Usually seeing 2 drake Surf Scoter would be the highlight, or perhaps a 1st winter Iceland Gull moving through with the Herring Gulls early morning? Not today at Rainbow Bridge, Old Colwyn. This morning's early morning scoter spectacle was truly awsome with 15-20,000 Common Scoter wheeling about in the sky - got to be one of my year's highlights so far. The picture above is a very small section of what went on for miles and miles! With the flock were 2 drake surf Scoter, at least 15 Velvet Scoter, four Eider, 2 Pale bellied Brent Geese, lots of Red throated Divers, Great Crested Grebes and Mergansers, while a lovely 1st winter Iceland Gull made its way steadily west with a good passage of large gulls.
What a pre-breakfast birding session!
As you say Marc what a fantastic scoter display this morning. I watched from Beach House Road in Llandulas and after a superb flyby of scoters for 40 minutes or more I reckon up to 17 to 18,000 scoter were present, it was like a sea of black at times! Otherwise a nice adult Med gull in Pentre Mawr park, Abergele, early am.
ReplyDeleteAwesome session Marc
ReplyDeleteI was down there for two hours this morning, fantastic number of Scoters, but could I pick two surf scoters out of a flock of 20,000... not a bloody chance!!
ReplyDeleteA speedboat would help ;-)
ReplyDelete