2013 - Final Fling

On noticing easterlies in the weather forecast last night I decided to give the Divit a shot at finally producing Little Auk. Weather wasn't too bad on waking - heavily overcast, slight hints of forthcoming rain. At the Divit I set up the scope and listed the few birds around on the way to the watchpoint, which was pretty windy. I found some shelter, which is not easy there, and scanned.

First thing of note was Kittiwakes. Kind of unseasonal, and nice to see. There were some Guillemots, and further out some larger auk spp., but none I could nail as Razorbill. Finally the bee-like form of a Little Auk zoomed out to the east. There were maybe up to 3, but none was really close enough for a nice view. Finally another surprise in the form of a Fulmar - probably I don't have a December record for Fulmar there.

Apart from these there were the usual suspects in the form of Grebes, RT Divers and ducks, with 5 Wigeon and 2 Teal flitting about, and another group of Teal in the harbour, with about 50 Dunlin roosting on floating weed.

So that will do it for the Divit 2013. Way down on last year, at 113 species, but not a bad year still. I expect 2014 will fall somewhere in between this and the 126 of 2012. You can never tell!