1st May

Another day of excellent seawatching with 12 hours of coverage producing highlights of an adult Long-tailed Skua, 26 Pomarine Skuas, a Puffin, nine Black-throated Divers and a Great Northern Diver along with 253 Brent Geese, 13 Velvet Scoters, 72 Whimbrel, 102 Bar-tailed Godwits, 67 Knot, 52 Sanderlings, 41 Dunlin, 38 Little Terns, ten Black Terns, 43 Little Gulls, seven Mediterranean Gulls, 25 Arctic Skuas, two Great Skuas and two Manx Shearwaters. It remains very quiet on the land although the first Whinchat of the year and two Redstarts were seen.

Four Porpoises and a Grey Seal were feeding offshore, five Brown Hares were seen in the Desert and a Badger was seen in the grounds of the power station.

Another example of the rare beetle Hister quadrimaculata was found near the Observatory and the first Small Heath butterfly and Four-spotted Chaser of the year were seen.

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30th Apr

An all-day seawatch with more strong easterly winds produced an excellent movement of birds with a total of 33 Pomarine Skuas being the obvious highlight while variety and numbers were provided by 17 Shovelers, two Tufted Ducks, 98 Grey Plovers, 267 Whimbrels, 319 Bar-tailed Godwits, a Greenshank, 65 Knot, 78 Sanderlings, five Little Terns, ten Little Gulls, six Mediterranean Gulls, five Arctic Skuas, two Black-throated Divers and 475 Gannets. A Redstart and 20 Wheatears were of note on the land and 180 Swallows passed overhead.

Four Porpoises and two Grey Seals were feeding offshore.

A Holly Blue butterfly was seen in the Lighthouse Garden and some Grey-backed Mining Bees Andrena vaga were found around the Observatory garden.

29th Apr

Even windier today and very little to be seen. Over seven hours of seawatching produced four Grey Plovers, 140 Bar-tailed Godwits, seven Sanderlings, 141 "commic" Terns and five Arctic Skuas.

Three Porpoises and two Grey Seals were seen offshore.

A Brown Argus butterfly was seen. 

28th Apr

Strong ENE winds yet again restricted much of the observation to the sea but even here it was fairly quiet. Over seven hours of watching produced 30 Oystercatchers, eight Grey Plovers, 39 Whimbrel, 236 Bar-tailed Godwits, a Little Gull, a Mediterranean Gull, 638 Sandwich Terns, 478 "commic" Terns, a Manx Shearwater and the days highlight of two Pomarine Skuas.

Three Porpoises and two Grey Seals were feeding offshore.

27th Apr

A Wood Warbler singing in the Trapping Area was almost the only new migrant on the land while seawatching was also poor with just three Pomarine Skuas and seven Mediterranean Gulls of note.

Six Porpoises and two Grey Seals were feeding offshore.

26th Apr

A much quieter day on the sea than yesterday but still produced four Pintail, nine Grey Plovers, 223 Whimbrels, 78 Bar-tailed Godwits, two Black Terns, 33 Little Gulls, 11 Mediterranean Gulls, six Great Skuas, four Pomarine Skuas, 20 Arctic Skuas, singles of Black-throated and Great Northern Divers and four Manx Shearwaters of note. Birds passing overhead included 125 Swallows.

Six Porpoises and two Grey Seals were feeding offshore.

A Wall butterfly was an unusual record. 

25th Apr

All day coverage of the sea in fresh ENE winds produced some spectacular movements. Highlights were 77 Black Terns, a remarkable total of 1467 Little Gulls, 22 Pomarine Skuas, 31 Arctic Skuas, ten Great Skuas, five Black-throated Divers and seven Manx Shearwaters. Numbers were provided by 514 Common Scoters, 244 Whimbrels, 666 Bar-tailed Godwits, 40 Little Terns, 2920 Common Terns, 3165 "commic" Terns and 685 Sandwich Terns while other bits included 72 Brent Geese, 17 Shelducks, two Velvet Scoters, five Grey Plovers, 11 Mediterranean Gulls and 46 Arctic Terns.

A Buzzard, 140 Swallows, four Yellow Wagtails flew over and four Willow Warblers, 11 Blackcaps and 12 Lesser Whitethroats were seen on the land.

Ten Porpoises and a Grey Seal were seen offshore and a Brown Hare was seen on the land.

Eight Grizzled Skippers were seen around the Trapping Area.

24th Apr

More strong NE winds resulted in another day of seawatching and numbers really picking up in the afternoon. Of note were two Shoveler, six Pintail, 21 Teal, 424 Common Scoters, six Avocets, 42 Grey Plovers, an excellent total of 534 Whimbrel, 115 Bar-tailed Godwits, six Knot, 17 Sanderling, 18 Mediterranean Gulls, 97 Little Gulls, 122 Kittiwakes, nine Arctic Skuas, 18 Pomarine Skuas, four Great Skuas, 1246 Sandwich Terns, 21 Little Terns, 25 Black Terns, 377 'commic' Terns, four Black-throated Divers, 25 Fulmars, a Manx Shearwater and 427 Gannets. It remains hard-going on the land with just a Green Sandpiper, 75 Swallows, four Willow Warblers, nine Blackcaps, 11 Lesser Whitethroats and a Yellow Wagtail of note.

Eight Porpoise and two Grey Seal were feeding offshore.

23rd Apr

The cold, strong ENE wind continues and resulted in some excellent seawatching. Dawn till dusk coverage produced two Garganey, 20 Shovelers, two Gadwall, seven Pintail, four Teal, two Eiders, two Velvet Scoters, 171 Common Scoters, two Red-breasted Mergansers, 14 Grey Plover, 353 Whimbrel, 111 Bar-tailed Godwits, 27 Sanderlings, 20 Little Gulls, six Mediterranean Gulls, three Little Terns, five Black Terns, 1330 Sandwich Terns, four Arctic Skuas, a Pomarine Skua, two Black-throated Divers, 18 Fulmars and 736 Gannets. Two Sand Martins, 24 Swallows and four Yellow Wagtails flew over.

Three Porpoises and two Grey Seals were seen offshore.