5th August 2013
Start Point
Seawatch 06:30-14:00. Start could not compete with Berry Head today, perhaps due to being stuck out in the sunshine, with the main weather front more east, inland and higher in Lyme Bay - producing the reduced vis for the large shears!
All SW: Cory's Shearwater @09:05, 3 Sooty Shearwaters (only one correlating with BH birds), 80 Balearic Shearwaters, 1142 Manx Shearwaters, Pomarine Skua, 7 Arctic Skuas, 22 Whimbrel (20&2), 2 Common Terns, 4 Sandwich Terns, 7 Common Scoter, 8 Puffins, 2 Guillemots and a Razorbill.
Late post for 2nd August
16:00-18:00: 100+ Balearic Shearwaters (65 passing and 35+ feeding with Manx on skerries bank), 800+ Manx (680 passing and 120+ feeding over skerries), 4 Puffin, 20 'commic' Terms feeding over skerries bank.
Since 29/7/2013 Start Pt has seen c580 Balearic Shearwaters! I'm not sure how many are on a feeding loop in outer Lyme Bay (i.e the same birds going round in a circle), or new birds crossing the channel, feeding and moving on - perhaps a bit of both! Which would explain lower numbers at Prawle on 04/08/13. This influx is earlier than normal, as I have never had a 100+ counts in July, or early August. Looking at other websites the birds are now well distributed around the UK and Ireland!
