A passage of Commic Terns

Dungeness - 0600 - 0800hrs - mild, sunny, sw 3 - We joined MH and CP for a seawatch from the boardwalk where a steady flow of hundreds of Common Scoters and Commic Terns were on the move up-Channel. Decent numbers of Gannets, Fulmars and Kittiwakes also noted, plus a few auks, Bonxies, Arctic Skuas, Shelducks and Oystercatchers.

                                "Seawatching - bah!"

1400-1600hrs - Another seawatching session, in warm sunshine with a more southerly breeze, from the Seawatch hide was far more exciting than this morning. Commic Terns were streaming past the point in flocks of hundreds and by the time I left site the tally for the day had already exceeded 7,000! Looking into the sunlight made it very difficult to specifically identify Common from Arctic Tern. Some of the close ones were Arctic Terns, but most were some way offshore and remained `Commic`; there was also many Sandwich Terns on the move. Ten Bonxies and five Arctic Skuas also powered through, some clipping the point inside the cardinal buoy; also noted a Black-throated Diver, several Red-throated Divers, Kittiwakes and Guillemots, a Black Tern, plus hundreds of Barwits and Whimbrels at varying heights. A memorable day of seawatching for the volume of terns alone.