Sooty Shearwater

Sunday Lade - warm, sunshine and showers, SW 5 - The unsettled weather conditions continue to make it pretty much a waste of time running the moth trap; although I did last night, attracting just 20 moths of ten species, including three Jersey Tigers and a late Sussex Emerald. The local patch produced a steady flow of Swifts and Sand Martins on their way south and a few more bright Willow Warblers by the ponds. Before the rain arrived a flurry of butterflies in the garden sun traps included Painted Lady and Holly Blue, plus a Hummingbird Hawk-moth on the buddleia. Viewing the bay is difficult in such strong winds, but plenty of gulls, terns and waders from earlier in the week were still present. Forays out to the Trapping Area and ARC/Tower Pits over the weekend produced little of note due to the weather.

Saturday - Sooty Shearwater

I`ve been fortunate during my lifetime to have sailed across the Seven Seas and seen countless thousands of Sooty Shearwaters, but yesterday`s lone bird was a bit special! A typical sighting of this `Greyhound of the Ocean` at Dungeness is usually in late autumn as a distant speck seen on the horizon from the fishing boats, careering down-Channel at breakneck speed on swept-backed wings, shearing and gliding wildly - a couple of minutes viewing then, if you`re lucky. However, after grandstanding in front of the regulars in the seawatch hide around 9am on Saturday (checkout: www.ploddingbirder.blogspot.com for stunning pics) one particular individual Sooty Shearwater, untypically, proceeded to settle down and feed amongst the gulls and terns at the Patch for the rest of the day, something I`ve not experienced before in my time at Dungeness. I watched it for about an hour around midday during which time it mostly sat on a choppy sea in front of the Patch hide, occasionally taking short flights back to the boil after drifting eastwards and showing off its silvery under-wing coverts; when it flew it was all elegance and control making the gulls appear almost clumsy. Born on a remote, storm-lashed, sub-Antarctic island and destined to spend most of its life roaming the world`s oceans this magnificent seabird, and a wonder of evolution, was a privilege to watch at such close quarters.  

ps: On Sunday afternoon the Sooty was seen off the fishing boats where it came to bread thrown for the gulls - extraordinary !