A lot of summer migrants have just started returning. It's been an odd spring, as everyone here will know, but the strange weather has meant (in addition to delaying blossom, and causing high mortality in some species) that winter visitors have been grounded here (like waxwings), and their replacements have been delayed. Still, the first chiffchaffs, sand martins, and terns have made it back to my area in the last week, so I wanted to see them.
I went down to the sea front to search for sandwich terns a week or so ago, but saw nothing but a very distant flock of scoters. Today I searched from a different point (Starr Gate, rather than Central Pier), but it was terrible seeing - very hazy, almost misty, so the sea surface was a sheet of grey. I was disheartened, but in fact the calm waters and maybe the cover meant quite a few birds were visible (or perhaps it's always like that down there). Despite the very poor visibility, I could identify most birds I saw, including a lone great crested grebe.
11/101.
Alca torda Razorbill
Location: Sea surface, <200 metres off Starr Gate, southern Blackpool.
Conditions: Mild, bright but mostly cloudy, very calm, very hazy; 1-2 hours after high tide.
Photograph quality: 3.
Comments: I have seen many local reports of true seabirds over the past few months, but never seen much of them myself. Birdwatchers' spotting scopes are much more powerful than even my super telephoto combination, and it's easier to ID by eye than get a usable photograph. However, sometimes they come close to shore, and despite the terrible air quality today, these shots are clearly of razorbills. It's strange to think such an exotic species - that makes me think of remote islands and steep cliffs - swim so close to populated areas.
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