Storm Petrels

[Keith Ryan]

The numbers of Stormys on the North Sea coast have been amazing, nothing else seems to have been affected, I would be interested to hear peoples' opinions about this situation.

[Ted Parker]

Hi Keith,

You're right, the numbers have been incredible and record-breaking.  Eighty-five birds at Hartlepool and 385 at Whitburn on one day are astonishing counts based on past experience.  It is interesting, however, that although birds turned up at many coastal locations, the big numbers seemed to be concentrated on relatively short sections of coast, particularly in North East England. Flamborough Head, for example, surprisingly didn't feature prominently and neither did most of the eastern Scotland sites, whereas Whitburn and the Farnes had massive numbers.  Despite a sea watch at Skiningrove on the evening of 28th July, Don and I didn't see a single bird and, unfortunately, I didn't manage to catch up with this petrel feast.  Let's hope we have a similar event with Leach's later in the season!

Ted

[AKinghorn]

The day Whitburn had 358 I had at least 40 whilst in late afternoon to early evening, was fortunate enough to see the "300th" of the day go past. The count at Whitburn that day is now the East Coast of England record for total amount of Storm Petrel past in 1 day. That exact same day only 2 went past Flamborough in 14+ hours.

Brilliant to see so many of the Durham coast, never thought I would see that.