The Lincolnshire Bird Club

A sea watch in strong north and later north-east winds with frequent showers of rain and hail from 09.30 - 16.00 produced the following

Dark-bellied Brent - 6
Shelduck - 14
Wigeon - 37
Mallard - 13
Pintail - 1
Teal - 42
Tufted Duck - 3
Scaup - 10 north
Velvet Scoter - 2 north
Common Scoter - 161 - most north
Goldeneye - 1
Red-breasted Merganser - 1 south
Red-throated Diver - 6
Great-crested Grebe - 1
Gannet - 250
Kittiwake - 3000 (approx 500 - 600/hour south)
Bonxie - 15 south
Pomarine Skua - 2 south including an adult with full spoons
Arctic Skua - 2
Little Auk - 28 (17 north, 10 south and 1 in off the sea with starlings flying inland)
Guillemot - 3

The strong winds caused problems as Andy mentioned for Mablethorpe whipping up the sand making it at times difficult to sea watch. I will now be spending all day tomorrow cleaning the car out.

regards

Wayne

As Wayne says the strong wind caused a big problem for us too. We stayed for 3 1/2 hours and then gave up the unequal struggle. We moved our position on the Car Terrace several times in an attempt to find some shelter from the buffetting wind and the sand blasting from the beach. Even using a cushion to rest my scope on was of limited use at best as the open window seemed to attract the sand.

We did manage to see some birds though, even some Wayne didn't see but his list far exceeds ours:
Snow Bunting 5
Gannet c40
Kittiwake c300

This morning I took the car to the jet wash and blasted the sand out from all the nooks and crannies on the outside and even under the bonnet as the engine was covered with sand too.

Regards,

Colin and Sheila