Sheringham Sea-Watching!

Crazy Day! Drove through the darkness, rain, wind, fallen trees and branches – it was a nail biting drive and also included overtaking so many lorries on route and it was only 4.50am! Do all lorry drivers start off at the same time each morning? That's what appeared to be happening today! I made it in fairly good time and pulled up to park in the road opposite 'The Leas' at Sheringham at 5.40am. There were several cars already here! Justin L. pulled up behind me and said I needed to hurry up as Andy W. had phoned him from the shelters to say there were only a few seats left!!! Panic set in with other birders now pulling up and wrestling with their scopes and gear. Every second counted, I whizzed down the slope and steps as fast as I could and Justin and I managed to get the last two seats next to Andy, phew! and relax!!! It was still dark, why do we do this?! Absolute insanity! But if you want the best seats in the house you have to get there pre dawn. As Justin and Andy mused as other birders turned up 'late' they would now be in 'the cheap seats'. The cheap seats, being the seats at the top of the promonade in the open and exposed to the winds and rain. The seats where we sat (for those of you that don't know) consist of three shelters joined together and give you awesome views of the rolling waves and sea below and excellent views of birds when its not murky!

Settled myself into my seat and got my gear sorted out. The banter from Justin and Andy started the second we arrived and they both had me roaring with laughter – good for the soul those two! Pete Dolton, Ben Lewis and Mick Saunt were also in our shelter. In the other shelters were Robin C. Dave H. James H., James Mac. ,Stuart W., Bas H., and later on Ashley B., Sue B., Kevin S. etc etc.

It didn't get going for a while and then suddenly Dave Holman called a pale-phased Arctic Skua which was fairly close in and then it carried on from there. It was a funny sort of day – there were times when there was loads of birds going through and then periods of absolutely nothing. Nothing spectacular was seen though, well not anything that made you jump out of your seat! Don't get me wrong, it was a fabulous day of sea-watching with excellent company, but it would have been nice to see a Sabine's or something equally as exciting such as a Leach's or Storm Petrel. We had some added entertainment in the shelters today – a young lad was practicing his surfing skills in the big waves! Turnstones and gulls were feeding below us on the beach and a purple sandpiper flew west. The rain started to drive into the shelter late afternoon and I was the last person to leave at 5.40pm – I was determined to get to 12 hours!

Went to Cley Coastguards for a short while, where I saw a few more Arctic Skuas going through and then left to go home.

Twelve hours of sea-watching at Sheringham from 5.40am to 5.40pm produced good numbers of birds. 114 Arctic Skuas, Great Skuas, several Sooty Shearwaters, Manx Shearwaters, Gannets etc.

My List for the Day 5.40am-5.40pm

Arctic Skuas x 114
Great Skuas x  27
Sooty Shearwaters x  4
Manx Shearwaters x 13
Gannets x 47
Guillemot x 1
Purple Sandpiper x 1
Fulmars x 16
Red-throated Divers x 3
Black Tern (2.50pm)
Sandwich Terns x 16
Common Scoters x 76
Teal x 22
Wigeon x 16
Turnstones x 8
Cormorants x 4
Auk sp x 2
Grey Plovers x 2
Knot x 7
Oystercatchers x 2
Dunlins x 20

A rubbish video, that I nearly didn't add, but for those of you that don't know what its like to experience sitting in these shelters, it gives you a good idea of the height you are sitting at, the ferocity of the sea and the seriousness of the birders watching, well most!


The next video shows the young man attempting to surf in the breakers. He did manage to get on the board a few times which resulted in cheers from birders in the shelters.