It's that time of year when Holy Island is just too good to miss, however there is also the chance that there will be absolutely nothing. That was certainly the case today when it came to passerines, the Snook had it's usual numbers of Meadow Pipits and the Half Moon slack held 3 Reed Buntings, and a single Common Whitethroat, Snook House itself had 1 Goldcrest, 1 Robin and a Willow Warbler.
From there I decided to walk along to Emmanuel Head, following the Beach produced 9 Sanderling, 1 Redshank and 4 Bar-tailed Godwits. The day really picked up with a spot of seawatching at Emmanuel Head, the long lines of Gannets of all ages were picked out against the dark choppy sea, next through were 6 Velvet Scoters quickly followed by 2 Manx Shearwaters and 2 Red-throated Divers, this sequence was broken by constant movement of Kittiwakes which in turn attracted those pirates of the seas Arctic Skuas, one unfortunate bird was assaulted by 3 hoodlums at the same time and soon disgorged its food, in total 11 Arctic Skuas were seen, the highlight arrived soon afterwards in the form of a graceful Sooty Shearwater one of many which were seen up and down the coast today. It just proves that even the most unpromising day will still have it's highlights.
