Birding Scarborough: Perseverance pays off.

The day after the Rosy Starling (14^th August), I was up in Hundale, Long Nab early doors with Chris for a mornings netting.
Not too surprisingly it was quiet, a few locally bred warblers and a fine juvenile male Sparrowhawk were the highlights.
Movement over the sea (and to a lesser extent over land) was much more interesting, unfortunately much was missed while out on net rounds or processing the catch, however in between we managed to amass a fairly respectable number of species, highlights were a juvenile Marsh Harrier, five Eider, three Pintail, six Ringed Plover, one Knot, 56 Dunlin, an adult Curlew Sandpiper, 99 Redshank, 12 Black-tailed Godwit, an Arctic Skua and eight Flava.

Sparrowhawk.

Several quiet days followed, until 23^rd when things picked up, a morning session off Marine Drive was very entertaining with an adult Pomarine Skua and a nice close Balearic Shearwater making up for the first light start. The supporting cast of 99 Fulmar, 288 Teal, 101 Common Scoter, nine Sanderling, eight Arctic Skua, 3 Bonxie and 53 Common Tern kept interest high throughout.
Later that morning, up at Long Nab several more Arctic Skua were logged while Teal were still trickling by with two Tufted Duck in with them and a long awaited PWC tick in the form of a Greenshank north along the cliffs.
With the southeast wind I had wanted to check Cromer Point pond in the hope of finding an Aquatic Warbler, a choice I would ultimately regret!
I did kick a Sedge Warbler out the rank grasses by the pond, however shortly after the heavens opened and dropped the heaviest rain I have definitely ever been caught in, by some margin!
Within a minute I was soaked to the skin (four layers including a rain coat!), I tried to take shelter up against the wall of the sewage works but this provided no rest bite from the wall of water, shortly after realising I physically couldn’t get any wetter I focused my attention solely on protecting optics and camera, an exercise ultimately futile as my camera packed in!

I spent a few days rather fuming about my camera however it did dry enough and luckily began to work the day before our final Scarborough Birders pelagic of 2017.
So, early on the 27^th August I found myself down in the Harbour and boarded the Queensferry with 23 others. In the past these trips haven’t really produced anything too interesting, however today, on I think our 7^th trip, we made up for that with some nice close encounters of species usually seen at range from Long Nab.
Highlights were four Arctic Skua, one of which put on a great show harrying Kittiwakes and Common Terns just by the boat, a couple of Bonxies, three Manx Shearwater, including a close feeding bird, many Common Terns and Fulmars streaming north and a fine Balearic Shearwater, that put on a nice show before flying off south.
A short fishing trip was also enjoyed by many with plenty of Mackerel and Whiting caught, I couldn’t resist a quick go and bagged a few Mackerel myself!