17th - 18th January 2025

Saturday, 18th January: A similar day to yesterday, though perhaps a little colder; dry, grey and cloudy with a fairly light to moderate E/NE wind, force 3.

Elmer Rocks: The fairly calm conditions again allowed good views over the sea to some distance, where birds were offshore at various ranges. A Great Northern Diver was present for a while and Red-throated Divers featured well amongst other regular species. On the land there was no sign of yesterday's Kingfisher, although the Song Thrushes and Great Spotted Woodpecker were still present.

My log was as follows:-

Red-throated Diver - 13E, 8W & 20 o/s

Great Northern Diver - 1 o/s

Great Crested Grebe - 10 o/s

Gannet - 6E

Red-breasted Merganser - 30+ o/s

Grey Plover - 24 on beach

Oystercatcher - 10

Turnstone - 150+

Sanderling - 26

Ringed Plover - 20+

Common Gull - 1 o/b

Great Spotted Woodpecker - 1 drumming from woods behind beach

Song Thrush - 2 singing from set-aside/woods

At Elmer Rocks: (top) Grey Plovers,  (centre)  adult Common Gull and Grey Plover, and (lower) Turnstones and Sanderlings in flight

Friday, 17th January: A dry, rather grey and cloudy day, generally calm with a light but chilly SE breeze.

Elmer Rocks: An interesting morning with the first bird of the day for me being a Slavonian Grebe on the calm sea and at moderate range. There wasn't a great deal on the move beyond six Brent Geese going west, but the calm conditions allowed scrutiny of some species on the sea at quite a distance and gradually I logged at least eight Red-throated Divers on the water and a further two going west, c.15 Great Crested Grebes and 20+ Red-breasted Mergansers.

After the arrival of a couple of boats well offshore and full of anglers, a large number of gulls began to assemble in what was clearly a feeding frenzy, then suddenly masses of Gannets also appeared and I estimated there were eventually c.200 of the latter amongst the throng - quite spectacular. Several flocks of Turnstones then flew west as the tide got higher, totalling at least 150, before many returned to drop onto the rock islands, subsequently followed by 25+ Ringed Plovers, 15 Sanderlings, 10 Oystercatchers and 20 Grey Plovers.

Two Song Thrushes were singing from rival locations behind the beach and around the set-aside and more distantly a drumming Great Spotted Woodpecker was also heard - the increasing daylight length at this time of year no doubt prompting avian thoughts of spring territories. However, perhaps the highlight of the morning was the Kingfisher present on Elmer rife, just behind the weedscreen area and near the footpath.

Two views of the Kingfisher along Elmer rife and just behind the footpath this morning.