Well I'm back from my recent travels to both the Isle of Mull and Norfolk/Suffolk. Its been an incredible couple of weeks. Exhausting and exhilarating in equal measures. I'm still waiting for Dougie & Steve to go through their pictures but I hope to do a full write up very soon. In the meantime, I went to see a superb bird tonight. I got a text message from Derek Lawrence this morning to say a drake Surf Scoter had been found off the coast at Blackhall Rocks in amongst a flock of Common Scoter. I decided that if it was still around after I finished work I'd go and have a look. So, after a quick confirmation from Foghorn I set off for Blackhall. When I arrived Andy Watts & Peter Hogg were just leaving but they assured me it was still there and gave me rough directions on where to look. They neednt have bothered as the flock of almost 150 Common Scoter were very easy to find! The Surf Scoter stood out a mile, the white on its head extremely easy to see. It almost made our Scoters look incredibly dull! Its the first time Ive seen one of these striking ducks and it was very impressive.
Just spotted this article while browsing, it brings back memories as I was the person who found it and reported it when I got back to Warrington after visiting family in Durham. I knew it was scarce but I believe it may have been the first that was twitchable by others. I was a fairly inexperienced but keen pensioner at the time and was pleased so many others got to see it. Still my best self find bird and a lifer for me.
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