Scarborough

Fulmar

I had an early start to the morning, courtesy of the cat, so I decided to have a long day out. A trip out to the North Sea has been long overdue, the birdwatching on the rocky shores of Yorkshire is very different to that on the marshes and muds of Lancashire: auks, shags and fulmars instead of shelducks, geese and waders. Scarborough's the most straightforward destination by train so that's where I went. The connection at York's a bit irritating: the Scarborough train runs hourly and there's a fifty-six minute wait for it after the Manchester train arrives but it's straightforward enough.

For once the farmed fields of Yorkshire were full of birds. Mostly woodpigeons and carrion crows with odd flocks of rooks and jackdaws here and there. A red kite soaring low over Cottingley Station as we passed through was a nice bonus bird.

South Bay

I walked down to the beach from Scarborough Station, taking the easy slope down Vernon Road. There were a lot of herring gulls about, and very noisy too, but only a couple of kittiwakes. It's a bit too early in the season for them to be coming in to nest.

Common seal
The yellow thing on its flipper is an ID tag. I've reported the sighting to the Sea Mammal Research Unit.

I walked across the beach to the harbour. There were more herring gulls and a few black-headed gulls on the beach. Out on the water, and rather to my surprise, there was a single Canada goose riding the waves. Even more surprising was the young common seal resting by the harbour wall. It seemed not to be in any distress and was alert enough when any buses or noisy cars went by for me not to have any concerns about it. Although it was close to the road there was a big stretch of deep mud and the lifeboat station between the seal and the beach proper so it was safe from molestation. Young common seals seem to have a habit of dumping themselves wherever to wait for the next high tide.

Great northern diver

Although the tide was low there was still enough water in the harbour to provide fishing for a great northern diver. It was close enough to photograph well though I was struck yet again that every photo I've ever taken of a GND looks like someone's traced round the bird with a thick Chinagraph pencil.

There weren't many turnstones about though the few there were happily went about their business entirely oblivious to passersby.

Scarborough Harbour

I did a bit of seawatching along the harbour wall and along Marine Drive. It took a while to get my eye in, the wind was coming in from the sea and the waves were catching pieces of storm-wrecked kelp which tended to confuse matters in the middle distance. There were a few auks around, nearly all of them razorbills with just a couple of guillemots. A couple of red-throated divers flew past. There may have been a couple more out in the water, shapes too big and pale to be razorbills that disappeared in the waves before I could get a handle on them. A dark blob I'd been assuming to be a bit of flotsam turned out to be a common scoter when it took flight. A pod of dolphins were feeding in the distance on the opposite side of South Bay.

Fulmars

Fulmars

Fulmar

Fulmars are already establishing their nest sites on the cliffs below the castle, with lots of calling and bill clacking to noisily stake their claims.

A shape breaking the waves a hundred yards out on the water caught my eye. Another common dolphin, or one of the group from across the bay. Whichever, it seemed to be on its own and didn't show for more than a minute or so.

Shag

North Bay was quieter, just a few herring gulls, a pair of oystercatchers and a couple of cormorants. A shag flew in and settled on the water, conveniently swimming past a couple of herring gulls so that its size confirmed I wasn't kidding myself. Once I got a better look at the shape of its head I wondered why I'd doubted myself in the first place.

North Bay

I took the gentle, windy path up to Queen's Parade and walked back to the station. I struck lucky: the next train to York carried on through to Manchester.