I hadn't planned any birding to-day - weekend, Valentine's Day, sunny and a gale blowing. Until... David N re-posted a tweet stating that there was a seabird passage going on. Sheringham front ? Let's try Walcott and Mundesley first, which could be en route.
The front at Walcott was packed. We stopped long enough to see a cloud of Kittiwakes flying south and the odd Gannet. Promising. The seabirds at Walcott, being round the corner from Sheringham, are rather distant, maybe Mundesley would be better.
Parking on the clifftop rough ground, behind the large and empty hotel, can be like riding a ship in a storm. The wind was from directly behind us to-day, no buffeting at all, bliss. Being so high means that one can see down into the seething and deeply-rollered sea, although the passing birds were still rather distant. Too distant to accurately identify the procession of groups of Auks flying through. I suspect that they were nearly all Guillemots, the closer birds certainly were. Still a few Gannets, the constant stream of Kittiwakes, seven Red-throated Divers and a close first year Little Gull were added before my hands became too cold to continue focusing the scope out of my window. No more than an hour's watching had brought some very satisfactory results.
Sooty Shearwater and a Bonxie had been seen off Sheringham, other birders were very sceptical about the Shearwater.......some of our men friends often are if they haven't been present. Cynical......
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