Sunfish

Sunfish

Manx Shearwater

Their were a lot  of Manx Shearwaters around last night as well as this Sunfish which was one of three we saw last night , The ocean sunfish, Mola mola, , is the heaviest known bony fish in the world. It has an average adult weight of 1,000 kg 2,200 lb. Sunfish live on a diet that consists mainly of jelly fish.

Summer Plumage Great Northern Diver

An unusual June record of a Summer Plumage Great Northern Diver, it should have gone North to its breeding ground in Greenland or North America by now but instead it has been near lower town St Martins for the past week.

Peregrine Falcon

Peregrine Falcons are  females being considerably larger than males.The Peregrine is renowned for its speed, reaching over 322 km/h (200 mph) during its characteristic hunting stoop (high speed dive),making it the fastest member of the animal kingdom. According to a National Geographic program, the highest measured speed of a Peregrine Falcon is 389 km/h (242 mph).

A selection of photos from the last couple of days.

Bonxie Pol Bank

Puffin Northern Rocks

Grey Seal Northern Rocks

Sunfish Pol Bank

Sunset from the Pol Bank

Earliest British record for Wilson's Storm Petrel.& More

Adult Pale Phase Arctic Skua

Adult Pale Phase Arctic Skua

Record Shot of Wilsons Petrel

2nd Summer Long-tailed Skua

2nd Summer Long-tailed Skua

2nd Summer Long-tailed Skua

2nd Summer Long-tailed Skua

2nd Summer Long-tailed Skua

Last night was a fantastic evening enjoyed by all,which  included the earliest British record for Wilson's Storm-petrel beating the last one (also off Scilly) by one day, a very showy pristine adult Arctic Skua, and two immature Long-tailed Skuas both with an interesting plumage aspect (see below). While the visiting birders were very excited by the Wilson's Storm-petrel, the Scilly birders, having notched up perhaps 500 Wilson's off Scilly already, were far more excited by the Long-tailed Skuas that are rather rare in Scillonian waters.

Lighter Long-tailed Skua

Identified by various structural characteristics including long tapering pair of central rectrices, shape of cap, greyish feathers in the upperwing-coverts and, of course, whitish shafts to the outermost two primaries visible beyond the greater primary coverts. Aged as second summer. Aged by adult-like head pattern, long pair of central rectrices, some barring on the uppertail-coverts, barring on flanks, and largely barred underwing-coverts and axillaries. This individual is relatively retarded with heavily barred underwings, though note the mainly plain underprimary coverts. Also note some contrasting grey upperwing-coverts (adult like).

Darker Long-tailed Skua

At first sight this bird looked like a near dark-morph adult Arctic Skua, appearing virtually all dark in the field with central rectrices similar in length to the longest in adult Arctic Skua. However, identified by various structural characteristics, shape of cap, greyish feathers in the upperwing-coverts, and whitish shafts to the outermost two primaries visible beyond the greater primary coverts. Aged as second summer. Aged by adult-like head pattern, medium-length of central pair of rectrices, some barring on the undertail-coverts, barring on flanks, and barring in smaller underwing-coverts. Notice the pale legs, though adult Long-taileds also show pale legs (unlike Pomarine and Arctic). This individual was probably a dark-morph juvenile earlier in its life, given the amount of dark on the underside of the body.

Seabird & Western Rocks Trips

Black Tailed Godwits

Black Tailed Godwits

Cormorant Eating a wrass

Great Norther Diver

Great Northern Diver

Risso Dolphins

Risso Dolphin

I took all these photos today the Great Northern Diver Black-tailed Godwits & Cormorant were on the Seabird Special trip I did this afternoon . The Rissos Dolphins were on this mornings Western Rocks trip Rissos  are found worldwide in temperate and tropical waters, usually in deep waters rather than close to land. As well as the tropical parts of the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, Rissos are also found in the Persian Gulf, Mediterranean and Red Seas, but not the Black Sea. They range as far north as the Gulf of Alaska and southern Greenland and as far south as Tierra del Fuego.

Their preferred environment is just off the continental shelf on steep banks with water depths varying from 400–1,000 meters (1,300–3,300 ft) and water temperature at least 10 °C  and preferably 15–20 °C .

Seabird Special

Bridled Guillemot

Red Breasted Merganser

Red Breasted Merganser's

Peregrine Falcon

I took the photos on yesterday seabird trip the Bridled Guillemot was on Men-A-Vaur we only get 2or 3 of these a year the further north you go more you get the Bridled form of Guillemot the Mergansers were near Hedge Rock they are a scarce winter visitor and very unusual to see them at this time of year and the Peregrine was on Puffin Island.

Hobby

While I was out walking this afternoon this Hobby came fly through near Deep point I managed to get this record shot before it went through the pines.

Thursday's Seabird Trip

Fulmar Petrel

Great Northern Diver

Atlantic Puffin

Shag 

Shag

A few photos I took on this mornings Seabird trip.

A selection of photos from the last week

Female Blackcap in my back garden

Green Woodpecker in Northampton 

Whitethroat Northampton

Pallid Swift

I finally caught up with the Pallid Swift yesterday afternoon that was found about ten days ago before I went away.

Birds Of Barcelona

Alpine Swift I saw a  lot of these all over Barcelona

                                                                   

Audouin's Gull I only saw a couple of these

The Audouin's Gull is a large gull restricted to the Mediterranean and the western coast of Saharan Africa. It breeds on small islands colonially or alone, laying 2-3 eggs on a ground nest.

In the late 1960s, this was one of the World's rarest gulls, with a population of only 1,000 pairs. It has established new colonies, but remains rare with a population of about 10,000 pairs.

This species, unlike many large gulls, rarely scavenges, but is a specialist fish eater, and is therefore strictly coastal and pelagic. This bird will feed at night, often well out to sea, but also slowly patrols close into beaches, occasionally dangling its legs to increase drag.

This was the only Hoopoe I saw 

Monk Parakeet

These were all over the city

Spanish Wagtail ?

 Yellow Legged Gull's

 I have just returned from 5 days in Barcelona on a city break I managed to get some bird photos on the last couple of days 

A few images from Porth-Hellick

Barn Swallow

House Martin

Kestrel

I took these photo yesterday at Porth Hellick while looking for the Pallid Swift that had been found there in the morning their was no sign while I was there but it was seen again later in the afternoon.