Weekends at the Bridges of Ross and boat trips are in, but east coast mainland seawatching is 'so yesterday'. Shakes when birding are generally associated with having found a monster rare, but shakes when seawatching are better associated with freezing your arse off. Who could could blame you for not wanting to sit on a hurting behind, ocassionally clicking the odd Gannet and duly celebrating as Manxies make into double figures, while messages roll in of 4000 Grey Phals past Irish headlands?
Gulls, sound recording, rares finding etc all made into Frontiers, but seawatching was avoided. But surely there are still new avenues to explore - even on the east coast mainland? With optics improving by the day (just heard Swarovski and Leica are poised to bring out new scopes), and cameras able to perform small miracles, here's a list of of the species I reckon could be whizzing past seawatchers unnoticed - even on the east coast! Re-set your radar, arm yourself with a camera and and these could be there for the taking. And ok, maybe it was just 400 Grey Phals, not 4000.
Bean Goose
Black Brant
American Wigeon
Blue-winged Teal
King Eider
American Golden Plover
White-rumped Sandpiper
Red-necked Phalarope
Ring-billed Gull
Caspian Gull
Brunnichs Guillemot
(and I'm sure there are plenty more....)
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