This must be the first time of opening LBC this year!
I've not really had much time to walk out to the sea recently, but on 9th July, there was a flock of 250+ scoter on the sea of Brickyard, which is fairly typical for this time of year. Next day on 10th at high tide, I didn't see any, but a new wind turbine vessel is taking a route much closer to shore than all of the others. This vessel put up several huge flocks, that I estimated to number greater than 3000. Next morning, despite scanning and the vessel taking the same route, I had 2 scoter, but then on Saturday morning, under the same conditions, 3,000+ again, all put up by the vessel and flying off both north and south. This morning, later at 0830hrs on a rising tide, the vessel was later, but the birds had increased in number to 4-5,000. When they scatter in all directions and then land at a distance, it's not possible to estimate with any degree of accuracy.
No white wings present and the vast majority are female/juvenile.
Regards, Cliff
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