Grey Plovers and stormy seas at Freshwater West

For quite some time, the shores at Freshwater West and the Frainslake/Furzenips area have been known as a good location for over-wintering grey plovers. Numbers have dropped since the peak WeBS counts of nearly 200 there back in January 1997 and other three-figure counts of the early- 2000s, but they are still present each winter and it's still a reliable location for them.

It was nice to see 37 grey plovers resting on the exposed rocks there last Sunday, along with 30+ dunlin. A still raging stormy sea and a rising tide forced all the waders there (including small numbers of oystercatchers and curlew) to move east to the relatively undisturbed Frainslake beach where they often go to roost at high tide.  

Some of the 37 grey plovers before they were forced to leave the rocks by the rising tide

Part of the mixed flock of dunlin & grey plovers, narrowly avoiding huge waves that eventually flooded their rock-perches

Might the recent storms cause another seabird wreck? 
Other than the local ravens at their usual Furzenips site, there wasn’t too much else of note. However, we couldn’t help noticing a summer-plumage razorbill perched on some rocks on the beach below the Furzenips. It wasn't oiled but was probably exhausted by the stormy conditions, or perhaps sick. Earlier last week a beach clean at Freshwater West happily didn't discover anything unexpected.

The last time there was a significant wreck of seabirds was back in late February/early March 2014, when large numbers of auk casualties especially were found on many beaches around the coast following earlier severe winter storms. Hopefully we won’t see many more dead or weakened auks etc coming ashore in the weeks ahead following the recent succession of storms, but it’s worth being vigilant all the same!