The sea was a bit rough and the tide was low, but we managed to get quite good views of the three Velvet Scoters this morning. They were a couple of hundred metres out from the Sleek Stone area, but reasonably easy to pick out among the small feeding flocks of Common Scoters (at least 50-60+ of these in groups of 4-12+).
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| Despite the swell, good light helped to make it possible to see the key plumage features (NB heavily cropped photos) |
A combination of bright reflections on the sea, the swell plus a brisk northerly wind made it difficult to determine if there were any divers or Eiders in the area but there probably were.
A walk through Haroldston Woods later produced small numbers of expected/typical woodland birds including a Chiffchaff near a stand of planted beech trees.