Wknd 25-26 January

Back on Seton coast Saturday pm after rain had eased - a Black-throated Diver remained there, also on sea off harbour a dusky Red-necked Grebe and 3-4 Slavonians. c. 20 Velvet Scoter were mainly females, 1 1st-win drake detected, just 3 Common Scoter feeding off Cockenzie, 5 Long-tailed Ducks, 50+ Eider but as usual no oddities! Whilst scanning the shore east I noticed waders flushing and soon had an adult female Peregrine heading straight for me; as it approached nearly filled the scope view, but too quick for my camera :(

Gulls included the ad graellsii Lesser Blackback attending sea duck offshore - presumably our wintering resident (Lucy?), two very pale juvenile plumage Herring Gulls perhaps argentatus at same location, and at Seton Sands at dusk a tarrock Kittiwake, a Black-headed Gull with full though not entirely dark hood, a Common Gull with a very clear "hood" and an adult Mediterranean Gull roosting by the pipe (Mike had earlier seen red-7P8 flushed off the shore by the burn). Quite a typical haul, and as usual nothing rare in the pre-roost on the shore, though rather low numbers overall, perhaps due to the wind. Red-breasted Mergansers gathered again on sea amongst gulls to roost.

During week took a train south and confirmed crow in NT06K and NT06R, and Magpie for NT16T (Currie). Whilst down in Lancs spotted an all white (!) crow from the car south of Kendal, turns out that a leucistic individual has apparently been in that area since at least 2009; feeding with a standard edition crow in black on this occasion, you do wonder what its mate thinks of it!

Back on the coast on Sunday - 45 Velvet Scoter, 8 Slav Grebe, 2 Red-throated Diver off Seton, 1 Red-necked Grebe off Ferny Ness and another 115 Velvet Scoter way out in Gosford Bay; 217 Bar-tailed Godwits feeding in the shallows at the south end of Gosford Sands.