24 White-beaked Dolphins went north at Whitburn Obs this morning. It was a quiet day for the birds a westerly and bright sun and i was contemplating a very early finish to go and process my fridge full of moths. Magic Mark called the Dolphins coming north and didn't take long with his usual skill to get us on the pod. He got close views of one of the juveniles and saw the white around its beak and on its flanks confirming them as White-beaked. This was our first look at them this summer and i am looking forward to many more encounters. I've included a short video of the youngster breaching very distantly and despite taking lots of video little of it is usable mainly due to the very bright sun. They certainly stole the show and lingered for over an hour, Saint Mark and Pink Floyd also enjoyed the encounter
This is what we saw in order of appearance
Saturday 8th July 04.25-08.30 WNW1-2 1/8
Black h Gull 37n 12s
Gannet 148n 45s
Common Scoter 43n 7s
Eider 7n
Sandwich Tern 23n 115s
Red th Diver 1n 4s
Puffin 13s
Common Gull 3s
Manx Shearwater 2n 3s
Common Tern 1n 12s Curlew 1n 1s
Whimbrel 1s
Swift 1s
Redshank 1n 3s
Arctic Tern 1n 4s
Grey Heron 1s
Grey Wagtail 2s
Shag 1n
White-beaked Dolphins circa 24 north 07.05-08.20
