Friday, 19 January 2018

BLACK GUILLEMOT - Solent/Springvale/Seaview



Record shots of the 'tystie'

At the end of last year (2017) a Black Guillemot had been seen off Seaview. But it had only been seen briefly by one lucky observer and subsequently was seen leaving the area. Despite that part of the island getting fairly good coverage (by island standards anyway) seemingly nothing more came of it - though sightings of one in nearby Hampshire suggest it's been on the move.

Fortunately it was off Seaview again.....

As I was scanning across the Solent, enjoying the odd slav grebe and GN diver; suddenly an auk flew in from the east and pitched in. It drifted with a slav grebe for a time. I got my scope on it and pretty much instantly thought it was a black guillemot, but it was distant and my identification of it was based mostly on its jizz; so I put the news out.

It soon took flight and again I noted key features: as it banked it showed off its upper wing pattern etc.

Nice!

Edit: it was seen again (following day) with closer confirmatory views and better photos.

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