Having decided last minute to do a seawatch off Porthcawl and with the forecast for strong west south west wind I thought go for it. I set of in good time so I thought but hit heavy traffic all the way and got there later than planned. I arrived to find a full shelter and it was nice too see that there was crazy people like me. The wind was very strong and visibility was ok but far from brilliant. There was a constant stream of Kittiwakes, in four and half hours I counted 160 going down channel and there must have been hundreds out there. It was strange not to do my favorite pass time of counting the Gannets and I only saw 1 Adult all the time I was there. I also picked up two Great Northern Divers and 3 Red Throated Divers going the same way and at one point it was nice too see both divers together and great to compare shape and size of these two species. There were some Auks moving too, I counted 11 Guillemots and 1 Razorbill and about ten Auks that could not be ID at all. There were only 6 Fulmars and they were fairly late in the watch. I was told there was bigger numbers on Sunday. I got two adult Common Gulls but only one Med Gull which was picked up by Graham Powell. Also a cracking Great Skua, my first for the year and the only one seen. Duck wise there was some small groups of Common Scoter I counted 9 in total, surprisingly low for the time of the year and I also got a pair of Wigeon and a pair of Mallard which flew from the land across the sea. I also saw 1 oystercatcher and Cormorant. Had hoped there was better stuff out there and sadly not today.
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