Sooty Shearwater at Grafham Water

Neither of us has ever seen a Sooty Shearwater. Well actually I probably have as I spent a rather magical morning a couple of weeks ago at Fife Ness. There was a strong North Westerly blowing and there was significant sea watching activity. Loads of Manx Shearwaters, quite a few Sootys and a couple of sightings of Leach's Petrel. Unfortunately my sight/birdwatching skills weren't up to separating out the Sootys for certain and I'm afraid I missed the Petrels too, but it was truly a magical morning.

So when we heard there was a Sooty at Grafham we had to go, but this was no magical birding experience. Basically this bird shouldn't have been there. It should have been out on the oceans skimming above the waves not sitting forlornly on a freshwater reservoir in Cambridgeshire. I doubted it would survive the night, in the morning I fully expected it to be found dead or in need of rescue.

However in the morning it wasn't there, and there's chat that fog in the Bristol Channel may have confused some seabirds. A few Skuas had ended up on Gloucester reservoirs and perhaps this Sooty had just travelled further before giving up. Perhaps it had gathered its strength and headed off to find the open sea. Perhaps, although perhaps the gulls just had a good meal. I'll hope for the former.