Blustery north-westerlies in late October? Yes please, and after hurriedly nailing some annoyingly scheduled work in the morning, I hotfooted it down the slope and to the Brigg for a three-and-a-half hour seawatch in squally showers, sunny windows and dipping temperatures. With local birder Kev and visiting birder Robin also there for much of the session, we nailed a very respectable 23 Pomarine Skuas (in what has been a big day for them along the coast), but the real show-stealer was pretty much the first bird I focused my delectable new Zeiss Harpia on - a close-in, 300mph Leach's Storm-petrel making light work of towering white horses. Fast perhaps, but the best views I've had of the species here at Filey (excluding the bird we caught last summer, that is).
Otherwise, back up was relatively scant, although with Woodcocks, Skylarks, thrushes and Starlings arriving in off, wildfowl on the move and no-one else around, I'm not complaining (unlike the next two days, when I'll be working and internally complaining constantly). And the dark-bellied Brent is such a beauty....
