Seawatching, december 1988 – february 1989

Seawatching sites on the Frisian mainland coast and at Terschelling were manned 20 hours in December. Another 75 hours of seawatching were carried out in Zuid-Holland (mainly Noordwijk, Scheveningen and Bloemendaal), and 85 hours were received from Noord-Holland (Hondsbossche Zeewering (Hbz) and Egmond aan Zee). In January and February some 200 hours of seawatching were carried out, mainly in Noord-Holland (Hbz). In 1988/89’s exceptionally mild winter, hard-weather movements were not recorded. It is perhaps because of this mild winter that so few divers have been seen; most were recorded at Terschelling, with 800 in 6 days in the second week of December and an extraordinary 335 individuals in 10 minutes on 21 January. The first half of December has produced the greatest numbers along the coast of Noord-Holland. The onset of northbound passage was witnessed here in early February.