Seawatching, September – October 1990

Seawatching was very popular in these months, and most counts were conducted in Noord-Holland (NH) in Egmond aan Zee, and at the Hondsbossche Zeewering (Hbz), in Zuid-Holland (ZH) in Bloemendaal, Noordwijk, and West-Kapelle, on the Frisian mainland coast in Holwerd and Ternaard and on the Wadden Sea islands (WD) Terschelling, Ameland and Schiermonnikoog (Schier). The stormy weather, which brought many of the rarer seabirds in the vicinity of our coast, has been responsible for the considerable interest in seabirds this autumn. Leach’s Petrel did very well late Sep, with over 200 individuals. Even more remarkable was the presence of some tens of British Storm Petrels on 21 and 22 Sep. The maximum, 14 individuals at Hbz, was unprecedented for a species which is not even seen every year along our coast. The best day for Fulmars was 24 Sep, with 214 individuals at the Hbz (two dark morph). Shearwaters were not particularly abundant, with 40 Sooty Shearwaters on 19 Sep at West-Kapelle being the highest figure recorded. Noteworthy were 5 ’Balearic’ Shearwaters Puffinus puffinus mauretanicus. Contrary to the last few years, Gannets were not seen in large numbers. In Sep, many Common Scoters were seen at Terschelling. Thousands of scoters were seen during the second half of Oct in NH. Some passage of Shelduck was reported in Oct in NH and WD. An outstanding total of over 20,000 Eiders were seen in only three days on Ameland during the second week of Oct.