Of gannets and gulls: NEWT’s 4hr pelagics 25/09/26

Yesterday we had our final scheduled pelagics for 2026 (although, watch this space…). On a breezy day, with a choppy sea once we were more than a mile from land, juvenile Gannets were demonstrating how they’ve not quite got the hang of ganneting just yet…while adults will circle repeatedly and locate prey before diving from height, the juveniles were often flopping into the sea from just a few feet 🙂 Guillemots and Razorbills were rafting, there was a steady passage of Red-throated Divers, dainty Little Gulls were dip-feeding everywhere from St Mary’s Island to Marsden Rock, Arctic, Pomarine and Long-tailed Skuas were heading north and ignoring the range of victims available to them over shoals of Herring, and Wigeon, Teal , and Common Scoter passed in flocks.

Little Gull Hydrocoloeus minutus, North Sea, off South Shields 25/09/26 (c)NorthernExperienceImages
Little Gull Hydrocoloeus minutus, North Sea, off South Shields 25/09/26 (c)NorthernExperienceImages
Red-throated Diver Gavia stellata, North Sea, off South Shields 25/09/26 (c)NorthernExperienceImages
Common Eider Somateria mollissima, River Tyne, North Shields 25/09/26 (c)NorthernExperienceImages
Northern Gannet Morus bassanus, North Sea, Northumberland 25/09/26 (c)NorthernExperienceImages
Common Guillemot Uria aalge, North Sea, Northumberland 25/09/26 (c)NorthernExperienceImages
Northern Gannet Morus bassanus, North Sea, Northumberland 25/09/26 (c)NorthernExperienceImages

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