I was in Whitby for a few days in August and noticed that there seemed to be guillemots visible from the piers which is something that I haven't noticed before. Subsequent reports such as this one suggest that this is a "bad thing" caused by a shortage of food out to sea.
I took a boat trip down the coast which was interesting and rather disturbing. Plenty of guillemots were visible on the water from just after we cleared the harbour, what was exciting was the sight of gannets travelling parallel to the coast once we were half a mile or so out to sea. We spotted a solitary seal but the highlight was a pod of bottle-nosed dolphins. The skipper took the boat in a circle around the pod which must have been disturbing for them.
Taking my usual walk today it was striking how the autumn colours had come on in the last few days. When the sun came out I really regretted not having the camera with me. There wasn't much to see in the way of variety or numbers of birds. A couple of probable skylarks put up on a cultivated field but the gem was naturally a red kite. Circling over the fields behind my house at tree top height it finally came over my head as I reached the edge of the field. Living where I do I suppose that I should be blasé about them by now but when one comes overhead there is no choice. I still just stop and say "wow!"
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