The common scoter flock off the North Wales coast is one of the greatest
wildlife spectacles in the UK, yet probably most non-birders, and perhaps even a fair
few casual birders, don't even know of it's existence.
Tens of thousands of birds can be present and they are constantly active,
often chasing each other around both on the water and in the air. Sometimes hundreds of birds can take to the air at the same time and fly a short
distance before dropping down, only for smaller groups to fly up again almost immediately. Rarer
species such as surf and velvet scoter are occasionally with them and in 2005 I saw a drake black scoter off Llanfairfechan.
The reason why they are so little known outside the mainstream birding
community is that they are usually so distant and viewing is often very
difficult. These flocks can be miles offshore, with only the very edges of the
flocks visible even through a 60x magnification telescope. To add to the difficulties, the birds are often
diving or disappearing behind the swell, and the wind shakes the scope making
60x almost unusable except in perfect weather conditions. Most of the time you need to drop down to a slightly more manageable
30x, but at that magnification most of the birds are little more than black dots.
A small number of birds do come a lot closer inshore but it's only a tiny
fraction of what's out there and in my experience the rarer scoter are never
with them. Until today (see next post).....
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