Yesterday was my first day off for a while and my first opportunity to look for the Black Scoter. I went up to Bamburgh with a car full of kids and a dog. Niall took bennyboy for a walk along the beach while the girls went straight into the sea. This gave me a good half hour to set the scope up and look out to sea. I picked up the Black Scoter almost straight away. I took notes and drew a picture, fortunately for my eyes only but I had pretty good views. It is difficult to tell whether the bird is actually bigger that its common cousins but it apeared to be more 'bouyant' as it sat on the water making it easy to pick out as well as the large amount of yellow on the bill and base. I never saw the bird dive it just sat on the sea preening now and again. It also held its tail up like a Ruddy duck. Spent a few hours on the beach before heading down to Craster for a well earned Auchtermuchty sandwich.
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