Group outing to Longhaven

With the summer solstice only one day away, the fine weather on the day of our outing was very much appreciated, especially considering the cold and wet spring we have had.

I have to confess that I had only been to the Longhaven Cliffs once before and that was to do the recce for this trip. Fifteen members assembled in the car park  in the sunshine and we headed towards the clifftop path. Skylarks could be heard and also seen against the blue sky.  As we passed the low scrub and bushes to the north of the path we were very surprised to see an owl fly out, it was relocated and proved to be a short eared owl. Sedge warblers were singing as we neared the old croft house and there were yellowhammers, whitethroats and a stonechat seen.

A pair of little grebes were seen in the big flooded quarry along with kittiwakes who were taking the opportunity to bathe in the fresh water.
The walk along the undulating, but well maintained clifftop path afforded views of the stunning coastline with numerous rock arches. Kittiwakes and fulmars wheeled above and below us and where had all those squadrons of auks flying north been and where were they going to? It is always a good day when you see puffins and we were lucky to locate some on the water and then find about seven outside their burrows on the cliffs.

At this point, we were intrigued to see some people gingerly climbing down at the foot of the rocks and trying to gauge when it would be best to jump onto the waiting inflatable. It turned out that they were members of the local ringing group ringing shags and other seabirds. After about a couple of hours we stopped for an early picnic lunch overlooking a couple of rock stacks packed with gulliemots, kittiwakes  a smattering of razorbills and puffins. A Manx shearwater was spotted by one of our group and another shearwater was seen briefly as we had lunch, but only by one observer.
We retraced our steps along the path which had lots of thrift, red campion, marsh orchids and other seaside plants. A comment was made about the lack of raptors and right on queue a peregrine sailed over the clifftop and then a buzzard was seen to the west of the car park.

A most enjoyable day’s birding was had by all with 38 species recorded by the group and another two species, tree sparrow and collared dove, seen as we dispersed.
Thank you to all who attended for your company and conversation, and thanks to Rob Leslie for leading and for the trip report.