Sooty Shearwater

(Computer-generated image courtesy of Colin R Casey)*.

The migration of Sooty Shearwater around the South and North Atlantic Ocean to their breeding grounds in the very southern Atlantic Ocean sees birds forced into the North Sea by north-west winds. Most birds seen off Lincolnshire are heading north, presumably returning to the Atlantic, and they are seen off the coast in small numbers most years with bigger numbers in some. The Atlas mentions big years of 100 records in 1977 and 200 In 1996. The all-time record year was in 2005 when 358 birds were recorded off Gibraltar Point in a fierce north-easterly blow on September 16th.

During the 5 years 2014-2018 annual numbers ranged from 12 in 2017 to 268 in 2016, a big year. Dates of occurrence ranged from July 18th-November 30th, with September-October by far and away the peak passage period. During this period, the biggest counts came in 2016 with Gibraltar Point counting 62 on September 17th with a further 48 along the coast to the north that day, a total of 110. A couple of weeks later, on October 2nd a total of 152 were recorded at five sites from Donna Nook to Gibraltar Point. Including the 2016 total the average was around 80 per year, without it the average was around 30.