Nice views of the female Surf Scoter feeding with 44 Common Scoters just offshore, roughly halfway along the southern side of Baggy Point at lunchtime today – in spite of blustery onshore winds, thick cloud & rubbish light. Would be easily overlooked had the flock been further out, especially as most of the scoters were diving frequently – not only when feeding but also when spooked regularly by low-flying gulls, some of which seemed to be behaving in an almost kleptoparasitic way, though we never actually saw any attempts to seize food, most of which seemed already to have been consumed by the time the ducks had surfaced from a feeding dive. Also 7 Turnstones on the rocks at the northern end of Croyde beach. The Surf Scoter is potentially the same individual as seen by Andy Jayne in the Landing Bay, Lundy, on 27th October.
