Lost at Sea - Rory Gallagher (Part III)

Continuing the Sea Going series onboard the

Oil Production Platform

BUCHAN ALPHA

and more evidence of a 'fall' of migrants on the

Heli-Deck

 Amid all of this a

 BLACK-HEADED GULL

was seen to pick off an exhausted

BRAMBLING

shake out what life was left in it before swallowing it whole.

Not an every day sort of avian sighting, but there was also a short video clip

to accompany which seems to have been lost over the passage of time.

Also annual were a fair numbers of

 JACK SNIPE

with an extrodinary number of thes crashing into the few windows we had.

 Far more uncommon was the occassional

LAPLAND BUNTING

and what a thrill to have such a creature in one's hand!

Back with the more common land birds and this

 CHIFFCHAFF

was found with a 9 inch length of 'cotton' down its throat which was

gently teased out before sending it on its way.

This image is all that was ever seen of the only

 BLACK REDSTART

ever seen across my 18 years in the industry unlike

 SISKIN
and

SKYLARK

which were easily caught.

While both Humpbacked and Killer Whale were recorded on a couple of occassions,

both distantly and briefly the starnge happenings of Cetacean sighting on the

Stena Hunter

was a joy to behold as c2

 MINKE WHALES

took up station mostly under the rig for 3 days and at night

appeared to be sleeping/resting 'bellies up'.

 BLACKCAP

 EIDER
and

GREYLAG GEESE
were no strangers out there but when you sight a male

 CROSSBILL

 which appears to have a white wing bar
then you are allowed to let your heart skip a beat!

CROSSBILL
female
Unfortuneately the above was not a
White-winged Crossbill
as the 'bar' was found to be just paint!

 COMMON GULL
seen here amid 
KITTIWAKE's
are not as numerous out there as the name suggests but on the other hand

COMMON SCOTER
are.

 BLACK-HEADED GULL
inthe hand for good measure, followed by a number of species that
never did do very well........

 GOLDCREST

 CHAFFINCH

MEADOW PIPIT

GREENFINCH