Seawatching in between the showers

A cold blustery morning saw us huddled on a bench at Qawra promenade scanning the sea for anything that would turn up. A dozen or so Black-headed gulls struggling in the wind as well as a smaller number of Sandwhich terns flying by. Not long after arriving I spotted two larger birds, coming head on i first tought they were Cormorants but no, even better, they turned out to be Northern Gannets an adult and an immature. Unfortunatly it then started pouring, up came umbrellas and raincoats, trying to peak through the scope didn't give much more than a wall of rain. Three Black redstarts amongst them the local male and two Stonechats continued to feed and cahse each other in the rain tough providing some consolation. With short pauses in between the rain continued much of the time and only Yellow-legged gulls and occasinal Sandwhich terns were to be seen. All the same just before leaving we got our reward for our patience, an adult Lesser-blacked Back gull graelssi over head, both a Malta tick for me and my sister and our first graellsii sub-species.