Surf Scoter

a superb drake off Filey; scope views were brilliant but in the morning th light was terrible, in the afternoon it rained and was dull and I only had the 300 with me having ben to Bempton -- lots of excuses but a cracking bird and the first I had seen in the Uk for a lot of years; when I checked in fact it was 1997! my first involved a train journey to Inverness followed by hire car to Spey Bay where Mick Mellor and me had a night in the car on the beach with me head wrapped in a towel due to frequent nose bleeds -- the following day was cold and windy but we managed to find a drake Surf on March 4th 1979; I had almost forgotten the flock of 8, 5 drakes and 3 females, that I saw in Gosford Bay on April 21st 1989 en route to a week in the Outer Hebs that produced a self found white Gyr and a lot of snow and cold, a caravan with a big hole in the floor and various other adventures.