Possibly the warmer than average weather conditions means they have more alternative feeding areas

Adult male Velvet Scoter flew out West from Culvercliffe Minehead at 10.12 giving very close views that you could even see the white around the eye, otherwise it was a very quiet sea watch with only 1 Red-throated diver heading east and a single Med Gull.
So far this winter numbers has been very poor for Red-throated Diver in our area though a huge count of over 300 was recorded yesterday off Hartland Pt in Devon ,maybe its better feeding further West out the Channel, Auk numbers have also been noticeably low this winter