Last Day Skua Rush
I was a little bit gutted yesterday evening. Heading up the external stairs after my shift, I spotted a dark bird on the wing. It was a fair distance out, but the general impression I got was that it was a Shearwater. I fumbled for my monocular, but before I could get it to my eye, the bird crossed over into a wide strip of surface glare caused by the bright, but sinking sun. I saw no more of it, so another one got away.
Today started well though. Heading down the stairs, I almost immediately picked up on a passing Bonxie. There was not much else around early morning, however, mid morning there was a flurry of activity. In every direction around the platform, close and afar, there seemed to be Gannets everywhere. I did a quick circle of the platform, and came up with a conservative figure of thirty plus. Then in amongst the Gannets, I picked out a distant Great Skua. I moved to the other side of the platform, and found another GS at close quarters. Then moving back to to where I'd seen the first bird, I spotted two on the wing. I am going to assume that one of the two last birds was the bird I first saw from the same spot, but that still makes four birds for the day.
GBBG and Fulmar present as before. More Kittiwake starting to come through in ones and twos, and a flock of two dozen Common Gulls turned up late morning.
So that is me done and away for three weeks. Looking forward to catching up with the birds on my home patch, but I have to admit that I am also looking forward to returning here for the first three weeks of September. If the east winds cooperate, I should be knee deep in migrants.