east Norfolk birds were almost entirely juveniles and all were heading south / south-east. Forgot the numbers but they are in the above thread somewhere. Goodness knows where they have ended up. Did they reorient and head north again but further out...?
I think Rob is making sense when he says that the juvs just want to keep heading south when they hit north norfolk, that accounts for the lack of adults over our way
From memory (read it a while back in BWP), but if it serves me correctly- skuas don't actually use the North Sea for migration, but disperse into it in for post-breeding feeding, before flying south. However, because they don't like the shallow waters of the English Channel they tend to do this by going back round the top of Scotland. That's why skuas are rare in the E, but common in the W in Spring and generally seen later in the W in Autumn and are rarely seen from the south coast. Because they prefer areas more than 5 km offshore, we tend to only see them after strong NW to NE winds
I think this year is unusual. Normally by this time, poms would be in the Bay of Biscay, or already in their tropical wintering grounds, with only a few, mostly juveniles lingering on. However, the words total ecoystem collapse spring to mind when thinking of Biscay. I went over on the ferry earlier this year and whether because overfishing, climate change or some odd ENSO/NAO thing, saw barely a seabird. Instead 1000s of things like Great Shearwater were recorded off the Western Isles and Sab Gulls and stuff like that were much more common in the North Sea than usual.
I suspect large numbers of poms have been forced to linger and disperse more widely because of the poor conditions in Biscay. I suspect the ones we see flying W on the North Coast or N on the East coast are going back to where they were blown off course from, which explains why most are going west. It may be that the ones flying east are just confused, but it may also be that they're actively foraging - just a bit closer inshore than usual. Although it's not the only mode of feeding, a certain proportion are kleptoparasatists so may just be heading east to harangue all those west-flying Kittiwakes also blown off-course or gobble-up all those moribund little auks.
Having read all the above threads over the past few days regarding the Pom passage and still not being any the wiser. Where do people think the best place for sea watching will be tomorrow? The wind direction, to my logical human brain suggests that Sheringham/ Cromer would be ideal., but I am not a Pom so what do I know! Any suggestions greatfuly received.
Happy Birding
Alan
Anywhere would do - I'd be surprised if, given enough time you don't see at least a dozen from anywhere along the coast. I'd try Cley North beach. Things come in quite close there (closer than Sheringham) and if it's crap weather you can park your car on top off the seawall and watch from your car.
