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Message: <blockquote data-quote="bitterntwisted" data-source="post: 1577517" data-attributes="member: 46297">Had a splendid day at the Bridges of Ross yesterday, with me and a BF regular from Ireland the only birders there in a nice strong westerly. You can tell we're amateurs by the inaccuracy of the counts, but our totals in around nine hours were... 3 Leach's Petrel4 Sabine's Gulls2 Grey Phalarope1 Pomarine Skuac. 12 Great Skua10 Arctic Skua9 Sooty Shearwater100+ Arctic Ternc. 10 Sandwich Tern2 Puffin100s Guillemot1000s Manx Shearwater100s Kittiwake100s Gannet plus 2 Chough, 2 Wheatear and a Whimbrel over. One of the skuas was a very bouyant bird, hovering, stalling and picking food from the water's surface, but we didn't get any clear plumage detail, so with our level of expertise it couldn't go down as anything exciting. How likely does behaviour alone make it that it could have been long-tailed? Did Annagh Head on Monday morning for four hours, in winds so light the occasional problem on the rocks was midges. Only 2 Great Skua, a couple of Arctic, half a dozen sooties, 2 Common Scoter, half a dozen Black Guillemots, and a probable juv Pom. Glorious setting, though, and found the Snowy Owl the next day. Graham</blockquote>