Tuesday 13 September 2011

Long Tailed Skua

I drove straight to the point this morning and spent an hour staring out to sea and seeing 2 Arctic Skuas, a few Terns and Gannets, lots of Meadow Pipits coming and a steady procession of Hirundines going out including 1 Swift and 2 Yellow wagtails. I then received a text telling me of a Long Tailed Skua a few hundred yards away that had been there all the time i was looking at not alot. The Skua showed well up and down the beach ranging from The Patch to the Fishing Boats spending alot of time hunched up on the beach, probably because it only had one leg(See picture below) till at least 4.30 P.M. It appeared to be feeding well and was watched robbing a Black Headed Gull and a Sandwich Tern as well as picking up what looked like some kind of shellfish from the surface of the sea.  Also on the beach was 2 Sanderling, 16+ Turnstone, the Glaucous Gull and 3+ Little Gulls off shore. Below are just a few of the 2000+ images i took and will still be sorting next week.





Showing its stump




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