Wowser!

The forecast looked interesting again, though perhaps moderate southerlies with a day full of rain wasn't quite so promising. I decided it was time for a change, as I hadn't been to Berry Head in an age [hell, I nearly went to 'gwarra!]. With the weather first thing not looking great, I had an extra while in bed then pootled over, tooled up for a day spent under the bumbleshoot. Hopefully with the company of a few of Devon's Finest to help pass the time. And you never know, there's always a shot at Berry Head, right?

Ding Ding Ding Jackpot!!

Turning up to find many of Devon's Finest on hand and a lot of the rest arriving not long after me, I got this funny feeling I'd done good.

Then I hear what's gone past already.

Then it begins....

You can go green over the scores at Devon Birding, suffice to say it was one of the great Berry Head days. The wind picked up from first thing and the bands of rain that came through did their job admirably. Better yet, we were nicely sheltered and could use our brollies without having to worry too much about losing them to the sea. It was brilliant!!

Oh what the hell...
I didn't even get my clickers out [I'm so bad, and it was already being done], let alone try to count Kitts, Gannets, Fulmars, Manxies or even Common Terns, but I did count the juv. Kitts passing: 17 of them. I got on 6 Sooties, 30 Balearics, 1 Stormy [always an achievement, getting on someone else's Stormy!], the juv. Little Gull, a Swift, a Mallard, 2 Curlew, a Whimbrel, 6 Razorbills, a Guillemot, 5 Arctic Terns, the 12 Scoter. Also 170 skuas...

170!! They just kept coming. It would rain, it would ease, the skuas would come. Some powered through. Some plonked down on the sea. Some harassed poor innocent seabirds.. A Bonxie had an unwary Herring Gull for lunch. Two more tried the same routine on a Sooty, but it was able to dive to safety repeatedly, before finally coming up far enough away from the skuas to get up airspeeed, at which point it pulled away like they weren't moving...

Aside from the Bonxies [though they were all checked over Just In Case], every skua prompted a debate. Some longer than others, with obvious adult Arctics being pretty clear-cut, but still very educational stuff. Sitting on the end of a line of some of the best birders around [I really do not include myself in that epithet, btw] I found it fascinating how fluid the discussions were. Every skua was new, and nobody was consistently cautious or optimistic [as I put it in my head]. Finding myself trying to talk my betters out of a Long-tail, saying "There's a shot of an Arctic in European Seabirds that looks just like that"* was slightly surreal..

Getting back to numbers again, this is the second biggest skua day I've ever had; only the amazing Day of the Skuas last year surpasses it. I ended up with 102 Arctic [my first three-figure count for a skua sp., btw], 3 Pomarine, and 55 Bonxies. Yes, that's 160.

10!

10 Long-tailed Skuas....

Not bad, eh?



Oh yes, in all the excitement I almost forgot; yesterday twas a family wander around Hawkerland Common, which was surprisingly Bank Holiday Hordes free, but also full of soggy bits. Sister the Younger came along and did very well, bog-hopping in formerly white trainers. Tilly enjoyed herself, naturally, though as usual she wondered why the humans were so averse to wading belly-deep through wet bits.. It wasn't an entire disaster by any means and it hardly rained on us at all. :)


[*Which there is - especially the head and underwing, which was what was being talked about. But the bird was a Long-tail, as a handy passing Arctic demonstrated within seconds of me opening my gob.. Goes to show that juvenile and immature skuas are just as annoyingly variable as gulls. Personally, where plumages can overlap I much prefer to go by structure, but that of course relies on them being considerate enough to show it to you!]