Gulls Don't Have Spoons....

Took a moment for me to twig the 'group of dark juvie gulls' coming through while I was looking at a distant Arctic Skua were in fact Poms.. Oh dear. *

Led by a spooned dark adult - yowzer! - a total of six may not be epic, but for this not so great year, I'll take them!

Note to self;

gulls don't have spoons, see?

[Well, unless they ate them...]

It was skuas ahoy today at the Nose, with a total of 34 in 5 hours [well, the four in the middle, more accurately and a third in 5 nutty minutes!] of overcast to rain to brightness with big showers with a mounting wind going from SSW to SSE.

By contrast, a single shearwater. Yes, ONE. It was a Balearic, and a very nice one, too, though.

Skuas were; 1 dark-intermediate morph juvie Long-tailed at 0807, 11 Pomarine [as well as the 6, a juvenile with adult light morph being closely followed by a Bonxie..], 17 Arctic, and 5 Bonxie.
The visibility between the epic rain attacks was good enough to not have any 'spp.', despite none being closer than Manxie line range. 

The commoner stuff; 530 Gannets, 73 Kittiwakes [mostly late on], 37 auks [mostly Razorbills and also later], 4 Fulmars [yes, 4], a Common Tern, a Common Gull, 5 LBBs, a Swallow in/off

The proportional shifts in numbers are interesting, you'd expect the shears to clear off, but perhaps not this early, while the drops in Kitts and especially Fulmars from last watch are quite marked, aren't they?

I tried very hard to get some usable skua pictures, but with ranges of 1km+... Well.

You get - at best! - this,

Ok, you see the Shag lower left?

Now, look up at the top, just right of centre...

That's an Arctic Skua.

Really.

Yeah.

Thus the scenery and Things Big Enough To Photo,

Oh, it's seawatching fun and games!

:D

'Ocean Tiara'

Really.

[Ship names.. who comes up with them??]

I'm not even repeating that one..

Zoom in if you really want to know it

Gannets!

Even in the less than St. Ives light of the Nose

a young Gannet's bum crescent stands out

[I'm just saying]

LBB

Drier spp. photo'd better;

Leafhopper

Hoverfly

Another

And another

All very atmospheric

And then, as I was staggering making my way home, what did a chorus of outraged local raptor-pesterers herald?

Name that raptor!
[No, this one isn't a Buzzard]

Flew right over my place, too; Home Tick! :D

Yes, it's not a great picture, but my camera threw a hissyfit - always at the worst times - and this is the only one I got. 


Be Seeing You...

[[*The correct lesson is of course 'never assume and check everything'. Like I am still doing with Gannets**. They're out there somewhere, you know!]]
[[** Long term readers will recall - probably with an eye roll - my continuing notation of the Dreaded Booby-a-like Gannets you get now and again. And that Frigate-a-like one time {it had its head pulled in, never seen the like before or since!!}]]