Long-tailed Skuas

Lade - 0600hrs - warm, dry and cloudy, s3 - A few migrants around the moth trap this morning included loads of Silver Y`s and several White-points, plus 20 Flounced Rustics and the delightfully named, Cream-bordered Cream Pea.

                                          Cream-bordered Cream Pea

                                          Barney `seawatching`

Dungeness - 1130hrs - After finishing breakfast for the B&B customers arrived at the fishing boats just in time to get the back end of what sounded like a memorable morning for seabirds, particularly Long-tailed Skuas. Together with PB & TI in just over an hour we had 1 Long-tailed Skua, 6 Arctic Skuas, 3 Balearic Shearwaters, 25 Black Terns, 10 Common Scoters, 3 Guillemots, 2 Little Gulls and a steady flow of Gannets and Commic Terns. However, logged thoroughout the morning were 10 Long-tailed, 120 Arctic, 3 Pom and 10 Great Skuas, 10 Balearic, Manx and Sooty Shearwaters, 300 Black Terns and a Sabine`s Gull.
It appears that there were many more Long-tailed Skuas at various seawatching spots around the English coastline, particularly in Devon, thanks in part, to the south to south-easterly wind