Lade - cool, foggy start, warmer later, W 2-3 - Once the fog burned off by mid-morning we walked the local patch checking on the breeding birds. All were still in place from the last survey, but worryingly this was my third visit without hearing a Cuckoo. The only evidence of any passage was a Whimbrel over calling and a few Swifts heading north.
This afternoon with the bay still full of water and the tide on the turn I decided on a lazy hour scanning the foreshore and across a flat calm sea in perfect light, so good that the French coast was easily discernible. A motley collection of immature gulls were making the most of the flotsam and jetsam washed up on the tideline, while several smart Sanderling in summer plumage worked the limp waves.
Further out in the bay I could make out a few distant Gannets and Sandwich Terns, a small flock of Great Crested Grebes on the water and a snorkelling Grey Seal. And then at 17.00hrs I caught sight of a distant skua rounding the point from Dungeness and heading my way. Fortunately it cut in slightly affording reasonable scope views of what was an adult pale phase Pomarine Skua complete with an impressive set of spoons. It seemed to dawdle for a while and at one stage I thought it was going to land on the sea, but soon angled back out towards Folkestone and beyond. This was my first ever spring Pom sighting in the bay.
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