Back to Spurn for Long-tailed Skuas

Long-tailed Skua (Chris Griffin) facebook.com/griffinwildlife

 

Long-tailed Skua (Chris Griffin) facebook.com/griffinwildlife

 

 A bit busy on east coast

Garden Warbler

Adam holding the GW

Red-backed Shrike

Waiting game

Red-backed Shrike

There was no way I was going to Spurn on Sunday however a late call from the Squire and the chance to finally see a Long-tailed Skua proved too much. I know from experience how its a hard drive on your own so I opted to jump in for the ride.

On arrival we saw Cliff, Chris & Adam who told us they had seen one go straight over their heads. This was a big opportunity we thought, we just needed some patience. It seemed like every second the Bird Guides alarm was going off with more sightings further north. However with sightings in Norfolk we remained hopeful.

There was a constant passage of Sandwich Terns which was nicely topped up by flocks of Common Scoter & Teal. Then the Skua action commenced. First a Bronxie bombed past, then a Arctic Skua which came close chasing a Tern and then at last two juvenile dark Long-tailed Skua's emerged. They flew out of the Humber and across the breach allowing us to pick them up at first in our binoculers and then our scopes before they headed further out to sea in a north easterly direction. The wait was very much worth it. Like anything with birding, you then want to see an adult in breeding plumage. 

The Squire had a full agenda of birds to see in the time we had when it wasn't pouring down. 3 Red-backed Shrikes on same hedgerow was nice before he recorded two more lifers with an Icterine & Barbed Warbler. We rounded the day off with 2 Whinchat, Pied Flycatchers, Redstart and a Wheatear. The drive home was very difficult given the conditions. See you in 8 days Spurn !

Massive shout out to Chris Griffin who kindly sent me these images of the Skua's for use on the blog.