Christine's walking & birds blog

The fin in the centre of the picture could be that of the minke whale we'd just spotted breaking the surface, after the ferry had passed the Summer Isles. Harbour porpoises and common dolphins were also seen.



Waiting to re-board the ferry in Stornoway, we watched herring gulls coming low to the water, then landing swiftly, ducking their heads in, and coming up with small silvery fish.


They weren't always successful, but this one was on this occasion.

Back on the ferry, we were enjoying just being at sea in such gorgeous weather - but still scanning the waves in hopes of something special in the bird department. I spotted two dark birds far out and flying strongly, and wondered if they were just immature gulls; but I felt they were a bit dark for gulls and started to snap away, saying to Greger that I thought they were skuas - but not great skuas. And then a birder rushed up to the railing next to us, calling out that they were pomarine skuas. My heart sank as any chance of identifying these potential first-in-a-lifetime birds vanished; but heigh-ho! - we were on a ferry, on a Saturday, and there were loads of other birders on it.... so you have to accept that this is likely to happen. It's not the kind of birding where you can quietly work things out for yourself.




It didn't occur to me at the time, but of course he might have been wrong! However, one at least of these birds seems okay for pomarine, for example appearing to be deeper-chested and -bellied than an Arctic and with fairly broad-based wings. Anyway, I tempered my disappointment with the knowledge that I'd felt they were different, and had at least ruled out bonxies, so I'd got part of the way to making my own find (possibly). Next year, spring or autumn or both, I must get to a headland somewhere and watch out for poms - hoping they'll have the spoon-shaped tail streamers that are diagnostic.



Other birds: bonxies, fulmars, gannets, kittiwakes, guillemots, and shags; and I'm pretty sure I saw a Manx shearwater (a definite shearwater anyway), unfortunately when Greger had very kindly gone to fetch us coffees. No puffins, terns, or razorbills, but still one of our best Stornoway pelagics yet.