Wednesday, May 18, 2022
It was the wrong day really for a pelagic but Greger was game so we walked down to the harbour in the rain, trusting that the weather forecast for a better afternoon would prove correct. Once again the trip out was fairly quiet (I'm not saying there was nothing to be seen, just that I didn't manage to see it!) apart from my first terns of the year. Greger was down buying coffee so he missed these. They were a long way out on a fairly exciting sea, so I can't say whether they were common or Arctic; but it was still a nice sighting.
Well, it's clearly a second skua - and I think a pale-form Arctic whereas the top bird is probably a dark-form (tail too short, I think, for long-tailed). I'm not happy with the word "phase" which means a temporary state, a stage which will be passed through; whereas, as far as I know anyway, these birds are one or the other for life.
We saw a few fulmars, no more than three or four gannets, and two kittiwakes. On a more cheerful note there seemed to be loads of puffins whizzing about - mostly in pairs. Although there was a little rain on the way out, the voyage back was under mostly blue skies and sunshine. But there was a lot of spray on the way out - which had left, we belatedly realised, a rime of salt on the rails and on the backs of the seats. This had transferred to our dark coats as conspicuous white markings - we'll have to get some oilskins for the next pelagic!
// posted by Christine @ 12:02 PM 
