My car's standing useless on the drive; for the third time since we moved here, the front suspension spring has broken and the bumper is almost resting on the ground. It's booked in for repair next week at the local garage (which doesn't fill me with confidence, given that last time my car was there someone drove into it and it required a new bonnet).
To cheer myself up, I went on yet another pelagic - and got a seat in the front row of the indoor observation deck. It was nice to sit comfortably in the quiet for a change and watch the scenery as we moved down the loch.
I can see that great views must be had if seabirds are crossing the bows, but I found the tinted glass a mite depressing. If you look out through the clear side glass, it's as if you're looking into a different country; you suddenly realise that the sun is shining! In any case I had no intention of staying here, and once past the Summer Isles I went up onto the open decks, opting once more for the higher one where I had the short rail more or less to myself.
Trouble was, I saw very little of interest. No petrels or shearwaters - and only a couple of distant skuas. I spotted this one through the bins as it harassed a kittiwake; it soon gave up and I somehow got the camera onto it as it flew low over the waves. I couldn't possibly see enough details to identify it, so I'm glad I got the pics, poor though they are.
The trouble is, after hours of reading up on skuas in my bird books and looking at photos and articles by experts on the internet, I still don't know what it is! I lean towards Pomarine - the bluish bill appears to have a fairly small black tip, and the body perhaps has the deep chest and belly of a pom, while the middle pic seems to suggest a bit of a non-pointed extension to the tail: but then again, is the head large enough, the bill long and strong enough? When Greger asked if I'd come to any conclusions I said I hadn't - but that at least I knew a bit more about skuas now. "Ah," he said, "you're still confused then - but you're confused on a higher level." On a quick search I couldn't find who originally came up with this quote - but it certainly describes my present state of mind.
On the other hand, so does "Aaaarrrrgh!!!!"
Greger was off to Inverness to get the Toyota serviced, and I asked if he minded my doing a pelagic without him. He said he didn't, but added that he always gets nervous when I go on the ferry alone. "Just stay calm and don't let people bother you," was his advice. I promised to pat every dog I encountered and to tell those who asked about whales and dolphins to go and relax in the lounge and I would run down and let them know if I saw any.
Dark clouds above threatened rain as the ferry set off but we left these behind and enjoyed the bright weather that had been forecast - even if it was a trifle windier.
For a change, I stood at the short rail in front of the funnel on the upper deck. Two male birders came and stood to my left, facing forward, while the third one of their party stood behind me. When a woman who'd been standing by the funnel left he took her place. He was taller than me so he also saw most birds before I did and the three of them kept calling everything out. The one bird I found for myself was a distant skua harassing a kittiwake; I couldn't tell what it was at the time, but from the poor picture I got it appears that the skua is maybe towing behind it a little too much baggage (both lengthways and widthways) for great, Arctic, or long-tailed; so maybe it was a pomarine skua.
Suddenly the two male birders in front of me started to lean way out over the rail, obstructing my view. Apparently there were loads of shearwaters sitting on the water and taking flight as the ferry passed, but by the time I could see them they were distant and I failed to get any photos. It could have been my best shearwater day so far. After that things were fairly quiet. Eventually I realised that I was blooming cold and went down to the lower seating deck, where, away from the wind, I basked in the sun. When we reached Stornoway, my hands were still tingling from the blood flowing back.
I stayed on the lower deck for the return trip. Almost half an hour out from Stornoway I spotted my only Manx shearwater of the day, and then a very distant skua behind us - which I think is an Arctic skua.
Far out to the north a couple of whales were surfacing, their blows hanging briefly in the air like ghosts. Once I did catch sight of the whale itself, though not well enough to identify it.
This skua deserves a picture for once, as avian flu has probably killed many bonxies.
A welcome sighting as they've been absent lately, was that of a white-tailed sea eagle on the ridge of Priest Island - which almost immediately took flight.
A distant splash seen several times behind the ferry was possibly a dolphin leaping rather than a whale's blow; it might even have been a gannet - except that I don't remember seeing any gannets around at the time.
The masses of shearwaters of the trip out didn't show on the way back. It had been a frustrating sort of day, but despite Greger's fears I didn't start a mass brawl on the ferry.
