Saturday 16 May 2015

The skua disaster

News that Poms and Long-tails were on the move got me out to Yesnaby to try for a view on Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning. The evening session was not too bad except the L-tS came by before I was very organised and a struggle with bins scope etc did not result in excellent views. The morning session was more of a disaster as I got to Yesnaby just a few minutes after four LTS had flown in off the sea and inland. Worse was to come as using my scope a flight of Poms managed to sneak below me and I just caught their retreating forms heading north. Elsewhere there were more seen later from Yesnaby and a whole pile from North Ron although the laid-back Papay crew failed to connect.... (if I'd been out there you's have been route-marched to the north end chaps). I did manage to see a few Iceland Gulls with two hanging around the junction pools at Yesnaby still and when I was working at Skara Brae on Thursday there was a different one there from the weekend.

Thursday evening did provide a bit of compensation tho, having replenished the bird food I noticed a Tree Spug below the feeders, with a bit more study four more revealed themselves, a record flock!




No aurora on Thursday evening but the sky was pretty good, these were taken after midnight.

 12:30 a.m.

Venus setting

Today there's plenty of poo going on the fields and plenty of gulls hanging around, including at least one intermedius, perhaps the hoped for patch Glaucous Gull will reveal itself? Rain shower has passed, better go and look at those gulls.

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