Phase Fazed

With the winds strengthening and from the WNW there was only one thing for on Sunday morning – down to the dunes at the Point of Ayr for a seawatch.

Things began well – no sooner had I parked my backside I picked up a Great Skua shearing against the wind; although a good way out its beefy outline, powerful flight and white primary flashes were a dead give away.

After the initial explosion out of the blocks things settled down and I was treated to a steady passage of Manx Shearwaters - with the odd Kittiwake thrown in for good measure.

Good numbers of both Little and Sandwich Terns kept up my interest as did a smallish Grebe that unfortunately I couldn’t nail down as it kept disappearing into the troughs.

Just before lunch the monsoon kicked-in and I decided to stick with it until saturation point.

After a couple of minute’s rain, I then picked up a dark bird moving from towards Hilbre in a westerly direction. Initially, it was obscured from view by the taller dunes, but as it passed the lighthouse I was able to get a decent view.

My first thought was of a chunky Grey Plover, although the plumage was obviously completely wrong. Zooming in and improving my focus it was then clear I was looking at a Skua, but not one I was familiar with.

It was a charcoal grey colour and seemed to lack any white on the primaries; in fact it was fairly uniform in colour. The one thing that did stand out was a fairly short and stubby bill – possibly why I had initially thought Grey Plover.

Fortunately I had my copy of Helm, but it was in the car. Five minutes later I was pouring over the Skuas and the closest fit seemed to be a juvenile intermediate phase Long-tailed Skua..

Without any experience of Long-tailed Skuas – I have heard people call them whilst seawatching at the same spot, but had doubts – it will have to go in the probable category.

On the sceptical side perhaps the strongest argument against it being a juvenile LT Skua is the fact that we are in mid July. Surely it would be too early for a fledged chick to be migrating past the UK?

Also, the bird did seem to be flying purposely – if not powerfully – in a fairly low and straight trajectory. Would the fairly small Long-tailed Skua not struggle to keep its velocity in strong winds?

Until later.