18th September 2010
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Having finally decided in the week that I would make the 3 hour journey to Holme to see the Arctic Warbler, it inevitably buggered off. Personally I blame the Pope. I decided that I'd spend the day at Cley & Salthouse instead, the weight of being the only Norfolk birder not to have seen a Lapland Bunting this year weighing heavily on me. Unfortunately no Quails from the train. At Sheringham I met Adam, who had just got a 4-skua haul on the seafront, and we watched loads of people in 1940s costumes wandering around.
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From the central hides it looked like a flock of Canada Geese had eaten everything, but we did find two Little Stints and a few Dunlin. Two Carrion Crows were trying to eat an injured gull alive, which was a bit gruesome. Lots of Wigeon too, maybe a recent influx. The wind had died down completely and there wasn't much of interest on North Scrape. Walking towards Salthouse a Lapland Bunting called somewhere above us, and we eventually got good views of four birds feeding amongst the sea poppies. A couple of Wheatears and a Greenshank were the only birds of note as we walked back to Salthouse. Nothing new from the Dun Cow, although some nice flypasts from Swallows and House Martins still delaying the flight south.
Lots of people get all four skuas on their first seawatch of the year. It's quite the thing these days.
ReplyDeleteIndeed. No-ones gone for the quintuple with a South Polar Skua on debut so far though. Still, plenty of time to go yet.
ReplyDeleteA combination of seawatching inexperience, a desire to see something, a lack of appreciation of the characters and status of the rarer seabirds, and the fact that 'whatshisname said it was one' and 'everyone seemed happy', usually does the trick. A combination of two or three of these should produce all four skuas. When all are present, it should also ensure a bonus bird or two.
ReplyDeleteI agree, I think you've put it very succinctly.
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