Overland skuas

Overland skua passage in autumn is by now a well-known phenomenon – there are various routes, but Cambridgeshire-based birders have been recording birds heading inland from the Wash since the late 1950s, and records from Glamorgan as early as 1963 suggested the Bristol Channel was the outlet for these birds. A few regular Somerset seawatchers proved our end of the route beyond doubt in 2002, and I even had a note on it published in British Birds back in 2007 (Brit. Birds 100: 503–505). It’s a fascinating phenomenon, one we are still learning more about year by year, and having great fun in doing so. I have had some brilliant days watching overland passage skuas heading out to the open sea past Minehead – a flock of 4 Poms flying by close in while listening to Kevin Pietersen thrashing the Aussies round the Oval on the last day of the 2005 Ashes springs to mind, as does seeing 3 Long-taileds in an afternoon on 13 August 2006. But Saturday 17 September 2016 was the best day so far, by some way.

Conditions could not have been better for overland passage to happen: strong northwesterlies in the southern North Sea from Friday afternoon right through the night (and day), spring high tides in the Wash just before dusk on Friday and just after dawn on Saturday, clear skies with a bright moon, and just enough of a northwesterly at the Somerset end to hopefully push birds a little nearer.

Pomarine Skua (Photo: Brian Gibbs)

I settled down to watch from Minehead at 0640. The next two hours produced 4 Arctic Skuas, 2 or 3 Bonxies, and an adult Pom. Brian Gibbs saw some of the same birds off Hurlstone Point, but others seemed to veer further out beyond sight before reaching there. A good session but not spectacular –most of the birds were rather distant, and a few other skua-shaped specks that were just too far out to be sure of, never mind identify to species, suggested that more were passing through mid-Channel. These were all birds which had made the overland crossing during the night, and none were seen between 0840 and 0920, when I left to find breakfast.

Long-tailed Skua (Photo: Brian Gibbs)

The afternoon session was much better. Skuas which cross the coast in the first couple of hours after dawn tend to arrive off Minehead in early to mid-afternoon, and so it proved once more. Local birders Dave Dawe and Paul Jennings were on watch again from 1130 (I joined them at 1330), but no skuas appeared until just after 1345, bang on schedule: 18 Arctics and a sub-adult Long-tailed then passed over the next 30 minutes. As often happens, there was a little bit of a lull, for about 20 minutes, but then another rush of birds in less than 10 minutes (1439–1448) included 7 Arctics, 2 Poms, and another sub-adult Long-tailed. Another five skuas, all Arctics, were logged in the next three-quarters of an hour, including 3 gingery juveniles, the first of which was one of the best-looking birds of the day. There may have been more, but some settled on the sea for short periods so we were a bit wary of duplication – the last three pairings, each of dark phase adult and ginger juv Arctics, seemed likely to be the same birds drifting up-Channel with the tide then flying west again. The afternoon’s birds were generally much closer than those in the morning, some very close in, including (to our joy) the first Long-tailed, and both Poms. As an added bonus, both Long-taileds came along in small flocks of Arctics, allowing easy comparison of size, plumage, and flight action.

The action petered out shortly after 1530, and Dave, Paul, and I had all left by 1600, but another local birder (Jon Mattick), out in the Channel on his fishing boat, logged a further two Arctics and a Pom in the hour after that. In total an absolute minimum of 44 skuas passed Minehead during the day (not counting the distant unidentifiable dots). The numbers pale into insignificance compared to those passing more classic seawatching sites (e.g. the Uists, where Brian’s photos were taken), but in a local context it was pretty big, and I certainly saw the largest number of skuas I ever have off Somerset in a single day. Never mind early morning starts and trying to keep your scope steady in a wet, howling gale – watching groups of skuas beating by on a calm, sunny afternoon is an experience not to be missed!