MORE SKUAS AT SPLASH POINT

I headed back to Splash Point at Seaford early this morning after yesterday's memorable couple of hours seawatching.

The weather was not as favourable, but nonetheless in the morning at least, it developed into another decent day staring at the sea, with more Pomarine Skua sightings.

Arctic Skua

It is fascinating how two days are never the same. Yesterday, it was all about skuas, terns and waders. Of the 43 Pomarine Skua seen yesterday I saw 10, with the same number of Arctic Skua and just the one Great Skua.

There were large numbers of Little Tern passing through – I saw at least 25 – as well as Sandwich and 'Commic' – and more than 20 Whimbrel, 40 Bar-tailed Godwit and 15 Knot.

A group of 18 Eider passing by Splash Point

One of the highlights from today was seeing 18 Eider fly by as a group (24 in total), but it was all about Mediterranean Gull, of which 52 were seen between 7.40am-2.00pm. On the Pomarine Skua front, I saw 11 – a group of 10 plus one with an Arctic Skua (made for a good comparison). There were 8 Arctic Skua altogether including two quite close to the shore, and one Bonxie. The only wader species I saw were three Grey Plover. There were noticeably fewer terns, with no Little Tern sightings.

Mediterranean Gull

Species seen over both days:
Brent Goose, (Bar-headed Goose), Shelduck (Monday), Eider (Monday), Common Scoter, Red-breasted Merganser (Monday), Fulmar, Gannet (Monday), Little Egret (Monday), Great Crested Grebe (Monday), Peregrine (Monday), Oystercatcher, Grey Plover, Knot, Sanderling, Dunlin, Bar-tailed Godwit, Whimbrel, Turnstone, Pomarine Skua, Arctic Skua, Great Skua, Kittiwake, Mediterranean Gull, Black-headed Gull, Little Tern, Sandwich Tern, Common Tern, Arctic Tern.