Sadly given the distance of viewing, record shots only in the rain and gloom but I’ve uploaded bigger images than usual to celebrate! Remember to click on them!
On my list then with the Skua sat out in the middle....
Eventually moving closer after mugging a Gull virtually overhead, the trees meant I couldn’t lock onto that moment!
Another take off with one thing in mind – the regurgitated last meal of a Lesser Black-backed Gull!
What they lack in size, Arctic Skuas make up for in sheer aggression and persistence. Chasing remorselessly.....
Like a fighter pilot locking onto his quarry...
.....until the food is thrown up as an act of surrender (these tasty morsels were all part of this sequence, consumed in mid air!!)
Crop now bulging, back for another spell on the water.
The excitement and uncertainty of birding summed up by this juvenile, way off track and on the (very) short list for Shropshire bird of 2011! A real show off too, giving the small group of birders assembled one of the most entertaining Shropshire evenings of 2011.
Goodnight.....
OMG, forgot I'd missed my tea - hmm, fish and chips coming up (not Skua style)
