Bonxie (Great Skua)

On Thursday the weather was beautiful and as we were at the Longstone looking at the seals a Great Skua stopped to pinch some food from a Herring Gull. After its first bill full it decided it wanted a bit more but other gulls were not having any of it. The Great Skua has a name for itself for being aggressive but oh boy the gulls showed how they can look after themselves to. Unfortunately I did not get a picture of the birds fighting as it was so quick but I did manage to get a picture of the Skua and even the seals were looking to see what the hell was going on.

We also have had lots of Waders around the rock edges and they looked beautiful in the sunlight. Here is a Purple Sandpiper in the afternoon sun.

Below is a branded Grey Seal sleeping on the rocks. This seal will appear in another blog later, as I have found more  branded seals and tagged seals this year than I ever have, so watch this space.
 

 

And some lovely Gannets passing through Staple Sound on their way back to Bass Rock.