Skua migration (1 Viewer)

[woodhornbirder]

HOPe the local birders forgive me starting this thread, but i am supprised it doesnt exist already tbh.

AM really looking forward to poping over in few weeks....had a great time last year waiting for stuff to fly past bowness.

Nice to meet some very sharp local birders, spotting stuff from miles away!

MInd strong westerlies in may are a curse for the east coast )

 

[rokermartin]

What's the best time of day for seeing the Skuas and i want are the best weather conditions for seeing them.

 

[woodhornbirder]

Rising tide+ strong westerlies

 

[gropperwinch]

though not there myself, southeasterlies at Splash Point, Seaford, produced a Pom Skua and a few Arctic and Great

 

[thorin]

2 hours before and after high tide with SW wind stronger the better for Poms. From Mid May onwards W or NW winds are good for LT skua. Morning Tides make for easier viewing as afternoons you are looking into the sun.
On really good days such as 19/5/07 Poms started to pass from over 4 hours before the high tide and continued until 4 hours after the tide with birds passing in groups of between 2 and 20 every few minutes. This was exceptional and was probably the result of the fact it had been blowing a strong SW for 2 days.
Showery days seem best as on bright sunny days the birds go high in the sky while still out in the bay and they are much easier to miss. The birds often seem to come in in front of the showers as they come up the solway. Sometimes in very poor weather the birds will float right in past bowness viaduct on the water and if it is choppy can be missed.

see you there
Nick

 

[oncebittern]

What's the best time of day for seeing the Skuas and i want are the best weather conditions for seeing them.

I have a very interesting article (in Word format) that was recently sent to me by Bob Jones, giving lots of detail re Solway Skuas. Its too big to reproduce here, but if anyone would like me to forward it to them, please email me.

[email protected]

Steve.

 

[woodhornbirder]

DO you think anything will go through this week?, must be getting close to `kick off`

 

[oncebittern]

DO you think anything will go through this week?, must be getting close to `kick off`

Single Bonxie yesterday (Sunday) morning.

 

[woodhornbirder]

some poms reported on bg ic

 

[thorin]

6 Poms in 4 hours on monday, 5 in 4 hours Wednesday and only 1 in 3 hours today. The wind looks crap for the next few days at least.

nick

 

[woodhornbirder]

any chance of poms uptill 20th or has the window slipped by now really?

 

[thorin]

still a good chance as not many birds have passed yet, also Long tailed time coming up and the wind looks interesting for early next week

cheers Nick