Pomarine Skuas in Lincolnshire

In September 1987, seawatchers at Saltfleetby were treated to the luxury of having up to twenty-two Pomarine Skuas to enjoy and scrutinize on a daily basis for at least two weeks. This number was seen in the Haven area on the seashore whilst they were resting and loafing between forays out to sea on hunting trips. They were not necessarily all together on the beach at the same time. There were small parties, perhaps even family parties, loosely associating together on the beach at low tide. What's more - they were extremely confiding.
As the tide came in, they would fly off out to sea and disappear for many hours, but gradually they would return and continue posing for my camera. On just one occasion, I saw all twenty-two fly out to sea in one flock. An amazing site.
Interestingly, the group not only consisted of different ages, but also the two commoner colour-phases, although the pale-phase seemed to be in greater numbers. The intermediate colour-phase of Pomarine is rare, however.
The adult, with its full spoon-shaped tail-feathers, shown in photograph 1 was particularly confiding and I spent up to four hours with it on one day, lying flat on my stomach behind my lens on the open sand, reeling off several films of it just feet away, going through its normal daily routine. At one point, it stood up and its actions suggested that it was going to be violently sick, but the stomach contents seemed to take several minutes to bring up. At long last, it brought up what can only be described as looking like a greenish golf-ball - obviously, a pellet of the indigestible parts of previous meals. It then sat down again, just twenty feet away from me and fell asleep. If only, photographing birds was always that easy!

Mike Tarrant. (Link to further photos of the Saltfleetby Pomarine Skuas)

Photograph No. 1 Adult Pomarine Skua, Saltfleetby, September 1987. © Mike Tarrant.

Photograph No. 2 Two of the more unusual dark-morph of Pomarine Skua. © Mike Tarrant.

Photograph No 3. Different ages and colour-morphs of Pomarine Skua at Saltfleetby. © Mike Tarrant.

Photograph No 4 Dark-morph and Pale-morph together at Saltfleetby. © Mike Tarrant.

Photograph No 5 "Now that you have got your eye in on Pomarine Skuas, here is another skua photographed at Saltfleetby in a different year. What skua species do you think it is? Any comments? (Perhaps, County Recorders and former County recorders should delay a little to allow others to have their say first). Mike Tarrant.

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