Monday, March 21, 2011

15th March, 2011.

A calm day, but with a front moving through ever so slowly ensuring that the rain just kept falling! Eventually, with the day drawing to a close , it finally cleared up!

As it was we had to travel across to Gretna Green where Rose was meeting up with a friend and travelling back to South Yorks, albeit in pretty miserable weather. This left "the boys" to birdwatch in all available daylight hours, indulge in "man food", which left the cottage smelling like the Orient, and watch football each evening!! Well, something approaching that!!

Leaving Gretna Matthew and I decided to look at the various sites from which skuas are observed in spring. These birds move westwards into the Solway, and can be observed where the channel is at its narrowest previous to them then gaining height before making the overland crossing north eastwards and on towards their Arctic breeding grounds. Thus we visited Seafield and Newbie both of which we resolved to return to during May some year. In varying numbers, and differing each year too, the whole array of skua species can be encountered here, namely Pomarine, Great, Arctic and, most enticingly, Long-tailed!!! Further visits to Powfoot and to Caerlaverock NNR produced a few sightings but the conditions were pretty dire.

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