A remarkably confiding LONG-TAILED SKUA

On Saturday 2nd August, local birder Andrew House photographed a small skua harassing Sandwich Terns at Church Norton, in Pagham Harbour (West Sussex). He obtained several record shots of the bird and over the next few days of its presence, these were uploaded onto Andy's local Pagham Harbour blog site on the web. Sharp-eyed David Cooper noticed these and questioned the identification and with better insight and improving images, Andrew and others were able to confirm its identification as LONG-TAILED SKUA on Tuesday 5th August. Since then, the bird has been seen daily, patrolling the beach between the new Medmerry RSPB reserve west of Selsey Bill to Church Norton to the east. Much more recently, locals have discovered that it is returning to roost high tide on the shingle halfway between Church Norton and Selsey East Beach Lifeboat Station, generally spending up to 3 hours there if not disturbed - usually in line with the last 3 bungalows on the Selsey Peninsular. Once roosting, the views are astounding and a spectacle to be cherished. The bird is a sub-adult, with retained barring on the underwing coverts.

Although I have now seen it on 5 occasions over 7 visits, yesterday's visit was an undoubted climax - the bird performing just a few feet in front of me for over 3 hours. Please browse a selection of over 2,000 images I obtained of the bird below. To see the bird, allowing an hour either side of high tide, park by the church at Church Norton and walk half a mile south to the shingle beach in line with the first few beach bungalows.

Long-tailed Skua, Selsey Peninsular, West Sussex, 14 August 2014 (Lee G R Evans)

Long-tailed Skua, Selsey Peninsular, West Sussex, 14 August 2014 (Mick Davis)

The fact that the bird is retaining barring in the underwing coverts (see Mick's superb images immediately above) indicates that it is most likely a fourth-summer (in its fifth calendar-year).

Long-tailed Skua is the smallest and most graceful of the skuas - a lightweight by comparison. It is about the size of a Black-headed Gull and has a shorter and rounder head and longer and narrower body and tail, appearing triangular and tapering behind the slender wings. The breast is deep and the belly flat, the tail longer than the width of the arm. The wings are narrower than those of Arctic Skua and the short head is accentuated by the short and rather heavy bill (proportionately). The outer wing shows just 2 (occasionally 3) pale primary shafts in the upperwing, forming a narrow but complete pale line on the forewing, has two-toned upperwings and lacks a primary patch below (in anything apart from juveniles). The flight is more lightweight than that of Arctic Skua's, with weaker wingbeats and far more gliding. They often glide shearwater-like for several hundred metres without flapping and have a propensity to hunt insects, often at considerable height or over fields. 

Long-tailed Skuas in adult form occur only as pale morph. The concolorous dark cap and bill create a black helmet against pale neck sides and breast. This pale breast gradually shades into a grey belly, the rest of the undersides being a darker brown. The upperparts are bi-coloured, being pale brownish-grey with contrasting black flight feathers and tail - the tail projection being much longer than in the other skuas - the central feather pair extending far beyond the rest of the tail. From late summer however, these central feathers are often broken off, and by September, are invariably missing. The tarsi are mostly bluish-grey, again unlike that of the dark colour of adult Arctic and Pomarine Skuas. A full adult (eg, a bird in its 6th calendar-year or above) has an all-dark underwing, some barring being attained by adults in their 3rd, 4th and 5th summers.

The moult of an adult Long-tailed Skua is completed on arrival at the wintering grounds between October and December. A minority (probably failed breeders) start in July with minor parts of the head and mantle.

References

Olsen & Larsson 1997, A Guide to Skuas and Jaegers of the World

GREAT KNOT

Peter Allard discovered this summer-plumaged GREAT KNOT at Breydon Water (Norfolk) late on Sunday evening whilst carrying out his regular wader counts but not really believing himself, reluctantly put the news out just before midnight. A small gathering of birders arrived at 0500 hours this morning and relocated the bird in the same area, about a mile downstream of Burgh Castle. As the tide encroached, the bird, along with the other waders on the estuary, were eventually forced down to the east end, with it roosting on the marsh in front of the hide from around 0950 hours.

It reappeared on the mud at 1420, initially feeding on the north side of the Bure before relocating to the south side about half an hour later. It then showed distantly until late evening, delighting at least 400 successful twitchers. It represents only the fourth record for Britain.

Influx of SCARCE TORTOISESHELLS - UK next

SCARCE TORTOISESHELLS in The Netherlands today - http://waarneming.nl/soort/photos/80857 …

Not Guilty – Bovine TB Epidemic Caused by Cattle, Not Badgers

Not Guilty – Bovine TB Epidemic Caused by Cattle, Not Badgers

Groundbreaking new research shows how infected cattle missed by testing are key spreaders of the disease

New ground-breaking research by the University of Warwick into the spread of bovine TB (bTB) has confirmed claims by wildlife organisations like the Badger Trust and Care for the Wild that the disease is being spread by infected cattle – not badgers.

The paper, “A dynamic model of bovine tuberculosis spread and control in Great Britain”, demonstrated that the majority of herd outbreaks are caused by multiple transmission routes - including failed cattle infection tests, cattle movement and reinfection from environmental reservoirs. But the model proposes that ‘whilst badgers form part of the environmental reservoir they only play a relatively minor role in the transmission of infection’.

Dominic Dyer, of the Badger Trust and Care for the Wild, said:  "The research backs up what we have been saying all along and should be the final nail in the coffin of the disastrous badger cull policy.

“The government and the farming industry have focussed far too much on badgers and nowhere near enough on the gaping holes in cattle management policy, which have been letting this disease through. The best scientific evidence suggests that badgers are responsible for no more than six percent of new TB outbreaks, if that. This research confirms that the vast majority of new bTB outbreaks are due to poor TB testing, biosecurity and cattle control movements, so maybe farmers will now be convinced to give badgers a break and start focussing on methods that will actually work.

“We’re already seeing good results in places where improved and more frequent testing, combined with movement controls and better ‘biosecurity’ on farms, have been used – Northern Ireland, Wales, and even England in the last year have seen substantial reductions in the number of cattle slaughtered due to bTB, without any culling of badgers. The road forward is clearly being signposted by these figures – so we need the government to stop reversing up the cul de sac of badger culling and actually deal with the disease in an effective manner.”

Badger Trust and Care for the Wild acknowledge that bTB is having a terrible effect on farmers and their cattle, and that tough action is required to really beat the disease.

“One fact that simply isn’t being faced up to is that the skin test to identify cows infected with TB is not fit for purpose. It misses around one in five infected cows each time – which means that many TB infected cows remain in the herds, spreading the disease, or are transported to other farms or slaughterhouses without anyone knowing that they are infected.

“This new research understands that, which is why we must consider a policy of slaughtering whole herds if there is any trace of bTB within them. This method seems extreme but it could be the only way we can be sure infected cattle aren’t slipping through. And in the long-term, it could see the end of the disease. The method has been used successfully in several European countries, and in the UK between 1935 and 1960, and must be considered again, rather than focussing ineffectually on badgers.”

Another tragic loss - STEPHEN LAMBERT

It is with much regret to announce yet another tragic loss to birding today - that of STEPHEN LAMBERT, who died peacefully on Wednesday morning at Bristol Royal Hospital. Stephen had been battling the impacts of a severe stroke suffered two years ago but had sadly given up after being diagnosed with neck lymphona more recently. He died with a BBA British List of 449.

 

Stephen was father to Robert Lambert, a keen birder himself and a lecturer at Nottingham University. I had known the pair, and of course Rob's mother Joan, for a very long time and had shared many wonderful moments with the family on the Isles of Scilly in October. Stephen had always been highly supportive of me and had always given me great encouragement, even when I was at my lowest and being attacked from all sides. It was one of the great father and son birding relationships, equal to that of Ron and Simon King, Peter and Jacob Everitt, Geoff and Alan Clewes, Jeff and Chris Hazell, Bob and Alan Henry, Bill and Antony Brydges and other memorable birding family pairings, and he will be sorely missed.

 

I am particularly heartened and touched by the fact that over the last three weeks of his life in hospital, Stephen had clutched his paper copy of his UK400 Club Life List and had taken great relief and excitement in reliving many of the great birds he had been lucky enough to see, especially some of those special birds on Scilly, such as the Short-toed Snake Eagle, White's Thrush and Blue Rock Thrush. Even as recent as 2011, he had added Scarlet Tanager and Northern Waterthrush from that archipelago. His last new bird had been the Western Sandpiper at Cley, just two weeks before the stroke, while the male Desert Wheatear at Severn Beach last November was one of his final outings in the field.

 

Stephen revelled in the comradery and fellowship that survived and prospered on Scilly throughout the 90's and thoroughly enjoyed life to the full with his family prior to when he became immobilised. I will miss you

 

Lee G R Evans