Missing the Pom Party

The last few days have been pretty uneventful on the patch after short visits first and last thing. The Lesser Whitethroat is still holding territory just N of White Bridge, good numbers of Shelduck on the estuary with around 20+ birds and the scrapes are still holding a fair amount of water which is very unusual for mid May, despite nothing of excitement using them yet!

Today I spent a "casual" hour in the morning and an hour this evening hoping for a Pomarine Skua which everyone around me seems to be enjoying! Axe Birder had a great count of 9 birds off Seaton this morning and they were later seen by Not Quite Scilly in Dorset, who incidentally is on a Pom Purple Patch at the moment! The best I could muster were a s/p Great Northern Diver sat on the sea, 17 Common Scoter west, 19 Whimbrel west and 2 Sanderling on the beach (not so common here).

Frustratingly, this evening a "Skua" probably Arctic was harassing what were presumably kittiwakes way, way out to the south this evening but it was just too far to id! Maybe tomorrow.....

Female Stonechat earlier in the week on the East Devon Heaths