Selsey Bill Seawatch

I am still not totally convinced on the merits of seawatching but with the forecast for today promising a favourable SE wind I thought I would give it a go. I am now the proud possessor of a copy of "Flight Identification of European Seabirds" and I needed to put some of the theory into practice. For me that means getting a picture and being able to study the identification features at home.

I picked Dave up just before six and we headed down to Selsey Bill, which would offer the chance of closer encounters and better pictures opportunities than our own bit of coast. We should have got up earlier, the dedicated seawatchers had been hard at work for an hour or so when we arrived and we had just missed a Pomarine Skua, our key target for the day.

First bird through was a Cormorant. Not really what we were looking for but a good opportunity to check out the camera settings and flight shot techniques.

Cormorant

We then had a steady trickle of the more common birds through, Terns, Divers, Kittiwakes and  Whimbrel, with the occasional, more interesting, Skua species. Perhaps not as good as we had expected but enough to keep the interest.

Sandwich Tern

Sandwich Tern

Common Tern

Kittiwake

Whimbrel

Unfortunately I didn't manage to get a picture of the Little Tern. We also had Black-throated and Great Northern Diver through and Common Scoter.

Black-throated Diver

Common Scoter

Lots of Gannets feeding off shore but these three seemed to be travelling with a purpose.

Gannets

Light and Dark Phase Arctic Skuas but no Bonxies that we could see.

Arctic Skua (Dark Phase)

Arctic Skua (Dark Phase)

Arctic Skua (Light Phase)

And in the end we did get our Pom although it was a long way off and it was difficult to identify until we saw the tail feather spoons.

Pomarine Skua

Large crop of the above showing spoons

We headed for home mid afternoon, happy that we had seen most of our targets. There were still a good number of the hardened seawatchers waiting for more Poms to come through and they had their reward when four went past, close in, late in the afternoon. Great video on the Selsey Blog, not sure who took it but I believe the term used now is Respect.

Close on eight hours of seawatching and I actually enjoyed it. I could become a convert, although I am not sure I could maintain my enthusiasm all through the winter.

Info    Phase or Morph  -  which term should I use. I found the following definitions:-

Phase
noun – traditional (becoming archaic): a genetically determined variability of coloration among individuals of the same species without being attributable to, associated with, or determined by subspecies, race, or geographic population.


Morph

noun – (1) biology: a recognizable group, distinctive for some specific attribute of form or structure, within a species; (2) an individual of a recognizable group within a species known for having two or more groups distinguishable by form or structure; (3a) ornithology: a group or an individual within a species known to vary by form or structure; (3b) an individual bird distinctive for a specific permanent plumage color within a species known for various genetically determined plumage colors that do not vary by age, season, breeding condition, or geographic subspecies status.


Chromer

noun – (Kevinism) an individual bearing a specific, permanent coloration that is one of two or more color variations typical of the species and not attributable to genetic mutation or defect or to age, season, breeding condition, geography, or subspecies status.



So perhaps it should be Chromer, although I am not sure that I would be allowed back into seawatching circles using such language!