Skewer Skua

Finally some birding. A leisurely start on a largely dead Wanstead Flats allowed me to chew the fat with the regular band of stalwarts, and then it was off to Suffolk for the Lesser Grey Shrike. Love 'em. Sadly it wasn't quite as cooperative as the last Shrike I saw, but it still was one and that counts for a lot. As expected a medium-sized crowd with a few familiar faces, and although the bird sadly didn't come and perch on my scope, good scope views were nonetheless had. This is the skewer bit, in case you were wondering.

Far more obliging once I had worked out the correct approach was an Arctic Skua at Sizewell, just down the road. With patience you could get relatively close to it, so that's what Bradders, Nick and I did. Lovely, although the poor bird is mildly oiled, which probably explains why it spending quite a lot of time sat around on the beach preening. I hope it makes it. I'll probably do a whole post on it over on the other channel at some point, but by necessity this post is short and sweet, as Mrs L and I are spending the evening together. We are both so busy that this happens approximately once every two years, and I have opened a rather special bottle of Shiraz to celebrate.