Whilst in the company of our County Recorder Brian Gibbs at 9.33am this morning off Hurlstone Pt we had a Juv Long-Tailed skua accompanied with an Arctic skua heading West out of the Channel both birds were pale morph and gave excellent contrasting views between the 2 birds together,other birds noted were
5 Fulmar
1 Manx Shearwater
5 Gannet
3 Razorbill
1 Guillemot
1 Harbour Porpoise and a Grey Seal which was snoozing as it drifted close in under the Pt

A walk up and around Dunkery Beacon saw my first flock of Ca 50 Golden Plover of this winter

Good conditions for overland skua passage yday, but skua watching during the usual afternoon window didn't produce anything quite so good as a Long-tailed. Still worth it though: between 1.30pm and 3.30pm totals of 4 Arctic Skuas and 3 Bonxies, all heading west as usual, though most of the birds were concentrated into a short period (2.29-2.45pm).

I was hoping for more on such promising conditions. The Arctics were all close in, but one of the Bonxies was very distant, suggesting that other birds may have been taking a distant line, out of view from the Somerset shore.

Was going to try again today, but winds round The Wash seem to have gone round to light westerly overnight, so probably not worth it.