Skogsøy 28 May 2023 - All day sesh / Poms at last!

Perfect weather - a fresh North westerly breeze with some clouds.

The light changed constantly from full on sunshine to overcast and back again - the first of two challenges today. The second being that, at least for the first few hours, there was a lot going on a long way out whilst at the same time interesting stuff was passing in binocular range - no doubt I missed stuff at both distances:)

I sat from 05:45 until 13:00. Thought about leaving a few times but never quite brought myself to quit. Managed to avoid the "dead hour trap" and kept going without any regrets:)

Although far from a mega day there was a lot more going on than recent visits - highlights being of course two Pomarine Skuas polarjo, a Great Skua storjo and six Arctic Skuas tyvjo. A couple of Knot polarsnipe were another first for the year for me and there was plenty of interest most of the time. Two decent sized wader flocks escaped ID but I suspected Turnstone steinvender for the first and Sanderling sandløper for the second, another small flock of Turnstone steinvender came past later.

Small numbers of pale-bellied Brents ringgås, decent numbers of Kittiwake krykkje, Gannets havsule, Fulmar havhest, a 2cy Great Northern Diver islom, almost 70 Red-throated Diver smålom and more meant there was never a dull moment (with the exception of the dead hour between 09:00-10:00).

Arctic Skua tyvjo - easier to identify in the field than by photos

Another Arctic Skua tyvjo 

Arctic Tern rødnebbterne

Pale-bellied Bents (hrota) ringgås

Common Scoter svartand

Gannet havsule

3cy Lesser Black-backed Gull sildemåke heading north

Red throated Diver smålom N 68

Great Northern Diver islom N 1 2cy

Northern Fulmar havhest N 13

Northern Gannet havsule N 127, S 3

Eurasian Shag toppskarv N 7, S 44

Brent Goose ringgås N 151

Common Scoter svartand N 28, S 27

Merganser sland N 4

Red Knot  polarsnipe 2

Turnstone steinvender N 5

Pomarine Skua polarjo N 2 (1 dark, 1 pale)

Arctic Skua tyvjo N 6 (3 dark and 3 pale)

Great Skua storjo N 1

Common Gull fiskemåke N 2

Lesser black backed Gull sildemåke N 6

Great black backed Gull svartbak N 4

Black-legged Kittiwake krykkje N 75

Arctic Tern rødnebbterne N 29, S 4

Common Guillemot lomvi N 2

Razorbill  alke N 21 For some reason Razorbills have vastly outnumbered Guillemots this year - possibly something to do with the big movement last autumn that pushed them further south than usual?)

Little Auk alkekonge N 1 Freak record! Not often I see this species so far out in May!

Atlantic Puffin lunde N 7