Cap Gris Nez 31/08/2012

Sea watching from Cap Gris Nez

I picked TG and CP up at around 03.00 to get the 04.25 ferry to Callais, then a short drive to Cap Gris Nez get settled for a brilliant sea watch at 07.00. 

Long-tailed Skua

 07.00-12.00:
Red-throated Diver: 1
Manx Shearwater: 2
Sooty Shearwater:6
Fulmar: 43
Gannet: 2000+
Shelduck: 1
Wigeon: 8
Pintail: 1
Teal: 9
Common Scoter: 129
Bat-tailed Godwit: 174
Oystercatcher: 4
Ringed Plover: 27
Turnstone: 2
Pomarine Skua: 7
Arctic Skua: 126
Long-tailed Skua: 14
Great Skua: 209
Mediterranean Gull: 6
Little Gull: 3
Kittiwake: 64
Black Tern: 3
Little Tern: 2
Common Tern: 4000+
Sandwich Tern: N/C
Rock Pipit: 1

After the sea watch we looked at couple of other sites (Le Slack, Cap Blanc Nez, and Oye Plage)
Passerines were very thin on the ground. As we were approaching Oye Plage TG spotted 2 birds moving towards us across the field. He thought at first that they might be raptors, in a quick glance (I was driving) I thought they might be juvenile Gulls, as they approached it was obvious they Long-tailed Skuas and gave us the best views we have ever had as they came overhead and away across the field the other side of the road.
On the beach at Oye Plage 7 more Arctic Skuas were seen as well as a superb Pomarine Skua, but no Kentish Plovers could be found.
 Pity about P & O cancelling our ferry home, a great day out eventually arriving home at 01.45.