Great Skua Stercorarius skua (Brünnich, 1764)
Very rare, passage migrant. May occur between Sep. & Nov.
- One, not aged, 17th Sep. 2011 (N.R. Milbourne, R.M. Curber, P. Delve, T. Doman).
The author picked up a Great Skua (Bonxie) soaring over the dam end while Roy Curber, Terry Doman and Phil Delve were standing in front of the Lodge checking the wildfowl. A huge black rainstorm came up the Severn Estuary and I assume this bird was pushed east around it because it drifted in from the west over the dam, dropped, then went up high and drifted further east down the lake before turning and coming back over the dam end and carrying on out west towards the coast. It may have been a bird migrating south on the Wash-Severn flyway.
Bibliography (sources of information):
- Rose, H.E. (ed.). Avon Bird Report 2011. Avon Ornithological Group.
Last update: 7th December 2024