by J.P. Bentley

Skuas

A sudden break in the uniform noise pattern and a commotion in the midst of a crowd of foraging Gulls may reveal the dashing dark figure of a bird in determined pursuit of a hapless Gull. It will most likely be the Artic Skua. Quite unable to elude its pursuer, the Gull will disgorge the fish it caught a minute before — and the Skua has got it! The normal clamour of the flock is resumed. The Skua sails gracefully away and takes up its watchful stance not too far off. It is about the size of the Herring Gull, with sharply hooked beak and claws. It breeds in the northern tundra.

Gannet (36”)

This off-white bird, with black wing-tips, will be recognised without doubt as soon as its spectacular dive is seen. From about fifty feet up it plunges, wings closed, head first into the sea. Gulls flop. The beak is long and straight, and is usually pointed downwards as the bird flies along, wings long and narrow, on the lookout for fish below. The plunging of Gannets often betrays the presence of a shoal of mackerel or pilchard to the fishermen on the beach, whose gaze is ever seaward. It breeds in dense colonies.

Terns

The sight of the first Swallow and the call of the first Cuckoo thrill the countryman’s heart... summer is here!

A sudden strident screech overhead, then darting with headlong plunge into the water, the Tern hunts for small fish, and especially sand eels.

The bill is long and thin; in colour red, yellow or black, differing with the species and changing with the season. All Terns have a black cap during the breeding season. The long forked tail is also characteristic. On the ground, Terns seem to squat rather than stand, for their legs and feet are very small. The eggs are laid in shallow scrapes in sand or shingle.

The Cormorant (36”)

Often alone, or one of a pair, the Cormorant is a large blackish bird, industrious and unobtrusive. Swimming low in the water, it dives quickly under the surface, emerging again maybe a count of between twenty and thirty seconds later.

It loves to stand, wings outstretched in the sun, on a half-tide rock or buoy. It is amusing to find out how close one can sail before it flaps away, with rapid shallow wing beat, long neck outstretched, just above the level of the water.

The Shag

The Shag is a little smaller, distinguishable from the Cormorant by the upstanding crest on its head, and lacking the white patch which the Cormorant has on the chin and cheeks.

The Guillemot, Razorbill and Puffin

Three more sea-fishers, catching their food by the case underwater. The short legs are set far back, so on the cliff ledges they stand formally in large colonies, like Penguins. They have very short wings and a whirring flight. The Guillemot has a slender bill; the Razorbill’s is heavier and down-curved. The Puffin has a large triangular beak, and in the breeding season it is covered with red, blue and yellow plates.

When sailing through the night past the headlands, the harsh growling of these auks breaks eerily through the darkness — a strange intrusion on the steady hum of the breeze in the rigging and the swish of the bow wave. The birds are fishing all around us, yet nothing is seen but the phosphorescence of the wake and the distant lights of a seaside resort.

What a sad contrast to find, so often, mixed up with the flotsam and jetsam of the tide-line, the oil-smeared forms of these birds.