Bonxie!

My first great skua, or bonxie, of the spring. A very sunny day on Shapinsay, I cycled along to Ness of Ork and walked along the low cliffs east. I was having coffee when I saw this bird heading toward me and managed to grab the camera before it passed. Bonxies are not very popular with Orcadians- they're kleptoparasitic, stealing food from other birds, especially gannets. They will also kill to eat, birds like eiders and I saw one try to drown a greylag goose last year- the cries of the goose and its companions were quite heart-rending. The goose managed to escape that attack. Orkney hosts a globally-important breeding population of great skuas, but the numbers were badly reduced by bird flu. I got a second bird later.