Great Skua

Today we took the Seabirds-and-Seals cruise from Lerwick around the southern tip of Bressay to the gannet colony on the cliffs of Noss. We saw plenty of gannets, guillemots and seals, and also an interesting view of the life under the sea through the camera of the boat's robotic submersible.

For much of the trip we were followed by this fabulous great skua. He was encouraged by a member of the boat crew who was feeding it bits of biscuit. I never thought I would see a skua feeding from someone's hand. I had to admire the bird's perseverence, as the boat was moving very fast, and every time it stopped to eat the food it had to work to very hard to catch the boat again.

The sea was very rough, so I was pleased to get this shot considering how much the boat was moving in all directions.