A day of migration

8 April - misty weather with an easterly drift is usually quite good in spring so I called in at Farmoor looking for Little Gulls (which are very regular here in the right conditions) and hopefully an early Yellow Wagtail. I was successful on both counts, with a bright male Yellow Wag along the causeway and 3 or 4 Little Gulls feeding distantly over F2, including a couple of adults with hoods, very smart with their pinkish wash to the underparts and their dark underwings. The real bonus was over very quickly, there was a short burst of rain and a dark rakish bird suddenly appeared low over F2 heading north, mobbed by Gulls - an Arctic Skua! a dark-phase bird, very raptor-like. It was in view for all of 10 secs or so, I managed a couple of record shots before it vanished into the mist and cloud to the north. I was the only one to see it, although it flew over the heads of 2 other birders on the causeway! A rarity both at Farmoor and in Oxon, with only a few previous records. Also a huge number of hirundines feeding over the reservoir, mostly Sand Martins, a few White Wagtails, and a Common Tern along with a flighty party of 3 Ringed Plovers. The influx of Little Gulls nationwide included CWP - there were 3 birds seen briefly in the afternoon, then a bird that lingered on pit 16 into the evening, an adult moulting into summer plumage.