Following the weekend gales a juvenile Great Skua was picked up exhausted from the St Agnes side of The Gugh Sand Bar and taken into care by bird watchers staying on The Island. Great Skua’s, also known as ‘Bonxies’ from the Shetland name for them, are stocky, dark sea birds, the size of a large gull and are perhaps best known for their piratical habit of chasing other sea birds including Gannets to make them disgorge their food which the Skua then catches as a free meal.
Although very weak, the Skua was reasonably lively and next morning was observed drinking and preening in the conservatory of its temporary home of Myrtle Cottage. Surprisingly tame, it tolerated the traffic of people pass through the conservatory and made no effort to escape. 48 hours later it seemed a little stronger but despite drinking quantities of water was disinterested in eating and it was decided that the birds best chance for survival would be to transfer it to the bird hospital in Mousehole near Penzance.
John and Anne Claire who run the Evergreen Guesthouse on St Mary’s have sent a number of oiled sea birds to the Hospital on previous occasions and when contacted from St Agnes, kindly offered to make the necessary arrangements for the Skua to be sent to the mainland via BIH. The Skua, somewhat indignant at being confined to a box was duly delivered to the Evergreen Guesthouse on Tuesday the 9th. Unfortunately, it missed the morning flight from St Mary’s so was taken to be examined by The Island Vet who generously offered to examine the bird free of charge. Unfortunately this investigation revealed a very severe wound extending from the birds throat to belly, which had been concealed by the feathering. It appeared to be an old wound, which had partially healed over and this presumably had contributed to the Skua’s weak condition.
Although the wound seemed very serious, the vet accepted the challenge of trying to repair he injury and after consulting the experts at Mousehole, performed the operation on Tuesday afternoon.
The latest bulletin on the patient (10 October) is encouraging. John reports that it is now taking fish and looking surprising well considering its recent traumas. The outlook is still uncertain as infection could lead to a rapid deterioration, but for the moment, the Skua is the latest resident at the Evergreen Guesthouse and will be building up strength over the coming days in the hope that it may be released back into the wild before the onset of winter.
Paul Dukes