Sunday, 28 March 2021

I Am the Walrus

Doing its own Magical Mystery Tour, a juvenile Atlantic walrus has turned up on rocks off the South Wales coast (https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/mar/22/mystery-of-the-walrus-spotted-on-rocks-on-the-welsh-coast). Walruses are usually found in the Arctic. Marks on the flipper of this cow-sized, beast, suggest it's the same animal, seen earlier in the week, off County Kerry in Ireland. Why the walrus was so far south of its normal range is uncertain. A suggestion has been made it could have fallen asleep on a drifting ice floe but this seems unlikely. It is more probable this marine mammal had to roam widely in search of food or became disorientated by disturbance.

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Birder's Bonus 241

Noted a Curlew ( Numenius arquata ) on the Loughor estuary at Bynea.