Seatrack @ Bridges of Ross 1st Sept 2012

Time: 06:55-11:00 (Seatrack survey) & 12:30-19:00

Weather: F3-4 SW, clear, dry & mild (am). F5-6 SW, dry, sunny & hazy to start, deteriorating to misty with poor vis (pm).

Observer(s): Niall T. Keogh, Alan Clewes, Neal Warnock, Andy Clifton, Malcolm Goodman, Geoff Clewes, John Cooper, Dave Cooper, Chris Jones, Rob Innes, John N. Murphy, Luc Barbaro et al.

Sooty Shearwater: 113

Manx Shearwater: 1,056 (am)

Fulmar: 300 (am)

Gannet: 430 incl. 7 juvs. (am)

Storm Petrel: 26
Common Scoter: 2 males
Great Skua (Bonxie): 6
Pomarine Skua: 1 pale subadult
Arctic Skua: 1
Sabine’s Gull: 3 juvs.
Kittiwake: 19 incl. 13 juvs.
Arctic Tern: 12
Sandwich Tern: 12 
Puffin: 7
Razorbill: 41 (am)
Guillemot: 22 (am)
Auk sp: 67 (am)
Mallard: 2

Chough: 12
Lapland Bunting: 1 at the watchpoint

A nice Seatrack survey session this morning with steady passage & plenty of variety at first but quiet after 08:30am. 3 Sab's, 1 Pom & 48 Sooties provided interest during the count period. Heavy mist descended in the afternoon making viewing difficult but the Sooty passage tipped on by, reaching 113, the peak count of the season so far. There must have been a small flock offshore somewhere I think.

Seatrack surveying © Niall Keogh

Nice views of the Chough behind the watchpoint lately © Niall Keogh

Seatrack Update: 1st Sept Survey

This coming weekend sees the fourth Seatrack survey of the season taking place, with a start time of 07:35am. Please note that Saturday 1st Sept will be the priority day so as to complement other FAME surveys being conducted by our partners along the Western European seaboard, also on that date. If you would like to take part in this international seabird census then get in touch with Niall Keogh at seatrack@birdwatchireland.ie for details.

The highlight of the previous August Seatrack survey weekend was undoubtedly the finding of not one, but two Fea's-type Petrels which were associating with a milling flock of Manx Shearwaters off Carnsore Point, Co. Wexford on Saturday 18th. Once considered a mythical species in Irish waters, it is now apparent that with a bit of luck, a small number of these enigmatic Gadfly petrels can be found regularly off our coast, almost always in the company of migrating or feeding Manx Shearwaters. Other sightings of note from the survey weekend included several Black Terns & Great Shearwaters as well as some nice cetaceans & Ocean Sunfish.

A series of low pressures are due to hit the Irish coastline this week which will surely produce some interesting results, particularly along the west coast, in SW winds.

Best of luck to all this weekend,
Niall Keogh
Seatrack co-ordinator

Some late August Seatrack sightings as follows: (E = East, W = West, S = South, N = North & M = Milling)

Saturday 18^th August 2012

Bloody Foreland, Co. Donegal (Chris Ingram)
5 W Sooty Shearwater, 7 W & 2 E Manx Shearwater, 401 W & 39 E Fulmar, 5 W Great Skua (Bonxie) & 1 E Skua sp.

Annagh Head, Co. Mayo (Dave Suddaby)
3 Sooty Shearwater, 6 Storm Petrels, 4 Great Skua (Bonxie) & 1 Arctic Skua.

Bridges of Ross, Co. Clare (Niall T. Keogh)
All birds heading W: 1 Balearic Shearwater, 16 Sooty Shearwater, 470+ Manx Shearwater, 590+ Fulmar, 20 Storm Petrel, 5 Common Scoter, 1 Pomarine Skua, 8 Arctic Skua, 6 Puffin, 5-6 Bottlenose Dolphins & 100+ Common Dolphins. Full details here. 

Galley Head, Co. Cork (Colin Barton)
3 Sooty Shearwater & 1 Ocean Sunfish.

Ram Head, Co. Waterford (Andrew Malcolm)

68 W Manx Shearwater, 1 W Storm Petrel, 1 W Great Skua (Bonxie) & 1 Humpback Whale.

Brownstown Head, Co. Waterford (Paul M Walsh)
31 E, 10 W & 50+ M Manx Shearwater, 1 W Great Skua (Bonxie), 1 W Arctic Skua, 2 E Common Scoter, 13 E & 43 W Sandwich Tern & 1 Grey Seal.

Carnsore Point, Co. Wexford (Noel Keogh)
2 W Fea’s-type Petrels, 1 Great Shearwater, 4 Sooty Shearwater, c.1,000 W + M Manx Shearwater, 3 Black Tern, 1 Little Gull, 4 Arctic Skua, 2 Storm Petrel, 1 Puffin, 15 Common Scoter, 5 Little Terns, 4 Mediterranean Gulls, 100’s of ‘Commic’ & Roseate Terns.

Sunday 19^th August 2012

Bridges of Ross, Co. Clare (Niall T. Keogh)

All birds heading W: 2 Balearic Shearwater, 30 Sooty Shearwater, 395+ Manx Shearwater, 190+ Fulmar, 142 Storm Petrel, 7 Common Scoter, 4 Great Skua (Bonxie), 1 Pomarine Skua, 12 Arctic Skua, 1 Black Tern, 2 Puffin, 1 Spotted Redshank, 8-10 Bottlenose Dolphin, 30+ Common Dolphin & 2 Leatherback Turtle. Full details here.

Galley Head, Co. Cork (Colin Barton)

1 Great Shearwater, 6 Sooty Shearwater, 2 Great Skua (Bonxie) & 1 Harbour Porpoise.

Carnsore Point, Co. Wexford (Kieran Grace & Alyn Walsh)

1 Sooty Shearwater, 12 Common Scoter, 1 Great Skua (Bonxie), 4 Arctic Skua, 7 Black Tern & 7 Great-crested Grebe. 

Wicklow Head, Co. Wicklow (Steve Newton)

2,000 N Manx Shearwater.

Seatrack survey @ Bridges of Ross 18th August 2012

Time: 06:30-10:30 (Seatrack survey) & 15:00-17:45

Weather: F1-2 S-SE, dry, bright & warm (am). F2-3 SW-S, sunny, warm & hazy (pm).

Observer(s): Niall T. Keogh, Keith Langdon, Mikey Hoit, Dave Farrow, Reg Land, Simon Woodhouse, Dave Andrews & Dan Brown.

Balearic Shearwater: 1 pale bird, West at 09:22

Sooty Shearwater: 16

Manx Shearwater: 470+

Fulmar: 590+

Storm Petrel: 20

Gannet: 825+

Kittiwake: 85 (8 juvs)

Common Scoter: 5 females

Pomarine Skua: 1 subadult

Arctic Skua: 8

Arctic Tern: 7

Sandwich Tern: 5

Razorbill: 54

Guillemot: 2

Puffin: 6

Common Gull: 11

Lesser Black-backed Gull: 2

Whimbrel: 13

Dunlin: 4

Sanderling: 10

Ringed Plover: 6

Black-tailed Godwit: 7

Bar-tailed Godwit:2

Knot: 1

Chough: 2

Wheatear: 1

Kestrel: 1

Bottlenose Dolphin: 5 or 6 in the afternoon.

Common Dolphin: 100+ in the morning & c.30 in the afternoon.

Very slack passage today, with most of the above totals being logged during the mornings Seatrack survey session. Manxies well down compared to yesterday, Fulmars still going strong & a good representation by Gannets (mostly adults, small numbers of 2^nd cal-year birds & a couple of fresh juvs) but this completely died off in the afternoon. Not a single Bonxie seen which is unusual. Small gulls are a rare sight at The Bridges so a decent showing by Common Gulls was certainly noteworthy. Waders tipping by at sea in small numbers throughout the day, none of which could be strung into a Grey Phalarope, no matter how hard we tried!

Passage this afternoon was so slow that Dave decided to spice things up with a spot of Rio 2016 practice!...nil points

Danger Dave © Dan Brown

Seatrack Update: mid August 2012

The second Seatrack survey of 2012 took place during the August Bank Holiday weekend just gone. The transition into seawatching season ‘proper’ could not be more apparent when comparing with the figures from the July survey period. Favourable winds along the South coast produced some impressive numbers of Manx Shearwaters interspersed with nice tallies of Cory’s, Great & Sooty Shearwaters. Other highlights included a smattering of Pomarine Skuas throughout & six species of tern off Carnsore Point. The West & East coasts were generally much quieter in terms of numbers but quality was provided for those who stuck it out with a Gull-billed Tern off Bloody Foreland (only the 2^nd Donegal county record) & a tantalising possible Fea’s-type Petrel off Clogher Head in Co. Louth.

The next Seatrack survey takes place this weekend Sat 18^th & Sun 19^th August (start time of 07:10am). The forecast remains unpredictable but a low pressure is expected to break up along the coast which may favour Southern watchpoints. If you would like to participate then get in touch with Niall Keogh at seatrack@birdwatchireland.ie for further details.

Early August Seatrack sightings as follows: (E = East, W = West, N = North, S = South & M = Milling)

Friday 3rd August

Galley Head, Co. Cork (Colin Barton)

310 W Cory’s Shearwater, 32 W Great Shearwater, 61 W Sooty Shearwater, 442 W & 85 E Manx Shearwater, 6 Storm Petrel, 2 W Great Skua (Bonxie), 4 W Pomarine Skua, 24 W Common Scoter & 34 W Puffin.

Helvick Head, Co. Waterford (Michael Cowming Jnr, Michael Cowming Snr, Colum Flynn, Daniel Weldon, Mary A Duggan & Paul M Walsh)

3 W Cory’s Shearwater, 1 W Great Shearwater, 2 W Sooty Shearwater, 40 E & 980 W Manx Shearwater, 105 W Fulmar, 10 W Storm Petrel, 13 W Common Scoter, 2 W Great Skua (Bonxie), 2 E & 3 W Pomarine Skua, 2 W adult Roseate Tern, 8+ W Arctic Tern, 5+ Common Tern, 7+ ‘Commic’ Tern, 35 W Puffin & 3 Harbour Porpoise.

“Preceded by county-record totals of Cory's Shearwater at Ram Head & Helvick Head on the evening of Thursday 2^nd August, details of which can be found here: http://www.waterfordbirds.com/seawatches_2012.html”

Saturday 4th August 2012

Bloody Foreland, Co. Donegal (Ralph Sheppard & Chris Ingram)

118 W & 28 E Manx Shearwater, 6 W & 1 E Great Skua (Bonxie), 1 W Pomarine Skua, 2 W Arctic Skua, 1 E Gull-billed Tern, 1 E Sandwich Tern & 7 E Puffin.

Ram Head, Co. Waterford (Andrew Malcolm & Ann Trimble)

380 E, 540 W & 200 M Manx Shearwater, 2 W Great Skua (Bonxie), 1 W Pomarine Skua, 13 W Sandwich Tern & 1 E Ocean Sunfish.

Brownstown Head, Co. Waterford (Paul M Walsh)

1 W Great Shearwater, 2 W Sooty Shearwater, 1170 E, 1190 W & 80+ feeding Manx Shearwater, 2 E & 7 W Common Scoter, 1 E Pomarine Skua, 1 W Great Skua (Bonxie), 2 E & 20 W Sandwich Tern & 1 W Puffin.

Carnsore Point, Co. Wexford (Alan Lauder)

5629 E, 63 W & 10 M Manx Shearwater, 3 E & 1 W Storm Petrel, 6 E Common Scoter, 1 E Great Skua (Bonxie), 1 E Arctic Skua, 6 E Little Tern, 2 W Black Tern & 15 E Roseate Tern.

Wicklow Head, Co. Wicklow (Steve Newton)

2 S Balearic Shearwater, 4 S Sooty Shearwater, 430 N & 532 S Manx Shearwater, 3 S Common Scoter, 1 S Great Skua (Bonxie), 1 S Arctic Skua & 15 S Sandwich Tern.

Coliemore Harbour, Dalkey, Co. Dublin (Niall T. Keogh & Brian Porter)

23 N & 432 S Manx Shearwater, 26 S Common Scoter, 1 S Arctic Skua, 3 N, 64 S & 15 M Sandwich Tern, 5 S Common Tern, 1 M Arctic Tern, 19 S ‘Commic’ Tern, 3 S Whimbrel & 3 M Harbour Porpoise.

Clogher Head, Co. Louth (Brendan Sheils)

1 S possible Fea’s-type Petrel  @ 09:30, 1 N & 20 S Manx Shearwater, 2 S Sooty Shearwater, 2 N & 3 S Storm Petrel, 48 S Common Scoter, 1 N & 1 M Great Skua (Bonxie), 1 S adult Long-tailed Skua, 48 S & 100+ M Sandwich Tern, 30 S & 80-120+ M Common Tern, 20+ S & 100+ M ‘Commic’ Tern, 1 S Great-crested Grebe.

Sunday 5^th August

Clogher Head, Co. Louth (Brendan Sheils)

507 N, 12 S & 55 M Manx Shearwater, 2 N Storm Petrel, 9 N & 41 S Common Scoter, 1 S Great Northern Diver, 3 N Pomarine Skua, 1 S Arctic Skua, 1 S Skua sp., 25+ M Sandwich Tern, 25+ M Common Tern, 92 S Arctic Tern & 1 S Puffin.

Ocean Sunfish, Ram Head, Co. Waterford, 4th August 2012 © Andrew Malcolm

Seatrack Update: early August 2012

The first Seatrack survey session of the year took place on Sat 21st/Sun 22nd July. Normally one of the quieter periods during the project, this years July survey saw some nice sightings being logged however. Common Scoters were well represented all around the coast whilst Puffins put in a good showing along the West & South. Elsewhere, highlights were provided by 3 species of Skua from Galley Head, the first good run of Sooty & Manx Shearwaters of the autumn off Annagh Head and an always well received East coast Cory's Shearwater off Wicklow Head. 

The next Seatrack survey takes place this weekend (start time 06:45am), with a priority date set for Saturday 4th August so as to complement seawatching surveys being undertaken by our FAME partners who will also be watching from headlands along the West coast of continental Europe on that date. If you would like to take part in this international seabird census then get in touch with Niall Keogh at seatrack@birdwatchireland.ie for details on how to take part.

July Seatrack sightings as follows: (E = East, W = West, N = North, S = South & M = Milling)

Saturday 21st July

Bloody Foreland, Co. Donegal (Ralph Sheppard & Chris Ingram)

145 W + 23 E Manx Shearwater, 6 W + 3 E Great Skua (Bonxie), 1 E Arctic Skua, 116 W + 26 E Puffin & 1 Red-breasted Merganser.

Coliemore Harbour, Dalkey, Co. Dublin (Niall T. Keogh & Brian Porter)

605 N + 2 S Manx Shearwater, 68 N + 19 S + 5 M Common Scoter, 2 N Great Crested Grebe & 4 M Harbour Porpoise. 3 Crossbills also seen in the pines behind the watchpoint!

Sunday 22nd July

Annagh Head, Co. Mayo (Dave Suddaby)

71 Sooty Shearwater, c.7,000 Manx Shearwater, 18 Storm Petrel, 21 Common Scoter, 5 Great Skua (Bonxie) & 1 Arctic Skua.

Bridges of Ross, Co. Clare (Paul Troake)

141 W + 28 E + 30 M Manx Shearwater, 3 W Storm Petrel, 8 W Common Scoter, 43 W Puffin & 2 M Whimbrel.

Galley Head, Co. Cork (Colin Barton)

6 Sooty Shearwater, 864 Manx Shearwater, 1 Storm Petrel, 59 Common Scoter, 6 Great Skua (Bonxie), 1 Pomarine Skua, 1 Arctic Skua, 56 Arctic Tern & 59 Puffin. All birds moving W.

Brownstown Head, Co. Waterford (Paul M. Walsh & Jonathan Bulfin)

41 E + 865 W Manx Shearwater, 41 E + 12 W Common Scoter, 1 E Great Skua (Bonxie), 6 E Arctic Skua, 2 W Skua sp. (Arctic/Pomarine) & 5 W Puffin.

Carnsore Point, Co. Wexford (Kieran Grace)

102 E + 43 W + 50 M Manx Shearwater, 15 E & 18 W Common Scoter & 100+ M 'Commic' Tern.

Wicklow Head, Co. Wicklow (Steve Newton)

1 Cory's Shearwater, 1,068 Manx Shearwater, 41 Common Scoter, 1 Bottlenose Dolphin & 1 Harbour Porpoise.

Black Guillemots at the Coliemore Harbour watchpoint © Niall Keogh

Early morning seawatching at Coliemore Harbour, Dalkey, Co. Dublin © Niall Keogh

Seatrack 2012

The Seatrack project aims to assess the status & distribution of the Critically Endangered Balearic Shearwater as well as other migratory seabird species in Irish waters through a series of coordinated seawatching surveys from headlands right around the coastline over 8 weekends between late July & early November.


If you would like to sign up your local headland as a Seatrack survey site or simply wish to send in some of your opportunistic seawatch records then feel free to get in touch with Niall Keogh (Seatrack project co-ordinator) at seatrack@birdwatchireland.ie for more information on how to get involved.


This coming weekend sees the first Seatrack survey of the season taking place with the current forecast for relatively calm weather on Saturday followed by moderate to strong South-West winds on Sunday.


Single Cory's Shearwaters have been seen from the The Bridges of Ross (Clare) & Galley Head (Cork) in the past day or so. Certainly a species to be on the look out for this weekend.


On the East coast, 5 Balearic Shearwaters off Mornington (Meath) on Friday followed by a juvenile Black Tern off Clogher Head (Louth) on Sunday suggest that there could be some interesting movements in the Irish Sea also.

HOT OFF THE PRESS!!! (From Cork Bird News Twitter feed): 16/7, 15.10: Fea's type petrel at 9.45 this morning going west past Mizen Hd (ADuggan)

Cory's Shearwater © Killian Mullarney

Seatrack 2012 weekend survey dates & times (priority dates in bold):

July: Sat 21st/Sun 22nd (start time 06:25am)

August: Sat 4th/Sun 5th (start time 06:45am)
August: Sat 18th/Sun 19th (start time 07:10am)


September: Sat 1st/Sun 2nd (start time 07:35am)
September: Sat 15th/Sun 16th (start time 08:00am)


October: Sat 6th/Sun 7th (start time 08:35am)
October: Sat 20th/Sun 21st (start time 09:00am)


November: Sat 3rd/Sun 4th (start time 08:30am)

Winter Shears & Chilly Fulmars

Although the 2011 Seatrack survey season finished up on 6th November, there has been a nice run of winter seawatching records here & there since then, most notably during the period between Christmas & mid-January when the west coast was getting lashed by some pretty strong Westerlies.

Sooty Shearwaters are often more frequently recorded than Manx Shearwaters at this time of year and this certainly seems to be the case so far this winter. The record of a Great Shearwater which passed by at close range off Galley Head (Cork) on St. Stephen's Day must have been a truly amazing sight! There have even been two records of Balearic Shearwater over the past month. As the target species for Seatrack, we're extremely interested in receiving reports of this Critically Endangered seabird, especially outside the 'normal' seawatching season (July-November). It appears that a few 'Balearics' spend some part of the winter off the south coast of Ireland & sightings are usually linked with fish spawing events.

Not surprisingly, quite a few 'Blue' Fulmars were also noted during these seawatch sessions as well as some Great Skuas off traditional wintering sites such as Brownstown Head (Waterford) & Hook Head (Wexford), harassing flocks of gulls feeding on spawning Herring. Little Auks have been extremely scarce in recent years, and this winter doesn't appear to be any different with just 3 records so far.

I wonder what vagrants would turn up if we invested more effort seawatching during 'favourable' conditions in winter? (something large with a Southern Hemisphere accent I would think!)

Anyways, here's a round-up of some of this winters seawatch records:

15th January:
1 Balearic Shearwater & 1 Manx Shearwater off Carnsore Point, Co. Wexford (Kieran Grace).
13th January:
2 Little Auks, 7 'Blue' Fulmars, 1 Glaucous Gull & 1 Iceland Gull, 15km off Belmullet Peninsula, Co. Mayo (Dave Suddaby).
11th January:
1 Sooty Shearwater off Dursey Island, Co. Cork (Derek Scott).
8th January:
5-8 Great Skuas (Bonxies) seen 5-6km off the coast of the Waterford/Wexford coastline between Dunmore East & Hook Head during a whale watching trip (Paul Walsh, Mary Duggan & Andrew Malcolm).
1st January:
- 1 Little Auk flew south off Greystones, Co. Wicklow at 12:00 (Andrew McMillan).
- 1 Great Skua (Bonxie) off Ballynacourty Point, Co. Waterford (Paul Walsh).
29th December:
 - 1 'Blue' Fulmar off Killybegs, Co. Donegal (Derek Charles).
 - 125 pale phase Fulmars & 2 adult Mediterranean Gulls flew north past Bray Head, Co. Wicklow from 09:30-10:30 (Andrew McMillan). An excellent mid-winter count of Fulmars for the East Coast.
26th December:
 - 1 Great Shearwater & 3 'Blue' Fulmars off Galley Head, Co. Cork (Colin Barton).
 - 1 'Blue' Fulmar west past Helvick Head, Co. Waterford at 15:20 (Micheal Cowming Jnr).
19th December:
1 Balearic Shearwater off Curracloe, Co. Wexford (Andrew McMillan).
17th December:
1 Pomarine Skua off Burial Island, Co. Down.
9th December:
1 Grey Phalarope off Deelick Point, Brandon, Co. Kerry from 11:30-12:30 (Peter McDermott).
8th December:
1 Little Auk off Ramore Head, Co. Antrim.
27th November:
 - 5 Sooty Shearwaters, 14 Great Skuas (Bonxies), 2 Arctic Skuas, 17 Great Northern Divers & 7 Red-throated Divers off Bloody Foreland, Co. Donegal (Chris Ingram).
 - 9 Great Skuas (Bonxies) off Kilcummin Head, Co. Mayo (Joe Donaldson).
 - 1 Leach's Petrel, a 1st-winter Iceland Gull, a leucistic Great Northern Diver, 275 auks, 180 Kittiwakes & 100 Gannets were off Black Head, Co. Clare from 08:00-10:15 (Paul Troake).
1 Great Shearwater off Clogher Head, Co. Kerry (Aideen McConville).
25th November:
7 Sooty Shearwaters, 10 Manx Shearwaters, 28 Great Skuas (Bonxies), 5 Pomarine Skuas, 4 Grey Phalaropes, 3 Great Northern Divers, 1 Common Scoter, 3,700 Kittiwakes, 3,400 Gannets & 2,200 auks off The Bridges of Ross, Co. Clare (Paul Troake).

Great Skua (Bonxie) off the Waterford/Wexford coast © Andrew Malcolm

November Seatrack Update

A run of Atlantic weather systems moving through over the past two weeks produced some nice tallies for the time of year with late Balearic, Sooty & Great Shearwaters noted along with all four species of skuas & a few Grey Phalaropes. A flock of up to 450 Little Gulls off the Murrough coastline in Co. Wicklow on 22nd/23rd October was a nice find, but to be expected in the right weather conditions at this time of year. 

Little Gull (Dick Coombes)

The final Seatrack survey of the 2011 season takes place this weekend 5th/6th November starting at 08:30am. Whilst the forecast for the weekend seems rather unfavorable for any 'decent' seawatching, early Novemeber can often throw up a few surprises, with Little Auk certainly topping the seasonal wish list. Observers in the south-west should still be on the look out for our target species, Balearic Shearwater, which can often be found here well into the winter.

If you're interested in undertaking a Seatrack survey then e-mail Niall Keogh at seatrack@birdwatchireland.ie

Little Auk, coming to a bathtub near you! (Declan Murphy)

Location: Bloody Foreland, Co. Donegal

Date: 19/10/2011

Time: 08:00-11:05

Weather: F3 N-NW, showers & poor-mod visibility.

Observer(s): Chris Ingram

Great Skua (Bonxie): 23 W

Pomarine Skua: 7 W

Arctic Skua: 5 W

Skua sp: 6 W

Sabine's Gull: 12 W

Arctic Tern: 1 W

Red-throated Diver: 7 W

Great Northern Diver: 11 W & 1 E

Diver sp: 2 W & 1 E

Gannet: 164 W & 5 E

Kittiwake: 1431 W & 4 E

Guillemot: 1 W

Auk sp: 81 W & 16 E

Red-breasted Merganser: 36 W

Barnacle Goose: 54 W & 32 E

Location: Dursey Island, Co. Cork

Date: 17/10/2011

Time: 08:00-10:00

Weather: F6-7 W-SW, dry with excellent visibility

Observer(s): Derek A. Scott

Manx Shearwater: 2 N

Sooty Shearwater: 3 N

Pomarine Skua: 1 N

Arctic Skua: 3 N

Skua sp: 1 M (Arctic/Pomarine sat on the sea)

Fulmar: 190 N

Kittiwake: 105 N

Auk sp: 231 N

Harbour Porpoise: 6 M

"Undertaken from the comfort of our house, 2.2 km from the extreme south-western tip of the island. Our house is situated about 450 feet above sea-level and faces due south, so that we have a commanding view of the sea between Mizen Head and the tip of Dursey. Sea-watching can be quite good from the door of our house when there is a strong wind from the north-west or west and most birds are tracking WNW into the wind on a course from Mizen Head to Dursey Tip. A good telescope is, however, essential. The disadvantage is that we seldom see anything that is heading south-west past the tip from the north side of the island, as this is much too far away."

Location: Bloody Foreland, Co. Donegal

Date: 15/10/2011

Time: 08:25-11:35

Weather: F2-4 SW, light-nil rain in poor-good visibility

Observer(s): Ralph Sheppard & Chris Ingram

Manx Shearwater: 1 W

Sooty Shearwater: 2 W

Storm Petrel: 1 W

Great Skua (Bonxie): 1 W & 1 E

Arctic Skua: 3 W

Skua sp: 2 E & 1 M

'Commic' Tern: 1 W

Common Scoter: 8 W

Red-throated Diver: 1 W

Great Northern Diver: 13 W & 4 E

Diver sp: 1 W & 1 E

Fulmar: 1 W

Gannet: 535 W & 71 E

Kittiwake: 28 W & 4 E

Guillemot: 26 W

Razorbill: 31 W

Auk sp: 107 W

Black Guillemot: 1 W

Red-breasted Merganser: 1 E

Basking Shark: 1 W

Location: Brownstown Head, Co. Waterford
Date: 15/10/2011

Time: 08:55-12:00
Weather: 5-6 SW, vis moderate, some drizzle

Observer(s): Paul Walsh & Jonathon Bulfin

Great Skua (Bonxie): 2 E
Arctic Skua: 1 E & 1 W
Fulmar: 2 W
Gannet: 20 E, 29 W
Red-throated Diver: 1 W
Diver sp: 1 W
Wigeon: 13 W
Shelduck: 3 W
Kittiwake: 17 E & 159 W
Sandwich Tern: 1 W
Auk sp: 27 E & 34 W

Mid October Seatrack Update

The last Seatrack Target Weekend (1st/2nd Oct) was fairly quiet to say the least with light winds or heavy sea mist hampering seawatch efforts at most sites. The fact that quite a few scarce passerines were picked up at the seawatch sites says it all! 


Last weekend saw some good strong W-NW winds however, resulting in some very nice tallies along the West coast highlighted by plenty of auks, Bonxies, Pomarine Skuas & a smattering of Long-tailed Skuas. Numbers of shearwaters overall dropped off as expected, yet tallies of Manxies & Sooties made it into triple figures at some sites. The first wave of divers, mergansers, diving duck & Barnacle Geese was also picked up on, particularly in the North & North West.

The next Seatrack survey takes places this weekend 15th/16th Oct starting at 08:50. Again the forecast looks settled but the West may get some ok winds on the Sunday. This will be the penultimate survey of the 2011 season. Saying that, quite a few Balearic Shearwaters can often be recorded during this time, especially along the south coast, so do keep an eye out. 

If you're interested in taking part in a Seatrack survey then e-mail Niall Keogh at seatrack@birdwatchireland.ie

Barnacle Goose (Dick Coombes)

Location: Fanad Head, Co. Donegal

Date: 09/10/2011

Time: 12:10-14:40

Weather: F3 W-NW, good visibility with no precipitation

Observer(s): Chris Ingram

Great Skua (Bonxie): 3 W

Pomarine Skua: 8 W

Arctic Skua: 1 W

Arctic Tern: 2 W

Common Scoter: 4 W

Red-throated Diver: 3 W

Great Northern Diver: 1 W

Diver sp: 2 E

Red-breasted Merganser: 2 W

Gannet: 80 milling offshore

Kittiwake: 33 W

Guillemot: 33 W

Razorbill: 52 W

Auk sp: 87 W

Merlin: 1 

Snow Bunting: 10

Location: Bloody Foreland, Co. Donegal

Date: 07/10/2011

Time: 08:15-13:50

Weather: F6 NW, good visibility with no precipitation

Observer(s): Ralph Sheppard, Chris Ingram & Gareth Doherty

Sooty Shearwater: 7 W

Manx Shearwater: 57 W

Leach's Petrel: 7 W

Grey Phalarope: 4 W

Great Skua (Bonxie): 156 W

Pomarine Skua: 77 W

Arctic Skua: 46 W

Skua sp: 17 W

Long-tailed Skua: 7 W

Sabine's Gull: 21 W

Common Tern: 4 W

Arctic Tern: 76 W

Eider: 10 W

Red-throated Diver: 7 W & 2 E

Great Northern Diver: 31 W & 4 E

Diver sp: 1 W & 5 E

Fulmar: 1 W

Gannet: 383 W & 48 E

Kittiwake: 646 W

Guillemot: 6 W

Razorbill: 18 W

Auk sp: 675 W

Barnacle Goose: 216 W

Brent Goose: 15 E

Teal: 4 W

Tufted Duck: 1 W

Red-breasted Merganser: 6 W

Snow Bunting: 3 W

Nice variety with good numbers of auks & skuas. Plenty of wildfowl & divers which is typical for this site at this time of year. 

Location: Bloody Foreland, Co. Donegal

Date: 06/10/2011

Time: 18:00-19:00

Weather: F8/9 W-NW

Observer(s): Gareth Doherty

Sooty Shearwater: 8

Great Skua (Bonxie): 45

Pomarine Skua: 8

Arctic Skua: 38

Plus "countless" Manx Shearwaters & Gannets

Location: Bloody Foreland, Co. Donegal

Date: 01/10/2011

Time: 08:05-11:15

Weather: F1-2 NE-N, excellent visibility with no precipitation.

Observer(s): Ralph Sheppard & Chris Ingram

Sooty Shearwater: 2 W

Manx Shearwater: 4 W

Great Skua (Bonxie): 4 W

Pomarine Skua: 1 W

Arctic Skua: 3 W

Sandwich Tern: 4 W

Arctic Tern: 1 E & 1 M

Common Scoter: 1 E

Red-throated Diver: 4 W & 2 E

Great Northern Diver: 6 W & 5 E

Diver sp: 3 W

Gannet: 366 W & 419 E

Kittiwake: 11 W & 3 E

Guillemot: 10 W

Razorbill: 78 W & 3 E

Auk sp: 254 W & 10 E

Black Guillemot: 2 W & 2 E

Bottlenose Dolphin: 10 W (incl. 2 large calves)

"Given the very settled weather, it could have been worse. The dolphins were amazing. Moving at speed just along the edge of the rocky shore, and surfing the only wave available, which even in these calm conditions is quite a substantial one running diagonally out from the shore at SW-NW, so we got a side view of the surfers in the green water."

Location: Carnsore Point, Co. Wexford

Date: 02/10/2011

Time: 08:30-10:00

Weather: F2-3 S, extremely poor visibility (<200m at times) due to heavy sea mist & drizzle.

Observer(s): Niall T. Keogh

Balearic Shearwater: 1 M

Manx Shearwater: 2 M

Great Skua (Bonxie): 3 M

Sandwich Tern: 2 W

Black Tern: 6 M (1 adult & 5 juveniles)

'Commic' Tern: c.120 M (approx. 90% Common & 10% Roseates)

Gannet: c.40 M

Kittiwake: 6 E & 4 M

Guillemot: 4 E & 2 M

Razorbill: 28 E & 28 M

Auk sp: 13 E

Yellow Wagtail: A juv/1st-winter flew west under the seawatch site

Lapland Bunting: 1 seen in flight & heard calling overhead

"All the action happened within the first 30 minutes with the majority of the birds listed above present in a single milling feeding flock just 300m offshore which dissipated rather quickly. The heavy mist enclosed soon after & hardly a bird could be seen for the next hour, but terns could still be recorded by ear!!!"

Location: Dursey Island, Co. Cork

Date: 01/10/2011

Time: 08:00-11:00

Weather: F3 NE decreasing to F1 NE, good visibility with no precipitation.

Observer(s): Derek A. Scott

Sooty Shearwater: 1 S

Manx Shearwater: 3 S

Great Skua (Bonxie): 2 S & 1 N

Pomarine Skua: 2 S

Common Scoter: 4 N

Great Northern Diver: 2 N

Fulmar: 2 S & 1 N

Kittiwake: 13 S & 6 N

Auk sp: 233 S, 287 N & 30 M 

Minke Whale: 1 N

Common Dolphin: 40 N

Harbour Porpoise: 12 M

"Herewith the sea-watch from the north-west tip of Dursey Island (from ‘Tea Bag Ledge’) on 1 October 2011. A fine dry morning with a light north-easterly breeze - not ideal for sea-watching. The Fulmars have suddenly all gone (and are now worth counting again!), and most of the Manx Shearwaters are long gone."