The Mighty Bridges
I am off to the Bridges of Ross this evening for my annual bank holiday seawatching bonanza.
I do indeed agree with Tom that if you want to maximize your seawatching potential, this is definitely the place to go. The best thing about the site is that the birds that you see, you see well - with the near line of birds often passing within 250 yards of the coast. The site is very different to that of Cornish seawatching - in Cornwall, seawatching sites such as Pendeen and Porthgwarra are headlands whereas Bridges of Ross is positioned several kilometres north-east of the headland of Loop Head. So far as I can understand, birds pass into the bay extending to the north to the Cliffs of Moher and Quilty and then filter out, hugging the coast, south-westwards at the Bridges of Ross (before reaching the much higher, exposed headland of Loop Head).
Tom mentions that both large shearwaters are 'guaranteed' at the Bridges with much higher numbers than in Cornwall. I believe that, certainly this year, this is not the case. Cornwall has recorded small numbers of Great and Cory's this August, whereas despite being watched on a daily basis since at least last Wednesday I do not recall a single record of either large shearwater species from the Bridges. Indeed, in previous trips, I have not recorded more than a handful of each in total (although I have yet to be present in a big shearwater year) whereas in summer 2002 I witnessed over 90 Great Shears past PG in a day.
The composition of species is different at the Bridges compared to Cornwall due to the former's more northerly location. There is a much stronger chance of Long-tailed Skua and Leach's Petrel at Bridges in addition to a much larger volume of commoner species such as Manxies and, indeed, Sooty Shearwater (I saw over 500 of these in a day in 2002).
It is, however, the realistic prospect of something out of the ordinary that draws people to the Bridges - the odds of a presumed Fea's flying by in the Bank holiday period plus or minus a day are greater than 50%, with this species having been recorded in late August in 2000, 2002, 2003 and now 2004. What is most extraordinary is that this species does not necessarily need the perfect north-westerly weather to occur - indeed the bird that I saw (with 25 other people) flew by mid distance on a south-easterly.
2002 was the start of the annual observation of Wilson's Petrel from the Bridges, and last year I was witness to at least 4 birds as they fluttered around the cove with many Stormies sheltering from the north-westerly. This species, in my opinion, is more likely to be seen at the Bridges than either of the large shearwaters. Indeed this year it has past by on an almost daily basis during the last week!
I hope that this info is of some help to you all, and I hope to see some of you there in the years to come. A Little Shear would go down well this year...
Cheers
Rich