Someone sent this list to me of recent (and not so recent) seabird claims. Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think any of these are on the official record books...
Yellow-nosed Albatross south of The Lizard, Cornwall
Southern Giant Petrel Wolf Rock, Cornwall
Southern Giant Petrel Islay, Argyll
Southern Giant Petrel Flamborough Head, East Yorkshire
Great-winged Petrel Flamborough Head, East Yorkshire (twice)
Trindade Petrel Flamborough Head, East Yorkshire
Trindade Petrel Pendeen Watch, Cornwall
Soft-plumaged Petrel Flamborough Head, East Yorkshire
Atlantic Petrel Pendeen Watch, Cornwall
Atlantic Petrel Flamborough Head, East Yorkshire
White-chinned Petrel Flamborough Head, East Yorkshire
Red-legged Kittiwake Flamborough Head, East Yorkshire
Glaucous-winged Gull Flamborough Head, East Yorkshire
Parakeet Auklet Whitburn, County Durham (twice)
Parakeet Auklet Brora, Highland
Tufted Puffin Portland Bill, Dorset
Brown Booby Point Lynas, Anglesey
South American Tern North Hykeham, Lincolnshire
Antarctic Tern Penmon Point, Anglesey
Black-bellied Storm Petrel Sheringham, Norfolk
Cape Verde Shearwater Cape Clear, Cork
Madeiran Petrel Pendeen Watch, Cornwall (thrice)
South Polar Skua Loop Head, Clare
Bulwers Petrel Walney
Audubons Shearwater Whitburn, County Durham
Bulwers Petrel Selsey Bill (twice)
Elegant Tern Porthgwarra
Red-billed Tropicbird Scillonian (twice)
Yelkouan Shearwaters Cornwall, usually twice every day
Brown Noddy Belfast
South Polar Skua St Ives, Cornwall
Cape Gannet various
Great Frigatebird Filey
Audubons Shearwater Devon
Swinhoes Petrel Suffolk, Wirral, East Yorkshire, Devon
Grey-headed Albatross Cromer,
Zinos Petrel Strumble Head
Bulwers Petrel Hornsea
Bulwers Petrel Lunan Bay
Black-capped Petrel Girdle Ness
South Polar Skua Western Approaches
Townsends Shearwater Western Approaches
Brown Pelican Cape Clear (5)
White-faced Petrel Pembrokeshire
Masked Booby Isle of Wight
Masked Booby Porthgwarra
Magnificent Frigatebird Huddersfield
White-cheeked Tern Dungeness
Royal Tern St Marys
Royal Tern St Ives, Cornwall
Scopolis Shearwater Flamborough Head (several)
Scopolis Shearwater Bridges of Ross
Brown Booby Cape Clear
Feas Petrel Hoylake
Bulwers Petrel Leasowe
Short-tailed Shearwater Flamborough Head
Its a bit like the Atlantic Odyssey - without any photographs!
Anyone like to claim them - I understand several claims may have been made by BF regulars...
cheers, alan
Bonsoir,
I will put my hand up for one of them. South Polar Skua off Loop Head in August 2006.
Three of us went over for a seawatching trip of the Bridges of Ross immediately after the Ultimate Pelagic. Our hopes were not high as conditions were far from ideal. On just such a non ideal day, the morning passage had died off and so two of us decided we'd go off up Loop Head to look at the large raft of shearwaters we remembered seeing there in 96.
The shearwaters were in place but nothing interesting was amongst them. A couple of Arctic Skuas were zapping around half heartedly hassling a few shears and the odd passing tern, but apart from that it was quiet. I scanned off out to the left and picked up an all dark Skua with what appeared to be a yellow collar and announced I'd got a nice dark phase adult Pom. This was even though I had a very uneasy feeling that it really did not compute for an adult Pom, where were the 'spoons'?? Why did it have such large and luminous neat white wing patches??
I gave directions to the bird which had now actually joined a couple of Great Skuas and remarkably, a light phase sub adult Pom Skua. My friend got onto exactly the same bird but was equally puzzled as to why it was a Pom and not a Bonxie.
From memory, the description of the bird was that it was wholly all dark, we described it as Bournville dark chocolate coloured. It was very monotone in colour, not black but a very dark brown with a hint of greyness which gave it a remarkably cold appearance. The only feature that stood out on the head and body was what we could now see was fine yellow streakiing that extended from the back of the neck down the sides of the bird's neck. It was in absolutely pristine plumage. Other plumage features that we noted were the neat black underwing coverts, this area was the darkest area on the bird but still did not contrast very strongly with the body but did contrast quite strongly with, obviously the white wing flash and the more silvery underside of the primaries and secondaries. There were very few markings on the body, just a very small amount of irregularly placed just about noticeable flecking on the back.
The white wing flashes were absolutely shockingly white in direct contrast to the darkness of the bird and this was quite a stunning feature, it looked like they were illuminated!!
We also noted that the middle two or three tail feathers projected slightly and that the shafts of the tail feathers were white. This was noticable when the bird stalled in the air and spread it's tail wide.
In total we had the bird for about 15 minutes, it had stayed around while the other skuas passed through. The last time I saw it it had been sitting distantly out on the water and I thought that was where we had left it when we left but it had actually flown off in the general direction of the Bridges. I was off up the hill behind us, vainly trying to get a mobile signal (my 2nd or 3rd attempt I might add) at this point and this is where the confusion about us bogging off and leaving it sat on the water came from. The bird did not come in very close after we first saw it and I would estimate we watched it from about 500-750 metres to about double this distance when it was on view, it was lazilly loafing around basically and sitting on the water three or four times at varying distances.
Our description states that we did not notice a pale nose band and given that this would have been obvious we summised that the bird did not have one although we were unaware at the time that this was a feature on many SPS's.
Size wise, from direct comparison with a Great Skua we noted that the bird was slighter, not so powerful and had slightly thinner wings. A smaller head and less heavy all dark bill were also noted.
We decided to go back to the Bridges and see if anyone had seen anything pass there and to pick up the third member of our party who we had left there earlier. Our over riding feeling was one of confusion and dread. We both knew we had seen a bird that we could not readily identify. I know I am not and never will be the best birder in the country, but with about 40 years of birding experience between us that was a pretty disconcerting feeling I can tell you!!
We picked up our friend and hurried back to the B & B to pick up our books. We actually refused to open the books until we had convened in the pub and before we did so we ordered and double checked my friend's hastilly scribbled notes to make sure that nothing from the books coloured our description. We also had not had 5 pints of the black stuff each by this point either!!
Over two hours after seeing it we realised that what we had seen was almost certainly a dark phase adult South Polar Skua. We both had thought as we were watching it that it could well be a Southern Skua of some type and that accounted for the feeling of dread as they are practically impossible to id for certain with the possibility of dark, I think juv, Great Skuas being the chief reason.
We felt it was not a Great Skua because of the paucity of markings on the upperside of the wings and the body, no capped effect (we remarked that it had a slightly darker hooded effect suggesting a Black-headed Gull) but definately no cap. No warm tones to the plumage at all. No gingery tones whatsoever.
My friend tried to get photos with his brand new camera but had then and in fact still now has not managed to fathom out digiscoping.
At this point I rang a friend in the UK who had lived in Cape May on and off for a few summers and had been out on the Hatteras pelagics to pick his brain about what he could remember about SPS's. He was on his way back from seeing the White Pelican that was knocking about in Lancashire at the time and had a guy in car with him who runs one of the bird info services on the web. This is how the news was released slightly incorrectly that the bird was seen from the Bridges when it in fact was not and had us accused on here of suppressing the bird from people we were sitting next to, something which would be utterly ludicrous and not something we would ever do. The reason the news was not released instantly by us was because firstly we did not really know what the hell we had just seen (yes we suspected SPS but we did not really believe that is the conclusion we would later come to) and secondly we did not want to put news out of such a potential mega, and a practically impossible one to id to boot without being more sure. We recounted our story to a local birder shortly afterwards without knowing that the sighting had already been reported. We were quite shocked when we saw the thread on the bird when we got home and did not really want to get involved in it to be honest.
We fully expected to open the Skuas field guide later and just find that we had seen a very dark Great Skua.
I can't remember much more details, but it is also worth saying that my friend had experience of some of the southern Skua group from a trip to Antartica on the Agullas (please forgive the spelling) in 2004 I think.
A description was submitted to the IRBC but quite frankly I don't think it stood a cat in hells chance of acceptance without photographs. Even with photographs it's chances would have been as thin as a racing snake! But the record is there just in case they ever get sussed out and our bird fits into the suite of characters needed to clinch one.
Cordialement et a bientot,
Jonathan
