Where are all the seawatchers? (1 Viewer)

Stephen Dunstan

Registered User

• Aug 21, 2003

• #61

Sounds like some friends of mine have hit the jackpot over in Ireland, not for the first time in one case.

Fea's do very occasionally end up in the Irish Sea as far up as the Isle of Man, as birds at Formby Point and Walney Island show.

Stephen.

 

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Ian Virco

Member

• Aug 21, 2003

• #62

I'm waiting for a good blow from the South West or West then i'm off to Gwennapp Head or Pendeen at the end of Cornwall to sit in the wind & rain staring out to sea! & we think fishing is an odd hobby!
there have been reports of all the expected sea birds plus a few rarities so far so i'm hopeful of a good passage of birds come the right weather,oh & just to upset some,i had FEA'S past Gwennapp on the 26-8-1999!

 

H

HH75

Well-known member

• Aug 22, 2003

• #63

Hi all,
Darrell/Michael:While those birders from Nuneaton may have been stringy,these guys(unfortunately)aren't!
Stephen:Give my regards to Chris,and ask him how he does it?;-)
Ian:No-one likes a sore winner...;-)
CJW:If these winds WERE SW,then why did I only have 2 Sooty Shearwaters at Galley Head from 3:30-8pm yesterday,with very few common seabirds either?
Fingers crossed for this evening,but time is running out for another year...
Harry H

 

Michael Frankis

conehead

• Aug 22, 2003

• #64

Harry Hussey said:

If these winds WERE SW,then why did I only have 2 Sooty Shearwaters at Galley Head from 3:30-8pm yesterday,with very few common seabirds either?

Click to expand...

Hi Harry,

It was pretty near straight west yesterday morning, and not very strong in southern Ireland :
http://217.160.176.95/wz/pics/archive/2003/brack/bracka20030821.gif
- not good conditions for seabird passage along the south coast. Probably best somewhere like Donegal yesterday (or even more so, the Outer Hebrides), closer to the centre of the depression

Michael

 

H

HH75

Well-known member

• Aug 23, 2003

• #65

Hi Michael,
That explains things,but it WAS forecast to be SW!When are we going to get a decent day down here?Maybe next year?
Pelagic last night was very quiet:3 Bonxies,1-2 Great Shears and 2 Sooties.Good no's of Stormies,but no Wilson's.
Admittedly,the coast off of Cork Harbour isn't renowned for feeding concentrations of seabirds(though we did have a Wilson's on the only previous pelagic from Cobh in Aug.2000),and hopefully tomorrow morning's pelagic in west Cork will be better.
We'll have Killian on board,so it should be possible to ID stuff like Brown Skua,Madeiran Storm-petrel,Fea's/Zino's to species etc if present...;-)
Harry H

 

Michael Frankis

conehead

• Aug 23, 2003

• #66

Hi Harry,

Good luck, enjoy your White-faced Petrel o

Michael

 

H

HH75

Well-known member

• Aug 23, 2003

• #67

Hi Michael,
"Good luck, enjoy your White-faced Petrel "
Wouldn't mind that at all,or anything that I haven't seen yet!
Harry H
P.S.My outside bet is for some species of albatross:a friend of mine was talking to a fisherman who has seen a huge bird "like a glider" in the rough area,bigger than a Gannet and longer-winged...

 

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Ian Virco

Member

• Aug 23, 2003

• #68

Atention all sea watchers in England (& beyond!) the long range weather forcast pridicts a low comming across the Atlantic latter in the week, normally ideal conditions to go to the end of Cornwall & seawatch,if it does look good i'll be down there!
So check how much 'sick leave' you have & keep an eye on the weather forcast! IAN

 

Jasonbirder

Jason-occasional-twitcher

• Aug 24, 2003

• #69

Where are all the Seawatchers?

This ones arrived back home despondent...after a fortnight in Cornwall and a daily watch at Porthgwarra i`ve come home with nothing but a perverse satisfaction in counting Storm Petrels!!

2 Weeks produced 2 Sooty Shearwaters and about 20 Balearics...not a single Big `shear in sight.

And to add insult to injury the Scillonian III pelagic was very poor too...reckon its Ireland for me next year after seeing the mouthwatering reports from Bridges of Ross, a site i`ve never visited.

 

H

HH75

Well-known member

• Aug 24, 2003

• #70

Hi Jason,
It's not all coming up roses over here in Ireland:a very poor seawatching season so far!That said,it's not too late yet.
The West Cork pelagic this morning was better than the Cobh one,with pride of place going to a Wilson's Petrel,though this was very elusive and not everyone on board saw it(I did).Also of note were a few Bonxies(at least 7?),5-6 Great Shears,similar numbers of Sooties,a juv.Little Gull and both Common and Arctic Terns.
Spectacle of the day were the Common Dolphins that sped along just in front of the boat(one of them sprayed me when exhaling through its blowhole,they were that close!)
Biggest excitement of the trip was when a birder called a possible Soft-plumaged from the back of the boat,but regrettably this related to poor views of a Great Shear(I may point out that the birder in question is quite experienced,and called the bird so that we could get on to it rather than wait until he was 100% sure,by which time it may have gone had it been one!).
Harry H

 

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Ian Virco

Member

• Aug 27, 2003

• #71

The long range forcast was right,a low has come across the Atlantic but its gone & parked itself in the Bay of Biscay leaving the UK with a run of generally northerly winds(east through the Channel) i'm off to west Cornwall for a few days,probably wont be much good for seawatching but i might give it a go,could even be worth trying the Lizzard Point in Easterly's,still i'll report in to this forum when i get home again. IAN

 

Michael Frankis

conehead

• Aug 27, 2003

• #72

Hi Ian,

Don't know if you've seen my posts from St Mary's Island, but the seawatching on the NE English coast is excellent these last 3 days

Michael

 

D

Darrell Clegg

Well-known member

• Aug 27, 2003

• #73

Cornwall is still very quiet. I spent yesterday morning in the rain scanning the ocean in the hope of something good.

4 Common Scoter was the best I could do


Darrell

 

POP

Registered User

• Aug 27, 2003

• #74

St Ives can be very good with NWs winds,might be a tad early.

John

 

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Darrell Clegg

Well-known member

• Aug 27, 2003

• #75

It's not too early for St Ives. Anytime from mid July to mid November can be good there. NW winds are essential, but they have to occur after a couple of days of SW's or else you don't get much passage.
The reason St Ives is so good is that it's at the head of a bay. SW winds push birds into St Georges Channel and keep them there. when the wind goes round to the NW birds can continue, but being tired they are pushed into the bay by the NW wind and have to pass right under the noses of Seawatchers on St Ives island in order to make it back to the open sea.

Straight NW winds, will produce some passage but not enough to make it a 'classic' seawatch

Darrell

 

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Ian Virco

Member

• Aug 30, 2003

• #76

Just back from Cornwall today (saturday),Sea watching non-existant,someone did have a Cory's off Pendeen this morning & a few birds where seen past St Ives yesterday,but the wind was in the wrong direction for a good passage of Sea birds.
A point worth noting was although it was bad for sea birds the wind direction blew lots of passerines to the end of Cornwall, Chats & Flycatchers,plus scarcities like Red Backed Shrike, Wryneck & Ortolan Bunting.almost all sites that are good for sea watching are also places (or near to places) where migrant land birds turn up,so if your planned sea watch turns out to be just that, watching an empty sea there is probably other good birding to be had at or near your chosen venue,i would still like a good on shore blow down the south west,but as you see all was not lost! IAN.