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 and the BirdWatch
Ireland Clare & Limerick Branches.
Balearic Shearwater: 2
Sooty Shearwater: 30
Manx Shearwater: 395+ (06:30-09:55)
Fulmar: 190+ (06:30-09:55)
Storm Petrel: 142
Gannet: 450+ incl. 4 juvs (06:30-09:55)
Kittiwake: 96 incl. 34 juvs (06:30-10:30)
Common Scoter: 7 (6 males + 1 female)
Great Skua (Bonxie): 4
Pomarine Skua: 1 pale phase
Arctic Skua: 12
Black Tern: 1 juv.
Arctic Tern: 12
Razorbill: 38
Guillemot: 4
Puffin: 2
Black Guillemot: 1
Black-headed Gull: 1
Whimbrel: 9
Black-tailed Godwit: 11
Spotted Redshank: 1 flew North at
10:20
Chough: 2
Willow Warbler: a tired migrant juvenile landed on a seawatchers
chair!
Bottlenose Dolphin: 8-10 in the morning.
Common Dolphin: 30+ in the morning.
Leatherback Turtle:
Two sightings of (different?) individuals showing well, resting at the surface
for c.1 minute at 07:33 & 09:50.
About 40 people showed up this morning at 10am for the Heritage Week seawatching event hosted by the BirdWatch Ireland Clare & Limerick Branches
but unfortunately by that stage most of the morning passage had died off and
any Manxies that did go by were very distant. Saying that, nice views of
Gannets & Fulmars along with a few Common Scoter and a surprise flyover
Spotted Redshank provided plenty of interest as did some very obliging
Bottlenose Dolphins which passed by close inshore on two occasions.
Some of us skived off up to Loop Head this afternoon for the IWDG Whale Watch
event, also part of Heritage Week. Sightings from here included 1 Balearic Shearwater,
1 Sooty Shearwater, 1 Great Skua
(Bonxie), 5 Whimbrel, 12-14 Bottlenose Dolphins, 1 Minke Whale, a distant blow
from a large whale sp. & an Ocean Sunfish.
So all in all a similar days seawatching to yesterday with the majority of the
passage noted in the first few hours followed up by a very dull afternoon. A surprising day total of Storm Petrel but most were mid-distant however.
‘Bird of the Day’ goes to the Leatherback Turtle!
 |
| Bridges of Ross Heritage Week event © Niall Keogh |
 |
| Leatherback Turtle, Bridges of Ross, 29th August 2010 © Mike Flanagan |
