Of late there has been an incredible movement of pomarine skuas off the cork headlands with figures such as 81 being recorded from galley head, 62 from ballycotton, and similar numbers being recorded from waterford headlands.
As I hadn't done a proper seawatch yet this year; I decided to give the old head a try. So, at 5pm I met with Brian L and Harry H. We gave the plantation and the gulley at the old head a brief look, resulting in no more than a singing whitethroat on territory.
We arrived at the goldcourse at about 6:30pm and from here, we made our way to the "hollow", which was very much sheltered from the strong (20mph) South-Westerly wind. The sea looked perfect. Conditions were overcast with plenty of white horses on the sea surface. The first thing that struck us was the count of manx. There was a constant stream moving West. A one minute counted yielded an approximate 40 manx. So, roughly speaking this averages at 2400 manx per hour. As well as the manx, there were plenty of auks moving West. These included razorbill, guillemot, and a total of 18 puffins. The puffins were usually noted in groups of three to four.
One disappointing and unusual side to the seawatch was the lack of pomarine skuas! We had none. Absolutely none. This wasnt down to a lack of trying; we hardly left our eyes from the sea! The part we couldnt understand was, the night before observers from various headlands saw quite impressive numbers of the species, including a count of 38 from ballycotton, recorded up until 9pm the previous night. Whatever happened, ther just weren't there. I'm sure we'll get some later in the year. A nice bonus to this seawatch were two very close great skuas, also known as bonxies. These gave scoep filling views as they pumped their way west through the harsh conditions. Another nice addition to the day's haul was a mid-distance storm petrel.
At about 8:30pm, with no pomarine skuas and the rain, cold and dark beginning to set in; we decided to call it a day. But, watch this space - i'll get some pom's yet :P
Posts
