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2019 Irish Seabirds & Whales Trip Report

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2019 Irish Seabirds & Whales Trip Report Shearwater Wildlife Tours/Yorkshire Coast Nature Irish Seabirds and Cetaceans Adventure Tour 18th to 22nd July 2019 Trip Report written by Niall T. Keogh Trip Organiser: Paul Connaughton and Richard Baines Tour Leaders: Mark Pearson (YCN) and Niall T. Keogh (SWT) Shearwater Wildlife Tours Yorkshire Coast Nature Cover pic: juvenile Wilson’s Storm-petrel © Mark Pearson Day 1: Thursday 18th July The 2019 Irish Adventure started at Cork Airport where participants and tour leaders met up, hopped in a bus and headed west for wind, waves, dolphins and seabirds! West Cork is well known for its rugged coastline, featuring bays, coves and estuaries aplenty where excellent sites for waterbirds can be found around almost every bend in the road. Our first stop on the tour was Kinsale Marsh. Flocks of Icelandic Black-tailed Godwits put on a good show here along with other early returning waterbird migrants such as Shelduck, Curlew, Redshank, a few Common Sandpipers, Greenshank and a single Knot. After that it was on to Kinsale Pier where the rocky shore produced 15 Mediterranean Gulls, some Sandwich Terns, Shags, Rock Pipits and good views of Hooded Crows! We got our first look at Manx Shearwater here as a foraging flock wheeled around offshore. House Martins buzzed about before an excellent lunch was laid on. With the scenic Old Head of Kinsale just down the road we made our way over to check out the cliff nesting seabird colony there. Even though activity generally winds down at this stage of the summer, it was still a busy view across the steep cliffs where Kittiwake, Guillemot, Razorbill and Fulmar could be seen along with Black Guillemots in the water below. Raven called from the top of the nearby castle while out first Chough of the trip sailed by for nice views of their acrobatic flight style. Stonechat and Peregrine rounded off the set of clifftop birds. The estuary at Timoleague was up next, with more in the way of Mediterranean Gulls, Little Egrets, Curlew, Shelduck, Common Sandpipers, Redshank and Rock Pipits while Swifts screamed around overhead. A short stop at Ring Pier for gulls added Lesser Black-backed and Common Gulls to the trip list. A flock of some 30 Sandwich Terns there were viewed while two Stock Doves were noted in flight over the nearby woodland. Continuing north alongside Clonakilty Estuary we stopped to scan through more flocks of waders and gulls with Whimbrel seen and views of the heron colony site where 30 Little Egrets were perched in the trees including many recently fledged juveniles. After that we retired to our accommodation and were then treated to some fine dining in a nearby restaurant, followed by a pint in a cosy local pub. Bird guiding skills of the highest standard! Day 2: Friday 19th July The day’s activities started at Rosscarbery, an estuary well known among birders for its ability to attract a nice variety of waders, wildfowl and gulls. A fine flock of 14 Greenshank stood out among the Curlew and Black-tailed Godwits, with Whimbrel, several Mediterranean Gulls, Sandwich Terns and Little Egrets thrown in for good measure. Chough and Peregrine flew over, while searching the nearby hedgerows and woods added Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Long-tailed Tit and the endemic hibernicus subspecies of Coal Tit to our list. We continued along to Owenahincha Beach and Castlefreke Forest Park (where we had nice views of a family party of Treecreepers) and Rathbarry (where we watched a pair of Spotted Flycatchers bringing food to a nest site. A beachcombing walk along the stunning Long Strand in brisk salty winds saw Sandwich Terns and Gannets close offshore plus Wheatear and Sand Martin along the low sandy cliffs. After a short land based seawatch at Cloghna Head, we visited the ancient stone circle site at Drombeg. From there it was on to Baltimore where we caught the ferry to Cape Clear Island for the rest of the weekend. The ferry crossing through Roaringwater Bay brought close looks at Black Guillemots, Manx Shearwaters, some inquisitive Atlantic Grey Seals and more typically shy Harbour Porpoise. Once on the island we settled into our accommodation for the weekend before heading down to Cotter’s Bar for dinner and a pint. The group enjoying some refreshments in Cotter’s Bar! Day 3: Saturday 20th July Eager to head out to sea we made for the North Harbour on Cape straight after breakfast where we met our skipper, Michael John O’Cadogan. After a briefing and safety tour we were off, heading south of the island and into the Celtic Sea for seabirds and cetaceans! We were greeted by bright sunshine, clear skies and a light southwesterly wind. Foraging flocks of Gannets were seen close to shore and as we headed out, we passed through flocks of commuting Guillemots, Razorbills and Manx Shearwaters. After a while we started seeing enough European Storm-petrels to warrant some chumming to try enticing them in closer. The magic mix went into the water and we set to work. Nice views were had of the ‘stormies’ plus a small gathering of gulls and Fulmars. A single Sooty Shearwater zoomed past in the distance and some Great Skuas made a pass of the boat, but it was clear this wasn’t a day for the birds (mostly due to the light winds). European Storm-petrel showing the diagnostic white underwing pattern © Mark Pearson Great Skua © Mark Pearson The stars of the show however were the Short-beaked Common Dolphins, of which we had prolonged encounters with several small groups. Playful as always, they came in for a look at us as much as we looked at them! It was hard to get tired of the dolphins, but our attention was diverted away from them for a while when an Ocean Sunfish was spotted! Some expert manoeuvring of the boat allowed excellent looks at this bizzare oceanic wanderer. Sated with showy dolphins and a nice first taster of what the waters off West Cork have to offer, we steamed back towards the island by late morning. Amazing close views of Short-beaked Common Dolphin surfacing close to the boat © Mark Pearson Classic view of an Ocean Sunfish © Mark Pearson After lunch we toured the west half of the island, taking in the sunshine, wonderful scenery and legendary birding sites such as Cotter’s garden, the High Road, the Low Road(!), West Bog, Central Bog, East Bog and Lough Errul. Singing Sedge Warblers and Whitethroats were plentiful along with some Willow Warblers and a Chiffchaff. We enjoyed nice flight views of Peregrine, Chough and Raven. Other species typical of rocky and scrubby west coast habitat included Stonechat, Wheatear, Rock Pipit and a wonderful flock of wild-type Rock Doves were examined at great length around the feeding station in Mary Cadogan’s garden. After dinner in Cotter’s Bar we joined up with Steve Wing (BirdWatch Ireland / Cape Clear Bird Observatory Warden) for some European Storm-petrel ringing. Mist-nets were set up at a small cove near the observatory and tape lures were switched on. It took a while for the birds to come in but we eventually got to see four of these wonderful birds up close in the hand as Steve weighed, measured, ringed and released them safely back into the night. But not before we got a sniff of that lovely, musty, old book mixed with a slight hint of fish smell! Must be tried at least once in your life! European Storm-petrel ringed by Steve Wing (Cape Clear Bird Observatory) © Mark Pearson Day 4: Sunday 21st July With freshening winds from the southwest, we headed out to sea from Cape early in the morning for our second pelagic trip of the weekend. A fast approaching weather system from the Atlantic was heading our way and having hatched a plan with the skipper the night before we aimed to get out around the Fastnet Lighthouse for a couple of hours while the sea conditions were still ok and back in before it got too lumpy. The idea was to catch up with seabirds moving ahead of this system…and it worked! Straight from the off it was clear more birds were about compared to yesterday, with a steady stream of Manx Shearwaters heading south past the Fastnet. We placed ourselves in the middle of this stream of birds and got to work with the chum. In came the gulls, Gannets, Fulmars, a couple of Great Skuas and no sooner had the number of European Storm-petrels begun to increase when our first Wilson’s Storm-petrel showed up off the stern! Hurrah! Juvenile Wilson’s Storm-petrel showing off the characteristic pale upperwing covert bars and long legs trailing past the tail © Mark Pearson Fantastic views were had at close range and alongside ‘Euro Stormies’, allowing all salient identification features to be noted and taken in. The bird made several passes of the boat before heading on down the chum slick line. We repositioned to get better views when a second Wilson’s showed up! During all of this excitement three Cory’s Shearwaters (noted as borealis based on underwing pattern) made some stunning close flybys of the boat along with a Sooty Shearwater, an Arctic Skua and an Arctic Tern thrown in for good measure. The total number of European Storm- petrels with us was easily 150 or more. It’s worth mentioning that views of the Wilson’s were so good that we could age one of them as a juvenile based on the lack of obvious wing moult.
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