Epic sea-watches out west

Over the past couple of years due to work commitments etc I couldn’t make it out west for seawatching. But this year I made sure I would get a run at it, again! And I’m very glad I did! Hard to believe this was my first proper west coast seawatch in quite a number of years! On Friday last, myself, Brian Mccloskey and Ger Murray set off for the bridges of Ross in Co, Clare. This is known as Irelands and one of Europes best seawatching sites, and with good reason! The wind conditions had looked promising, hence why we decided to make the journey across. We arrived early evening on the Friday and set off for an evening seawatch. We saw plenty of Cory’s shearwater and a couple of great shearwater (which I finally finds ticked on the Saturday) that evening. But Saturday was the day that looked like we could do well! And this was most certainly the case. A very early start setting the alarm for 5am and leaving the B&B for 5:30 arriving at the ‘hollow’ at the bridges for 5:45 and beginning the day scanning the open waters for seabirds. Not long after we had arrived, Brian Mccloskey called a Wilson’s storm petrel and 1 then became 2. I managed to pick up on both with views of a European storm petrel in the background to show a good comparison of features and size. Wilson’s was a long long awaited lifer for me and a species I have been very keen to get my eye in on for identification purposes! Not long after the first 2, another Wilson’s passed and showed very nicely relatively close in while it fed just off the point. Allowing me great time to take in the key identification features and jizz of the bird while it both fed and flew. Seeing many European storm petrel was highly beneficial on the day also for comparison. A steady flow of Cory’s shearwater again throughout the morning, dying off a times and then beginning to flow again with a total of 1110 Cory’s seen throughout the day (counted with a clicker by Niall Keogh, Brian Mccloskey and myself) There was also a good flow of manx shearwater which is to be expected, but not as many as would be expected which made life a little easier (pardon the pun) when Niall shouted Little shearwater in the mid morning. I just could not pick up on the bird and ran to the bank to view from the point as the bird passed west with manx flocks. Unfortunately this one got away from me! I was a bit gutted to have missed this very rare seabird but didn’t let it ruin or affect my day. Incredibly around 2 hours later, Niall’s father, Noel shouts little shearwater. Deja vu hit, and again I really struggled to pick up this bird and subsequently missed this one also! Gut wrenching as the majority of the group (15 or so of us) had seen it!! I thought that was my last opportunity of the day to get eyes on a little shearwater BUT I was wrong. In the afternoon, Brian Mccloskey picked up an interesting shearwater heading face on towards us and then shouted little shearwater and I have to say I panicked a bit again! Missing the bird as it passed the ‘hollow’ but thankfully after quickly jumping up onto the bank at the point I managed some really nice and fairly prolonged views of the bird. Absolutely no mistaking these small, elegant shearwaters. The flight-style, shape, upper wing, underwing, open white face and watching the bird constantly arching its head skyward left me with no doubts that I was watching a little shearwater! This is now my second Irish little shearwater, both off the bridges!! Throughout the day a small number of skua species passed. Pomarine, Arctic, Long-tailed and Great (with one more very interesting large skua passing which is currently under review regarding identification, stay tuned for this 🤞) Unfortunately I missed the long-tailed early in the morning but saw the others. Lots of Puffin seen throughout as well as Balearic shearwater which is a species in great decline and is becoming difficult to see. Good views of a single bird for me passing the point and another earlier in the day seen by others. A good few sooty shearwater passed throughout the day, 30 plus birds. And a really cool ‘blue’ fulmar which is a colour morph/phase like that of skuas such as Arctic, Pomarine and long-tailed show. An absolutely amazing seawatch, and I have to say I am greatly looking forward to the next! Thanks to Brian Mccloskey for all the driving and brilliant craic with the crew present. Here's when we got confirmation on the Skua!!! Yesterday evening the passage had gone a little quiet and many of us were chatting away when Ger Murray called a great skua type, I managed to get into it very quickly and Ger said it has a pale looking head/nape, this sparked the attention of us all and especially Brian Mccloskey, Brian was very intrigued by the bird and began to video it as it flew west quite distantly. We then ran up onto the point and watched it flying very distantly towards Loop head. After reviewing the footage and screengrabs it was getting very exciting, could this be Ireland’s (land based) first South polar skua?!!! And now after feedback from several very experienced birders and seawatchers we have received nothing but really strong feedback for this bird being a South polar! An absolutely amazing experience to be a park of and see this amazing bird on one of the best Irish seawatches of all time! It was with the 5am roll out of bed and 14 plus hour seawatch stint!!! Footage below and screengrabs are by Brian Mccloskey. Congratulations to Ger and Brian for this amazing performance! And to all present, a team effort 🤝 Brian Mccloskeys message to the rare bird group South Polar Skua - Bridges of Ross. Yesterday evening at 17:23, Gerard Murray picked up a Skua at mid-range. Once getting onto the bird, it was immediately apparent that this was an excellent candidate for South Polar Skua! Although no moult info could be discerned for certain, a combination of structural and other plumage feaures pointed towards South Polar Skua. No features were indicative of Great Skua. Six of us watched the bird for approximately 3 minutes before it disappeared west, over the slabs. My video grabs looked very promising but we needed a second opinion. Thank you to Killian Mullarney, Niall Keogh and Dani Lopez Velasco for their excellent feedback. First land based record for Ireland, if accepted. Six observers include Gerard Murray, Brian McCloskey, Cian Cardiff, Victor Caschera, Jim Dowdall, Ger Walshe. Video grabs from Brian Mccloskey below.