Mega July seawatch for SW IRELAND - MADEIRAN PETREL

On Sunday 18 July, weather conditions were just right to cash in on a bonanza seawatch from headlands in the southwest of IRELAND and Galley Head certainly did not disappoint...

The day's haul included a MADEIRAN PETREL (at 0815 hours), no less than 10 WILSON'S STORM PETRELS and an immature LONG-TAILED SKUA

The final counts for the day were as follows (taken from Owen Foley's website) -:
*MADEIRAN PETREL*
10 Wilson's Storm Petrels
12 Sooty Shearwater
7 Balearic Shearwater
9 Great Skuas
3 Arctic Skua
1 Pomarine Skua
1 Long-tailed Skua
1 adult Common Tern
1 juvenile Arctic Tern
4 Sandwich Tern
30-40 Puffin
13 Common Scoter

With the general warming up of the ocean currents around the British Isles and Ireland, species such as this will no doubt appear more and more and prospects for Pendeen Watchpoint in West Cornwall have never been as exciting. To be in with a chance though, careful study of the frontal systems is essential.....