Seawatch - 19th of May 2014

Weather: Overcast with occasional light rain. Calm (F0-1) with infrequent light NE breeze.

Count totals:

• Red-throated Diver: 1 adult summer north
• Great Northern Diver: 2 adult summer north
• Fulmar: 17 north & 1 south
• Manx Shearwater: 72 north & 14 south
• Gannet: 57 north & 104 south
• Common Scoter: 38 north & 4 south
• Dunlin: 2 summer-plumaged birds north
• Unidentified Waders: 24 north and 1 south
• Turnstone: 3 summer-plumaged individuals north
• Great Skua: 1 passing north - briefly chasing a pair of Kittiwakes
• Arctic Skua: 1 south - briefly harassing some terns
• Long-tailed Skua: 2 adult summers flying north giving good views about 500-600 meters offshore
• Black-headed Gull: 8 immatures north
• Kittiwake: 148 north & 58 south
• Roseate Tern: 1 adult summer north
• Commic Tern: 63 north & 5 south
• Black Guillemot: 1 adult summer south
• Guillemot: 8 north & 11 south
• Razorbill: 4 north & 4 south
• Razorbill/Guillemot: 1257 north & 127 south
• Swallow: 3 north & 4 south
• Not counted: Sandwich Tern, Cormorant, Shag, Shelduck, various gulls

On the Islands:

•  Maiden Rock: 9 Cormorants, 38 Common/Arctic Terns, 1 Great Black-backed Gull and 1 first-summer Little Gull.
• Clare Rock: 13 Cormorants, 1 Shag, 1 each of Herring & Great Black-backed Gull
• Lamb Island: 22 Herring Gull, 3 Great Black-backed Gull, 1 Oystercatcher, 1 Cormorant, 4 Arctic Terns
• The Muglins: 17 Herring Gull, 4 Great Black-backed Gull and 1 Shag
• Dalkey Island: 8 Oystercatcher, 11 Great Black-backed Gull, 3 Herring Gull, 1 Swift, 1 Wheatear, Swallow, Jackdaw, Hooded Crow, Starling.

Probably one of the best seawatches I have had from Coliemore! The obvious highlight was the pair of Long-tailed Skuas flying north not too far offshore - the species is quite rare on the Irish east coast with only a handful of recent records from Dublin and Wicklow (including one record on the same date 5 years ago from Kilcoole). The other two skua species were a nice bonus as well and are recorded in small numbers every year in County Dublin. The final icing on the cake was a first-summer Little Gull hanging around the tern colony on Maiden Rock. It roosted with the terns for several minutes before flying off. Little Gulls are regular off Coliemore, but most sightings are in winter during easterly storms.

Good numbers of commoner seabirds, including the highest personal site count of auks (1,358). The unidentified waders were probably all Dunlin, plus one probable Bar-tailed Godwit flying with a flock of Gannets (!) but all were too far offshore to be 100% certain.

The seabird passage was associated with a Mesoscale Convective System moving through the central and eastern Irish Sea, with very heavy rainfall and numerous lightning strikes. I wonder if this inclement weather forced the different seabirds to move to the western Irish Sea?

Met Eireann Weather Radar: Heavy rain indicated by yellow & orange

Lightning Strikes shown by red dots