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© BirdWatch Mayo
2010
Seawatch Sightings - 2008

20th November - Kilcummin Head
Total for 0900-1600 hrs
51 Grey Phalarope, 1 Little Auk, 6 Twite, 6 Common Scoter, 7 Great Northern Diver, 6 Red-throated Diver
Small passage of common auks, gulls and Gannets
(S Feeney)

27th October - Kilcummin Head
2 Manx Shearwater, 2 Great Skuas, 4 Grey Phalaropes, 26 Great Northern Divers, 1 Red-throated Diver
16 Snow Buntings (including a flock of 12), 1 Leach's Petrel, 6 Storm Petrel, 1 juvenile Arctic Tern, 1 Pink -footed Goose
Other birds seen include Rock Dove, Raven, Merlin, Common Scoter, Barnacle and Light-bellied Brent Geese
A couple of thousand kittiwakes, and good numbers of auks and small numbers of Gannets
(S Feeney, M Bell)


26th October - Kilcummin Head
Total for 0700-1630 hrs
2 Sooty Shearwater, 8 Manx Sheawater, 4 Storm Petrel, 1 Great Skua, 2 Pomarine Skuas, 1 Sabine's Gull
1 Red-throated Diver, 31 Great-northern Diver, 8 Grey Phalarope, Bunting (including a flock of eleven)
There was a light but steady passage of auks all day, but no Little Auk, good numbers of Gannets and Kittiwake also.
(S Feeney, J Donaldson)


19th October - Kilcummin Head & Killala Harbour
Total for 1245 - 1600 hrs Kilcummin Head
4 Great Skuas, 6 Grey Phalaropes, 1 Sooty Shearwater, 1 Manx Shearwater, 8 Great Northern Divers
The wind was light to fresh, mostly westerly, just a touch of south, far from ideal.
Two Little Egrets were in Killala Harbour opposite the pier at Green Island
(S Feeney)


16th October - Kilcummin Head
Totals for 0900-1500 hrs
86 Pomerine Skuas including one group of 66 birds, 20 Grey Phalarope in groups of 3 to 5,
7 Great Skua, 2 Arctic Skua, 1 Sabine's Gull, 1 Sotty Shearwater, 8 Great Northern Diver and 3 Red-throated Divers
A good passage of Kittiwake and reasonable numbers of Gannets
(S Feeney)

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2nd October - Lacken Strand
7 Pink-footed Geese, c250 Golden Plover, one American Golden Plover, 1 Curlew Sandpiper, 2 Little Stints
(J Donaldson via S Feeney)


2nd October - Kilcummin Head
Quieter day at Kilcummin today, strong NW wind
Totals from early morning to 1500 hrs
70 Great Skua, 5 Pomerine Skua, 15 Arctic Skua, 1 Long-tailed Skua
1 Balearic Shearwater, 1 Sooty Shearwater, 13 Manx Shearwater
1 Little Gull, 2 Sabine's Gull, 3 Great Northern Diver, 6 Red-throated Diver
3 Red-breasted Merganser, 12 Grey Phalarope, 20 Arctic Tern
4 Common Scoter, 1 Wigeon
(S Feeney)


1st October - Kilcumin Head
Seawatching at Kilcummin in good conditions produced exceptional numbers of a very diverse range of species in great conditions.
4 Red-throated Divers, 6 Great Northern Divers, 200+ Manx Shearwaters, 43 Sooty Shearwaters
8 Storm Petrels, 74 Leach's Petrels, 2 Pink-footed Geese, 70 Barnacle Geese
3 Gadwall, 2 Wigeon, 3 Teal, 6 Commn Scoter, 1 Red-breasted Merganser, 1 Peregrine Falcon
417 Grey Phalaropes, 181 Great Skua, 148 Pomerine Skua, 34 Arctic Skua
1 Little Gull, 7 Sabine's Gull, 77 Arctic Terns
On land 1 Snow Bunting
(S Feeney, J Donaldson)


30th September - Kilcumin Head
Remarkable numbers of Skuas on passage with relatively few shearwaters.
Totals for the day - 142 Great Skua, 419 Pomerine Skua, 29 Arctic Skua,
 6 Sooty Shearwater, 65 Manx Shearwater, 139 Arctic Tern
As well as the high numbers, some very large flocks and groups were noted
(S Feeney)
See breakdown below

Breakdown of Seawatching Totals, Kilcummin Head 30/09/2008

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11th September - Kilcummin Head
A slow day with only 74 Manx Shearwater, 14 Sooty Shearwater, 14 Great Skuas and 2 Sandwich Terns seen on passage.
1 Peregrine Falcon seen on the landward side
(J Donaldson, S Feeney)


6th September - Kilcummin Head
Cumulative totals for the day
2 Sabine's Gulls, 1 Balearic Shearwater, 3 Sotty Shearwater, 1 Leach's Petrel
2 Arctic Skua, 20 Great Skua, 1 Grey Phalarope, 51 Sandwich Terns, 3 Red-throated Divers, 2 Common Scoter
Also steady but small numbers of Manx Shearwaters, Fulmars, Gannets and Kittwakes.
The wind strated north-north-east and went to the north, with most of these birds seen after 9am
(S Feeney, M Bell, D Suddaby, P Doherty)


24th August - Kilcummin Head
Total for 1045 -1800 hrs
Less than ideal conditions. Wind south west until 1230 hrs then more westerly.
849 Manx Shearwater, 1 Balearic Shearwater, 24 Sooty Shearwater
5 Great Skuas, 1 Arctic Skua, 2 Pomerine Skuas and 3 Storm Petrel
(S Feeney)


21st August - Kilcummin Head
Seabird passage quite slow, totals from a 10 hours seawatch
4 Sooty Shearwater, 7 Storm Petrels, 1 Puffin, 1 Balearic Shearwater
3 Great Skuas, 3 Arctic Skuas, c200 Manx Shearwater, 28 Sandwich Terns
(S Feeney)


20th August - Kilcummin Head
Total for 0800 - 1800 hrs
154 Sooty Shearwater, 15 Great Skuas, 5 Arctic Skuas
Large numbers of Manx Shearwaters and good numbers of Storm Petrels
(S Feeney)

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13th August - Kilcummin Head
During the period early morning to mid-afternoon the following were counted passing Kilcummin Head:
22 Great Skuas, 8 Arctic Skuas, 284 Manx Shearwater, 2 Sooty Shearwater,
70 Sandwich Terns, 3 Arctic Terns, 1 Puffin, 1 Storm Petrel
(S Feeney)


12th August - Kilcummin Head
During a 5 hour seawatch, the following was seen passing the headland
8 Great Skuas, 3 Arctic Skuas, 1 Puffin, 1 Balearic Shearwater, 600 Manx Shearwater and 3 Sooty Shearwater
(S Feeney)


7th August - Lenadoon Point, Kilcummin Head & Cathedral Pool, Ballina

Lenadoon Point (Co Sligo) - 1 1/2 hour seawatch
50 Manx Shearwater, 3 Great Skuas and probably 2 Arctic Skuas
(M Bell)

On the other side of Killala Bay at Kilcummin Head, a 5 hour seawatch produced
9 Great Skua, 1 Arctic Skua, 1 Sooty Shearwater, c45 Manx Shearwater, 2 Common Scoter & 1 Storm Petrel
(S Feeney)

Cathedral Pool on the River Moy in Ballina
First summer Red-throated Diver was seen
(M Davis)

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