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Sea-watching during September 2004.
By Allan Conlin (published in Vol 1 No 9 September 2004 of the BNW magazine).

September is hurricane season in the Caribbean and the western Atlantic; the eastern seaboard of the US, particularly Florida and the Carolina’s, were the worst effected this year. Hurricanes Frances, Charlie and Ivan all made landfall in these areas causing widespread havoc and disaster. Having made landfall these weather systems then generally head back out to sea traversing the Atlantic eastward when they eventually arrive off the coast of Western Europe and the UK.

By the time these weather systems do reach us, they have of course lost much of their energy. None-the-less they still have enough power to produce violent and severe storms, producing strong onshore winds (every sea-watchers ideal).

This is exactly what happened during September 2004, producing an incredible run of seabird records particularly during the period of 20th – 22nd.

After a westerly gale the majority of pelagic species such as skuas, petrels and Sabine’s Gulls would generally continue their southerly migration down the west coast of Ireland and out into the Atlantic Ocean, however, such was the severity and frequency of these Atlantic weather systems, birds were pushed even further east into the eastern Atlantic forcing birds into the upper Irish Sea. From here birds then continued south, through the mid Irish Sea into the Celtic Sea and out into the Bay of Biscay and the Atlantic.
 

Great Skua off Leasowe, Sept 2004 (© Steve Round)  

Nearly all the major North West sea-watching sites had good numbers of petrels, all four skuas and what sometimes seemed like flocks of Sabine’s Gulls.

Of all the species that occurred during this period, perhaps the most amazing in terms of numbers was Sabine’s Gull. An unprecedented 67 were recorded during the month, with multiple sightings coming from Rossall Point (2), the Mersey River mouth/New Brighton (4), Dove Point (3), Hoylake (4) and Hilbre (2) all on 21st. There were in fact an incredible 32 records of Sabine’s Gull in the North West on 21st alone; presumably a record day-count for the region. Point Lynas (Anglesey) recorded 4 on 24th.

At least a few Sabine’s Gulls are reported in the North West every year, generally juvenile birds, conforming to the theory that first year birds are more prone to wanderings due to their inexperience, however, the higher incidence of adult birds this year suggests that the Atlantic weather systems were having quite a profound effect.

Sabine’s Gull is an Arctic breeder with populations in Siberia, Alaska, Greenland and the Canadian Arctic with birds returning to their breeding grounds in June. Once they begin to depart again during August and September they then remain a wholly pelagic species until the following breeding season.

During the autumn the Alaskan and Siberian populations move east and southward to winter off the coast of Columbia and Peru, whilst the Canadian population also moves east and southward wintering off the coast of West Africa. Sabine’s Gull is amongst a very few species of gull that actually make an annual trans–equatorial migration of this type. The nature of this mid-Atlantic migration route makes them an ideal candidate for vagrancy under the correct weather conditions.

Sabine's Gull (juvenile) - Leasowe, September 2004 (© Steve Round)

Identification of juvenile Sabine’s Gull should pose no real problem, with juvenile birds having a brown nape, back and coverts, white secondaries and black primaries, giving a distinctive triple triangle effect. Additionally, the tail is forked with a black terminal band and the underwing has a dark grey bar, the latter usually only discernable at close range but can be seen clearly in the photograph below.

Problems seem to arise when first year Kittiwakes are seen at distance when the black collar and carpal bar of this species becomes difficult to distinguish and often taken as adult Sabine’s, which has grey where the first year birds have brown. The jizz is also different, with Sabine’s having a more dainty almost tern-like flight, this of course will depend upon weather conditions at the time.

Petrels were well represented with up to 25 Storm Petrels recorded in the region with singles coming from the Mersey mouth, Dove Point and Hilbre.

After a couple of years of lower numbers of Leach’s Petrels, it was nice to see this North West speciality back in numbers (see table 1 below) giving many of the region’s photographers and some who had travelled to the region a great opportunity to get some truly fantastic images of this bird (see overleaf, the Monthly Round Up and this month’s front cover).

Whilst there is a healthy breeding population of Leach’s Petrels in the UK with colonies on a number of Scottish islands including St Kilda, Foula and North Rona. It is argued that many of the Leach’s Petrels that are seen in North West waters are in fact from the massive Canadian population in Newfounland. The fact that Sabine’s Gulls arrive at the same time could lend weight to that argument or is it just a different migration route?

 Leach's Petrel - New Brighton 2004 (© Steve Round)

I suspect it is a combination of both. Either way, it is always great to see this enigmatic little petrel battling its way south and there were the inevitable over-land records, which is always a peculiar sight.

I have inserted a table below that shows the daily totals and the peak site for each day during September. Whilst the table does not take into account duplication, it is none-the-less interesting to compare the peak numbers against location and strength and direction of the wind.

It is clear with the exception of a few anomalies that the largest peaks occurred from 19th until 23rd when the there was a West North West force six or above. That said good numbers were still recorded on a moderate South Westerly winds.

A peak count of 215 at Hoylake on the Wirral was exceptional, when the average peak during this period was about 80.


Table 1. The peak counts and the daily cumulative totals of Leach’s Petrels in the Northwest during September 2004

Date	Wind Direction and speed	Peak Total	Site of Peak count	County
11th	-------	2                    2	New Brighton	Wirral
12th	-------	5                   22	Blackpool	Lancs
13th	SW 6/7	5                   14	Blackpool	Lancs
14th	NW 7	61               180	Bardsey	Gwynedd
15th	NW 5	56               188	Point of Ayr	Flints
16th	W 5	2                     2	Bowness	Cumbria
17th	W 4	4                     9	Skinburness	Cumbria
18th	WSW 5/6	9                   21	Workington	Cumbria
19th	W 6/7	35               106	Hoylake	Wirral
20th	W 7	76               338	Blackpool	Lancs
21st	WNW 7	64               362	New Brighton	Wirral
22nd	W 4	90               160	Hoylake	Wirral
23rd	NW 5	215             430	Hoylake	Wirral
24th	NW4	25                 59	Great Orme	Conwy
25th	W 5	29                 53	Leasowe	Wirral
26th	WSW 5	15                 31	Leasowe	Wirral
27th	WSW 3/4	0                     0		-------
28th	SW 5	7                   20	Rossall Point	Lancs

Other good pelagic species recorded during September included Cory’s Shearwater off Peel Castle on the Isle of Man on 11th, followed by another in the Menai Straits on 19th.

Eighteen Sooty Shearwaters were recorded during the month with five recorded from Bardsey alone on 20th. These rarer shearwaters were seen alongside good numbers of Manx Shearwaters seen all along the region’s coastline. What was a little surprising was that virtually all of the Sooty and Balearic Shearwater records came from North Wales with very few if any recorded from other North West sea-watching sites. Perhaps this family does not suffer the effects of the weather so easily as other families of birds, or maybe that is a more natural route for them to take? Grey Phalaropes were recorded from the Calf of Man on 11th and from Peel Castle on 18th. The 21st was also the best date for this species with singles being recorded from New Brighton, Dove Point (Meols, Wirral) and Peel Castle, Isle of Man. Another single was off Point Lynas on 24th.

Manx Shearwater Leasowe Sept. 2004. (©Steve Round)

With climate change, will this be a regular event or will we have to wait many more years for another big year? Either way, September 2004 will be a month North West sea-watchers will remember for a long time to come.


Allan Conlin – October 2004

Acknowledgements:

Many thanks to Birdline North West for providing much of the data used in this article.
Thanks also to all the photographers for their stunning shots.

References:

Grant P J – 1982 Gulls: a guide to identification