On arrival, it was clear there was an exceptional passage of Manx Shearwaters with several birds streaming south. At 45 minutes, I picked up a large bird shearing with some distant Manx Shearwater, and after following it for a few minutes, tentatively identified it as a Cory's Shearwater. It was then that I found out that eight had already passed Dawlish Warren! What followed was incredible, with 22 large shearwaters seen throughout the watch (seven definite Cory's Shearwaters and five definite Great Shearwaters). I never thought it possible to see these sorts of numbers from Teignmouth. Here is a timings log in case anyone wants to try and match their sightings...
1 Cory's (6.33), 1 Cory's (6.41), 1 large shear sp. (6.58), 3 Cory's (7.05), 1 Cory's (7.20), 1 probable Cory's (7.27), 1 Cory's (9.05), 1 probable Great (9.16), 3 large shear sp. (9.30), 1 Great (9.44), 3 Greats (10.24), 3 probable Greats (10.33), 1 Great (10.50), 1 large shear sp. (10.55).
Manx Shearwater passage was huge. A total of 1297+ birds passed south during the seven hours. One Great Skua flew south at 6.50, three Arctic Skuas flew south at 8.15 (25 minutes after passing Dawlish Warren), and another Arctic Skua lingered shortly after, chasing terns. Other birds included 16 Common Tern, 46 Kittiwake, 88 Common Scoter, six Whimbrel, c.30+ Sandwich Tern, c.25+ Fulmar and c.200+ Gannet. Kev had a Storm Petrel during his early afternoon watch.
The flock of three Cory's Shearwater at 7.05 passed the closest out of all the large shearwaters (c.0.75-1 mile)...
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| Compared to a Manx Shearwater |
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| A "close" flock... as you can see, ID is a little more challenging here than at Berry Head! |
