No petrel shortage today!
As dawn began to colour the eastern sky, the waves off Rhos Point, North Wales were reassuringly white-capped and breaking with some force. The north-westerly had not died overnight. But were the birds still out there? The light came but at first no birds could be seen. Then a few Kittiwakes passed well offshore, was it all over despite the wind still being good? A Red-throated Diver swept past, better, then a Gannet. Then one was coming, slowly jinking its way low over the waves, a waif of a bird, a Leach’s Petrel. Adrenalin pumped, the seawatch was on!
Another observer arrived, Rob Sandham, quickly joined by Chris Jones and Marc Hughes. More eyes scanning the choppy water quickly brought more birds, “Leach’s!” was repeated every few minutes as we quickly realised a major movement of these diminutive seabirds was under way. Most were a good way out and easy to lose in the waves but some passed closer. Other birds were moving along with the petrels: hulking Bonxies stayed well offshore but their size made them easy to pick out. Smaller and swifter Arctic Skuas whizzed past occasionally breaking their journey to harry the passing Sandwich Terns, hoping for a free meal. A small dark bird danced over the white caps: a Black Tern, the first of six to be seen. More Red-throated Divers followed and amongst these a wonderful breeding plumaged Great Northern Diver made its way steadily west. The Leach’s Petrels just kept coming and as the sun broke through, the closer birds gave amazing views as they slowly battled the wind allowing all the observers prolonged views of these magical birds. By mid-afternoon, well over 200 Leach’s Petrels had flown past the point, a spectacular movement
Seawatching at Rhos Point, photo by Marc Hughes