Autumn 2025 Update 4 - all at sea (again)

A pelagic trip is now a fixed part of my schedule when in Spain in autumn.  Places are relatively few and they are very popular so it's best to book well in advance and even then I have sometimes struggled to find a place on one.  However, I've now been on four - one out of Cadiz with 'Birding Tarifa' and three - one with 'Birding the Strait' and now two with 'Oxyura Birdwatching' - out of Chipiona.

The first in 2022 was excellent - a fly-by Wilson's Storm-Petrel (my target bird on this trip), c40 European Storm-Petrel, c40 Balearic Shearwaters, a few "Cory's", a Roseate Tern and a Grey Phalarope. The second in 2023 was very disappointing with no petrels at all,  relatively few shearwaters (4 Cory's & 7 Balearic) and only 18 Gannets.  Happily, the trip in 2024 was a huge improvement with 2 Arctic & 6 Great Skuas, 2 Wilson's & 5 European Storm-Petrels, the best haul yet of shearwaters (87 Cory's/Scopoli's, 26 Balearic,  2 Sooty & 3 Great Shearwaters) and 46+ Gannet.  I hadn't seen Great Shearwater for decades so seeing one was a huge bonus but it was the large number of "Cory's" loafing around the boat that was the highlight of the trip (and photos confirmed some as Scopoli's).  I had better views of storm-petrels too but I still hadn't them pattering on the waves ...  * 

​This year's pelagic was scheduled for 30th August and I was very pleased to get a lift from Alcala with friends Derek Etherton & Ricky Owen early that morning.  It was also good to have the company of another friend, Mick Richardson, on board and the company of the organiser, Manuel Barcena (Oxyura Birdwatching)  However, the omens for a good trip were not auspicious.  The winds were offshore pushing the birds further out and the sea was so choppy that it was touch and go whether the trip would run at all.  Presumably due to the sea conditions, we left later than planned and as the boat chugged further out towards the watery horizon, it quickly became apparent that the sea was bereft of seabirds.  It was a struggle to find a single Gannet or a shearwater (of any species). My mood, and I think that of others on board, quickly became one of resigned pessimism.  Even chumming failed to increase the number of seabirds beyond one or two fairly distant views of Wilson's Petrel, two Gannets (at last) and two shearwaters (a Cory's and a Balearic - again at last!).  ​

So with our first chumming effort not paying dividends, it was decided to try another area closer to where the Guadalquivir disgorged into the sea. It was one last desperate throw of the dice and would use our remaining chum.  I can't say that I was very optimistic that we'd see much more ... then the magic happened!  

To be honest, I can't now recall whether we saw a Wilson's and started chumming or we started chumming and only then saw one but there was no doubt that we'd hit the right spot.  Within minutes we had an increasing number of these oceanic sprites dancing on the rolling swell before us- 5, 10, 15 and finally 25 Wilson's were dipping, paddling, frog-hopping and banking before a stunned group of birders. They were like long legged models strutting their stuff on a watery catwalk! Much to the delight of two Australian birders on the trip (for whom it was a lifer) a European Storm-petrel (perhaps two) briefly joined the throng. After multiple fly-past views of storm-petrels (of both species) on previous trips this was what I had been hoping for but didn't dare believe would happen!  I'm disinclined to view birds through a camera lens so it was only when the birds were drifting away that I thought to take some photos hence their indifferent quality but I hope they capture some of the magic of the moment. 

We all were revelling in the magic of the moment when there was a call of "Skua!" (or was it "Jaeger!"?).   As the bird headed towards us it was clearly one of the smaller skuas and was initially called as an Arctic.  However, I was unsure and alarm bells rang as the bird appeared very slim and light weight but not having seen a long-tailed for several years I was uncertain.  So I commented that we ought to chase it up and check it wasn't a Long-tailed Skua.  On doing so we got more extensive and closer views and concluded that it was indeed this species.  Despite some subsequent cold feet, the excellent photos taken by the long lens brigade confirmed the bird was a Long-tailed Skua ... sometimes it pays to go along with your initial gut feelings! 

What the final check list for the trip lacked in quantity, it more than made up for in quality ... 

   1 Long-tailed Skua
   3 Audouin's Gull
   x Yellow-legged Gull
  X  Lesser Black-backed Gull 
   1  Little Tern
  10 Black Tern
25+ Wilson's Storm-Petrel
    1 European Storm-Petrel
​    1 Cory's/Scopoli's Shearwater
    1 Balearic Shearwater
    2 Northern Gannet
  (plus c10 Little Swift)

           ... but is it too much to hope that in 2026 I will get good views of these magical storm-petrels again AND a good mix of shearwaters?  Perhaps, I'll finally get a decent seabird rarity - a tropicbird, a South Polar Skua, a Fea's, White-faced or Madeiran Petrel would do nicely!   ​

I've a great fondness for Chipiona, so when it looked like the pelagic trip would be postponed to the following weekend I decided to book a hotel there overnight as a fall back position.   I discovered that it was the Fiesta de Nuestra Señora de Regla, the town's patron saint.  This commemorates the miraculous rediscovery, after the 'Reconquista', of a wood carving of the Madonna linked to St Augustine of Hippo. She is also credited with saving lives after the tsunami of 1755. She's also the patron saint of sailors and fishermen although, after the festivities her patronage would be better directed to the local roadsweepers!  An extra bonus was that I was able to visit a favourite bar, Bar La Casa Vieja  ​

* For details of previous trips see - 
2022 - Autumn Updates 2022 - IV All at sea!   
2023 - Autumn Update III - Chipiona
2024 -   Autumn Update 4 (2024) - Chipiona pelagic