Top 5 tips for going on a Pelagic Birding trip!

Look at me using a click-bait headline for my blog! I had to restrain myself from adding, “You won’t believe what number 4 is!!”

I went on my first Pelagic birding trip recently, and while it was well worth it, I made some very basic newbie errors, and I hope you can learn from my stupidity.  There’s an old Kenny Everett joke about a guy who sees two seasick guys leaning over the rail of a boat.  “Weak stomach?”, he says.  “What d’you mean weak stomach” replied one, “I’m chucking it twice as far as he is!”  and that’s a hint for one of my tips.

By way of background, living on the east coast, I don’t get to see a lot of pelagic seabirds – a few Manx Shearwater off Howth Head and Kilcoole beach, and I’ve seen Great Skua on Clare Island and Carnsore Point.  But Storm Petrels, Arctic and Pomarine Skua, and Cory’s and Great Shearwater remained unticked in my birding list.  So I resolved to go on a Pelagic birding trip, and signed up for a Pelagic trip with the highly recommended Shearwater Wildlife tours in Cork.  The trip was led by Paul Connaughton, who knows his birds, is a real gentleman, and was as anxious as we were to see some rarities.  Paul has written a nice piece about the development of Pelagics here. 

The boat left from the pier in Baltimore, and while some of the hardier passengers drove down from Dublin that morning, others slept overnight in their car, and I camped in nearby Skibbereen (but you could take the posh route and stay in a B&B I suppose).  Trips usually leave at 8am or 9am, but there had been very high winds the night before, so we set out at 11am, “to let the sea calm down a bit”.  Despite the complete lack of wind when we set out, this phrase about letting the sea calm down should have given me fair warning – which leads me on to tip 1.

1. WEAR WELLIES!  As I stood on the pier, I noticed that all the seasoned Pelagic trip people – let’s call them Pelicans for short – were wearing wellies or water-proof hiking boots.  As soon as we hit the first waves, the water washed in the drainage holes at the side of the boat – I believe the nautical term is scuppers – and soaked my runners, and my runners kept being inundated throughout the trip.  Wellies!
2. For the same reason, don’t leave your rucksack / Orla Kiely handbag / picnic basket on the deck.  The bag, and your cucumber sandwiches, will get soaked.  So PUT BAGS ON THE BENCH in the middle of the deck.
3. Talking of food. I had a delightful breakfast in Baltimore before boarding.  An hour later, despite the fact that there was little to no wind, the boat was lurching up and down a large and persistent swell and  I saw my breakfast again, as did everybody else (Sorry, folks!).  So tip number 3 is, no matter how calm it is in the harbor, if you are not good on the sea, TAKE SEASICKNESS TABLETS!! They work very well apparently.  My fellow Pelicans were unfailingly understanding and discrete, and as I hurled from the back of the boat, they all stared politely through their binoculars in the other direction.
4. WEAR LAYERS of clothing, and make sure you have good wet-gear – trousers and top.  The forecast was dry for us, but in the first hour a squall drove the rain at us horizontally.  An hour later the clouds cleared and the sun broke out, and it warmed up quite quickly.  By the same token, WEAR SUNCREAM.  Six hours at sea, even if it was mainly overcast, left me feeling quite warm-faced.  The fact that my wife greeted me as “Mr Tomato-head” when I got home, leads me to believe that I got a bit of sun. 

The trip took us out past Sherkin and Cape Clear Island, where we switched off the engine for a while as Paul threw out some sardine oil, and then we trailed some frozen chum around the place.  We later rounded the Fastnet Rock.  All in all the trip took about 6 hours.  I was admittedly green, perspiring, and staring fixedly at the horizon for most of the trip, but even so it was well worth it, and I added two birds to my Life list.  If I’d gone on the trip two days later, I would have added five, but that’s the random luck of birding that makes it so enjoyable.  So my final tip!

5.GO ON A PELAGIC TRIP!  The trip was awesome.  It was amazing to see Storm Petrel, Great Skua, and Sooty Shearwater so close up, as well as Dolphin and Porpoise.  We had an admittedly quiet trip – but Wilson’s Petrel, Great Shearwater and others are usually fairly reliable, and it’s a great way to develop your bird ID skills.  

Hopefully next year I’ll be back on a Pelagic with my wellies and Dramamine to finally get a Cory’s Shearwater and a Wilson’s Petrel.  I’ll see you there!