Bute Pelagic 2011
Bute Pelagic, 13 August 2011
For its August meeting members of the Buteshire Natural History Society’s ‘Bird Group’ turned their attention to sea birds. Under a not too promising grey sky, 13 bird watchers plus our skipper set out from Rothesay Harbour for a round Bute sail to study sea birds at close quarters. The rain held off for most of our journey with just a few showers and some choppy waters at the south end of the island. We saw a wide range of birds – some very familiar (such as the curious gannet that kept us company alongside us for a long time) but many seen less often by the group.
List of sea and shore birds
Black-headed Gull
Common Gull
Great Back-backed Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Herring Gull
Kittiwake
Sandwich Tern
Cormorant
Shag
Eider Duck
Gannet
Canada Geese
Guillemot
Black Guillemot
Red-breasted Merganser
Red-throated Diver
Manx Shearwater
Curlew
Grey Heron
Oystercatcher
Other sea life seen during trip included Harbour Seal, Porpoise and a 9' Basking Shark feeding off of Kilchattan Bay