Albatross

ThunderCat

How likely was it that I saw an Albatross?

I was on the ferry between Fishguard and Rosslare the other day and i'd guess about 15 miles from the Wexford coast. I was up on deck and while I was looking out I saw a large white bird with jet black wings (topside of it's wings not the underside - 100% certain it wasnt a great black backed gull) who's wingspan was wider than a Gannets (plenty of which were also in the area) but the wings appeared pretty thin given the birds size. Granted it was a bit away from the ferry but it did catch my eye for the few seconds I was able to watch it. Judging by my birdwatching book it's a very rare sight in this country but I presume being that distance off the coast is the perfect place to see the small number of them that might be out there. So is there a chance that it was an Albatross that I saw or are my eyes playing tricks on me and it was a juvinile Gannet or something?

On the same journey I saw 5 dolphins too. No ID required - they were definitely dolphins! Beautiful things. Never saw one before.

Tabnabs

I'd say absolutely zero chance.

I've seen them in the South Atlantic and you know them straight away, even from a distance they are enormous. You'd be amazed at the size of some "domestic" gulls, up close they are surprisingly large and menacing.

ThunderCat

Tabnabs wrote: »

I'd say absolutely zero chance.

Thanks for the reply. I kinda guessed it would be highly unlikely thats what I saw. It was obviously a Gannet that was at a strange angle or something for the brief couple of seconds I viewed it. I suppose I would have had a poor perception of size/distance due to me being up so high and the backdrop was the open sea and Gannets are big enough anyway so I expect thats what it was.

Traonach

Tabnabs wrote: »

I'd say absolutely zero chance.

I've seen them in the South Atlantic and you know them straight away, even from a distance they are enormous. You'd be amazed at the size of some "domestic" gulls, up close they are surprisingly large and menacing.

Not absolutely zero. There are a couple of black browed Albatross records in Ireland and Irish waters in the last few years. But the bird seen was most likely a gannet.

V_Moth

Traonach wrote: »

Not absolutely zero. There are a couple of black browed Albatross records in Ireland and Irish waters in the last few years. But the bird seen was most likely a gannet.

Also two recent records from Britain. One of which landed in someone's back garden and another that turned up on a fish farm

Alun

There's a group from the IWDG who regularly travel the ferry route between Rosslare and Pembroke (plus Dublin-Holyhead and Larne-Cairnryan) doing marine mammal surveys, but they also note what sea birds they saw en-route. They have a list of their survey results here . No mention of Albatross on any of the recent reports, but you could always contact them to see if they've ever seen any, although the chances are pretty slim.

As it happened, I met two of them on the ferry on my return from Pembroke just over a week ago, and had never heard of these surveys until then.

ThunderCat

Alun wrote: »

There's a group from the IWDG who regularly travel the ferry route between Rosslare and Pembroke (plus Dublin-Holyhead and Larne-Cairnryan) doing marine mammal surveys, but they also note what sea birds they saw en-route. They have a list of their survey results here . No mention of Albatross on any of the recent reports, but you could always contact them to see if they've ever seen any, although the chances are pretty slim.

As it happened, I met two of them on the ferry on my return from Pembroke just over a week ago, and had never heard of these surveys until then.

Thats pretty conclusive so. If it was an albatross I saw then these lads would be seeing the same albatross on a regular basis, but they arn't so it wasn't. Thanks for the reply's. Would have nice if it had been an albatross but seeing Dolphins and Gannets diving was a good consolation prize!