1st seawatch of the autumn

News of a long-tailed skua off Ballycotton this am made me realise I hadn't been watching the forecast enough! However, by the time evening rolled around, the sun was out and the wind was swinging round to the west. Still gave Galley a lash for an hour, and was rewarded with a brace of year ticks for me trouble. First on the list was a fine balearic shearwater scooting past with the manxies, and eventually coming in really close. As it went by I picked up a close-in storm petrel too, with another seen a bit later on. Just before I jacked it in, a bonxie came through, but no other skuas - maybe too windy? Still, only saw one balearic last year, and not many in 2011 so good to get one tonight! (111).