This Mediterranean shearwater, dusky-brown in colour, is a summer visitor to our waters when it can be seen from southern coasts.

Breeding around the coasts of the Balearic Islands in the western Mediterranean, from the start of the year to late spring, these birds then leave the Mediterranean and disperse into the Atlantic to undertake a post-breeding moult – many do this in the Bay of Biscay but some birds move further north.

Individuals head back to their breeding grounds during September. In some years a thousand or more Balearic Shearwaters can be present in our waters, a number that is thought to represent around one-third of the Mediterranean breeding population.