Andrew Harrop's paper on the `soft-plumaged petrel' P. madeira/feae/mollis complex (Brit. Birds 97: 6-15) and Ian Wallace's letter in response (Brit. Birds 97: 349) prompt the following. The phrases that struck me in Harrop's paper were `rare and genuinely enigmatic' and `given the effort required to obtain good views'. These seem to me unduly pessimistic. In August 2003, I went on holiday to Madeira with my wife, on what she insisted was not to be a birdwatching holiday. Nevertheless, we did fit in a day trip to Porto Santo on the commercial ferry and a day trip to Gran Desertas on the yacht Ventura do Mar. I am not a dedicated seawatcher, but I know that my experience of seawatching in Madeira was wholly different from what would be expected on UK pelagic trips. As soon as we cleared the harbour (and breakfast) on the ferry, I raised my binoculars and picked up a Bulwer's Petrel Bulweria bulwerii. The crossing takes about two hours, and there was rarely a R. Allan Reese Riverside Cottage, Forston, Dorchester, Dorset DT2 7AA minute when birds were not in view. As a single observer, I picked up several Fea's/Zino's, many Bulwer's, Cory's Shearwaters Calonectris diomedea and, as it got dark, a Madeiran Stormpetrel Oceanodroma castro near the ship. On the yacht trip there were other, more acute, observers, who managed higher numbers of all species and also spotted a White-faced Stormpetrel Pelagodroma marina. A Swedish birdwatcher had spent hours watching from headlands and achieved