I headed down to Kilcoole this morning hoping that the "buff-breasted yankee" was still knocking around. It was, and it was very tame. It was sat up on the shingle ridge right at the waters edge a couple hundred meters short of webbs field.
It eventually moved up the shingle towards us and began feeding in the short grass just off the footpath, at this stage it was only about 25ft away. Its mustard legs were really striking at this range, as was the piercing very black eyes. It preened, streched, looked around and generally didn't really care that there was numerous lenses and scopes pointed at it from practically point blank range...... why did I not bring a camera??
I eventually headed further south towards the buckthorn bushes in search of the lapland bunting thats been seen there recently. Unfortunately time was against me and I didn't get to hang around long enough to get a sighting, those are the breaks..... but the trip really was all about the sandpiper and I had that for 30 minutes or more so I was going home happy regardless.
Out to sea there was plenty of gannett activity, numerous auks and a pair of red-throated divers passed heading south into the wind.
Landside there was the usual large flocks of goldfinches, plenty of swallows and house martins, quite a few wheatear, and a pair of stonechats. Some dunlin were mixing with the turnstones at the waters edge and a single rock pipit was flushed on the way up to the buckthorn.
Webbs field held the usual numbers of ducks (mixed), cormorants, gulls and corvids. A single pink-footed goose was there as were some mutes. There were practically no "smalls" in the field, but I have it on good authority that there has been plenty of sparrowhawk and kestrel activity within the field lately and this seems to have scarred off most of the waders for now.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Monday, September 26, 2011
Port Oriel
A bright mild day seen me head for Clogher Head/Port Oriel this morning. What a difference a day makes, same time yesterday I was out on a wet, windswept Bull Island. The Bull threw up some curlew sandpipers and the blue winged teal which has returned for the 4th or 5th autumn/winter was as usual associating with the shovelers. However the highlight was a fox out on the marsh slowly sneaking upon some roosting gulls at high tide. The rain came, the car beckoned and I never got to see whether the fox had dinner!
Back to today, the port was busy enough with trawlers going in and out and that of course means Gulls. Common, BH, GBB and herring gulls all on show. The herring gulls lazily sunning themselves on the rocks below the upper car park. The inner harbour had twenty guillemots, two razorbills and a lone cormorant on show.
Above the harbour a noisy mixed group of about thirty common and arctic terns must surely be set for the off any day now, not to mention the three swallows that shared the air space with them.
Back to today, the port was busy enough with trawlers going in and out and that of course means Gulls. Common, BH, GBB and herring gulls all on show. The herring gulls lazily sunning themselves on the rocks below the upper car park. The inner harbour had twenty guillemots, two razorbills and a lone cormorant on show.
Above the harbour a noisy mixed group of about thirty common and arctic terns must surely be set for the off any day now, not to mention the three swallows that shared the air space with them.
Outside the walls of the harbour on the seaward side there were plenty more auks on show, including a flyby by five black guillemots. A gannet was circling and diving a few hundred meters off shore and there was plenty of movement back and forth by cormorants, gulls and an occasional shag. A grey seal was showing well near the rocks just below the harbour wall, keeping him company was seven GC grebes.
Moving up to the headland there was plenty of smalls on show, wren, robin, dunnock chaffinch, linnett, a single redpoll and a yellowhammer heard but not seen. A sparrowhawk flushed some sparrows but it disappeared from view as quick as it appeared and I didn't see if its efforts were rewarded.
A grey wagtail was sat on a wall on the drive back down the hill to the village.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Broadmeadow
Took a trip out to Swords yesterday evening just as the tide was on the turn and on its way back in. I spent a quite 90 minutes on my own, no other birders around and unusually for Swords hardly any walkers!
There were plenty of lapwing, sanderling and godwits (both) about, twenty odd oystercatchers and at least 12 grey herons tucked up as usual in the grass near the overpass.
There were plenty of lapwing, sanderling and godwits (both) about, twenty odd oystercatchers and at least 12 grey herons tucked up as usual in the grass near the overpass.
Plenty of redshank moving busily over the mudflats, and closer to shore a handful of turnstones moving up and down the shoreline.
The obligutory mix of gulls and of course the mute swans over the Donanbate side were also present.
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| mute swan, Swords |
The highlight was a solitary greenshank, tucked up, head on shoulder trying its best to stay warm, it was suprisingly cold, the breeze had a real bite to it. There was also a pair of grey plovers in amongst the dunlin.
Further out, a group of 15 GC grebes were keeping company with 3 goldeneye.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Gormanstown
County Meath has a very short coast line, only about 11km in total, so this afternoon I decided to take a trip over to Gormanstown, one of the very few decent spots to catch shore birds, gulls and terns in the county.
The usual mix of gulls, common, BH'd, GBB'd, LBB'd, and herring gulls formed large flocks which were spread out on the rocks to the right and front of the car park under the rail bridge and in the sea just in front of the car park. The tide was in so the flocks on the water were really close, I set the scope up and started to scan. Sure enough mixed in amongst all those gulls were a small group of eight kittiwakes and two little gulls.
There were quite a few common terns doing their usual acrobatics, at least three sandwich terns and two arctic terns mixed in with the flock.
Further out to sea I spotted six razorbills, four guillemots an occasional gannet and a dozen or so cormorants passing across the horizon. Resting up on the surface of the sea much further out (scope up to 60x mag) was small groups of RB mergansers and great crested grebes.
Along the shore little groups of sanderling, dunlin, ringed plover and couple of black tailed godwits kept a solitary redshank company. When I turned my attention to the rockier section of the beach near the bluff over to the right my eye caught the busy movements of a small flock (six to eight) turnstones.
After a brief visit to the front seat of the car to avoid a soaking from a shower which went from zero to torrent in about five seconds flat I finished up the visit by turning my attention to the trees and bushes which line the river along the road back out to the Balbriggan road. A lone yellowhammer and a pair of collared doves were about all there was along the lane.
An hour well spent, Gormanstown is a really good spot for getting a good variety of species in, especially if time is of the essence. From the car park you can set up the scope and have great views of the beach, the rocks out to sea, the bluff and the outlet without having to move. I'd especially recommend a visit in the height of summer when on any given day it's possible to tick off five species of tern, all our summer gulls and usually something you weren't expecting.
The usual mix of gulls, common, BH'd, GBB'd, LBB'd, and herring gulls formed large flocks which were spread out on the rocks to the right and front of the car park under the rail bridge and in the sea just in front of the car park. The tide was in so the flocks on the water were really close, I set the scope up and started to scan. Sure enough mixed in amongst all those gulls were a small group of eight kittiwakes and two little gulls.
There were quite a few common terns doing their usual acrobatics, at least three sandwich terns and two arctic terns mixed in with the flock.
Further out to sea I spotted six razorbills, four guillemots an occasional gannet and a dozen or so cormorants passing across the horizon. Resting up on the surface of the sea much further out (scope up to 60x mag) was small groups of RB mergansers and great crested grebes.
Along the shore little groups of sanderling, dunlin, ringed plover and couple of black tailed godwits kept a solitary redshank company. When I turned my attention to the rockier section of the beach near the bluff over to the right my eye caught the busy movements of a small flock (six to eight) turnstones.
After a brief visit to the front seat of the car to avoid a soaking from a shower which went from zero to torrent in about five seconds flat I finished up the visit by turning my attention to the trees and bushes which line the river along the road back out to the Balbriggan road. A lone yellowhammer and a pair of collared doves were about all there was along the lane.
An hour well spent, Gormanstown is a really good spot for getting a good variety of species in, especially if time is of the essence. From the car park you can set up the scope and have great views of the beach, the rocks out to sea, the bluff and the outlet without having to move. I'd especially recommend a visit in the height of summer when on any given day it's possible to tick off five species of tern, all our summer gulls and usually something you weren't expecting.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Long-eared owls
A couple of weeks ago I spent a night down near Prosperous hoping to get a sighting of a family of long-eared owls that my mate Steve had discovered some time previous. I met him down there and he took me to the site which is a few miles from the town.
It was about 9.30 when we got into position, and according to Steve we'd have to wait 'till about 10.30 for the family to appear, this he said was usually the time when the young would start calling and the mother would respond by periodically bringing food to them.
Dusk fell, the hands on the watch rolled around to 10.30 and just as Steve predicted the young began to call. Brilliant, they were still present and with any luck we may get a show!
Well, we got a show and a half. Three young appeared out of the trees and perched on the walls of a ruin not 25 meters away from us. In the fading light we got great views of the three young shuffling about the wall and calling loudly, presumably for the parents to bring them food. This went on for perhaps 30 minutes at which point we heard a more distant call from behind the trees the young had come from and the mother (we presume) made her first appearance of the night.
What followed was a sequence of hectic activity, the young flying around and through the ruins, playfully and in full view for much of the time. The little tufts on top of their heads sometimes just about visible against the backdrop of the darkening sky when they stopped for a breather and perched back up on the walls. Eventually as the light was becoming just a little too dark to see very much unless they were in flight they moved further across the field to another ruin which gave us great views of them in flight. They proceeded to replicate their behaviour of earlier and began flying in and about the second ruin in much the same way as before.
We hung around a little longer as we could still make them out against the night sky when they took flight, but alas the time came when it didn't look like they were going to head back in our direction and so content with what we had seen and heard we called it a night, packed up and headed home.
It was without doubt one of my top birding experience this year, I mean it doesn't always work out that you plan a trip and the intended decides to turn up and show for you, so to have three young and at least one parent decide to put on a show for a couple of hours was way above my expectations for the night.
Birding bliss...
It was about 9.30 when we got into position, and according to Steve we'd have to wait 'till about 10.30 for the family to appear, this he said was usually the time when the young would start calling and the mother would respond by periodically bringing food to them.
Dusk fell, the hands on the watch rolled around to 10.30 and just as Steve predicted the young began to call. Brilliant, they were still present and with any luck we may get a show!
Well, we got a show and a half. Three young appeared out of the trees and perched on the walls of a ruin not 25 meters away from us. In the fading light we got great views of the three young shuffling about the wall and calling loudly, presumably for the parents to bring them food. This went on for perhaps 30 minutes at which point we heard a more distant call from behind the trees the young had come from and the mother (we presume) made her first appearance of the night.
What followed was a sequence of hectic activity, the young flying around and through the ruins, playfully and in full view for much of the time. The little tufts on top of their heads sometimes just about visible against the backdrop of the darkening sky when they stopped for a breather and perched back up on the walls. Eventually as the light was becoming just a little too dark to see very much unless they were in flight they moved further across the field to another ruin which gave us great views of them in flight. They proceeded to replicate their behaviour of earlier and began flying in and about the second ruin in much the same way as before.
We hung around a little longer as we could still make them out against the night sky when they took flight, but alas the time came when it didn't look like they were going to head back in our direction and so content with what we had seen and heard we called it a night, packed up and headed home.
It was without doubt one of my top birding experience this year, I mean it doesn't always work out that you plan a trip and the intended decides to turn up and show for you, so to have three young and at least one parent decide to put on a show for a couple of hours was way above my expectations for the night.
Birding bliss...
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Bird Atlas
The Bird Atlas finished up a few weeks ago and to be honest I'll miss going out for hours on end recording everything I see and hear. I've really come to appreciate what a great county Meath is for not just birding but nature in general.
Okay I haven't recorded any mega's for the Atlas but I have pretty much recorded every species you would expect to see (and a few you wouldn't) whilst covering the county. I had hoped to cover more at the beginning way back in '07 but after four years I can be happy with the contribution I've made.
I of course covered Ashbourne and the immediate environs of Donaghmore, Kilbride and across to the outskirts of Ratoath. I also covered from Kilbride across to Bracetown and moving North in the county I covered some more tetrads up Skreene direction and again the surrounding areas up to Kentstown.
All the usual suspects cropped up as and when you'd expect but each field trip usually threw up one or two sightings which made the effort all the more worthwhile; short-eared owls, a cuckoo, an occasional peregrine or an even more occasional brambling and surely the record which most pleased me.... a barn owl.
So what has four years of covering (and trespassing) as many lanes, fields and tracks around the county taught me? We'll for sure some species are absolutely thriving in the county, namely all the corvids, the buzzard population, the pigeon and dove populations all appear not to have suffered too badly over the last two harsh winters. But there's a pattern here isn't there? They're all what you'd call large in size, not too many LBJ's in that list, so what about their smaller cousins?
Well I'd have to say the last two winters have been very tough on the county's population of small birds. Some species have been notable for their lack of appearance over the last couple of years, notably the yellowhammer a species I could usually walk to any one of dozens of sites and be guaranteed a sighting and song but alas no more, sightings have become much rarer than once were. Add to that list the greenfinch, blue and great tit, dunnock, wren, bullfinch, goldfinch..... you get the picture. All of these birds were to coin a phrase I've used somewhere before "cheap as chips", not over the last couple of winter and breeding seasons they weren't.
Okay I haven't recorded any mega's for the Atlas but I have pretty much recorded every species you would expect to see (and a few you wouldn't) whilst covering the county. I had hoped to cover more at the beginning way back in '07 but after four years I can be happy with the contribution I've made.
I of course covered Ashbourne and the immediate environs of Donaghmore, Kilbride and across to the outskirts of Ratoath. I also covered from Kilbride across to Bracetown and moving North in the county I covered some more tetrads up Skreene direction and again the surrounding areas up to Kentstown.
All the usual suspects cropped up as and when you'd expect but each field trip usually threw up one or two sightings which made the effort all the more worthwhile; short-eared owls, a cuckoo, an occasional peregrine or an even more occasional brambling and surely the record which most pleased me.... a barn owl.
So what has four years of covering (and trespassing) as many lanes, fields and tracks around the county taught me? We'll for sure some species are absolutely thriving in the county, namely all the corvids, the buzzard population, the pigeon and dove populations all appear not to have suffered too badly over the last two harsh winters. But there's a pattern here isn't there? They're all what you'd call large in size, not too many LBJ's in that list, so what about their smaller cousins?
Well I'd have to say the last two winters have been very tough on the county's population of small birds. Some species have been notable for their lack of appearance over the last couple of years, notably the yellowhammer a species I could usually walk to any one of dozens of sites and be guaranteed a sighting and song but alas no more, sightings have become much rarer than once were. Add to that list the greenfinch, blue and great tit, dunnock, wren, bullfinch, goldfinch..... you get the picture. All of these birds were to coin a phrase I've used somewhere before "cheap as chips", not over the last couple of winter and breeding seasons they weren't.
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| House sparrow, Ashbourne |
However one little brown bird, the house sparrow appears to have fared better than most! I can't say I've noticed any great decrease in their numbers, perhaps there were just so many of them to start with that they have become a little more obvious over the absence of so many others, I'd like to think not, I'd like to think that somehow this most unassuming of the LBJ's managed somehow to beat the conditions.
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Cuckoo and short-eared owls
It's been a while seen my last post but I've had all sorts goin on, hols (Spain, more on that in a later post), work, a laptop that died etc.
Anyway pretty quite time of the year around Ashbourne so in recent weeks I haven't been out and about on the patch much but there was a couple of welcome visitors, namely a cuckoo near Kilbride and a couple of short-eared owls which I only had for about 10 minutes just off the N3 at Bracetown.
Anyway pretty quite time of the year around Ashbourne so in recent weeks I haven't been out and about on the patch much but there was a couple of welcome visitors, namely a cuckoo near Kilbride and a couple of short-eared owls which I only had for about 10 minutes just off the N3 at Bracetown.
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