Great Spotted Woodpecker

In the last eight years or so a bird has been added to the Irish list that most birders living here had hoped for but never really thought would happen.  The bird in question is the Great Spotted Woodpecker.  To date there are regular reports and sightings all along the East coast and much further afield.

The Great Spotted Woodpecker is a bird I first had in Ireland in the Phoenix Park, Dublin in about 2010/11.  I put the hours in (as did many birders) and had various encounters throughout the park over a couple of years until eventually the novelty wore off and you just mark it down as a bird you know you can get if you really put the hours in.

Recently the GSW  has been photographed in Co. Louth, heard I believe but not seen in Co. Meath (open to correction on this one) and down every county on the Eastern side of the country as far as Waterford.  It's been a remarkable success story, a bird that is such an ever present in the UK but until recently had never been confirmed in Ireland.

This GSW was one I located at Newcastle, Co. Wicklow a few months ago.  I had only just opened the car door when I was greeted by the unmistakable drumming of this little beauty.

The moral of this little tale is that there are many birds which are common enough in the UK but have never taken the plunge and traveled the very short distance to us here to breed, heck there are some who haven't even bothered to appear in any way shape or form.  I'm personally hoping that the next one to make the jump is the Tawny Owl, a bird I've only ever seen once and yes that was in the UK.  I think it would make a cracking addition to our very short list of native owls.

Sanderling

The Sanderling is a bird that Winters in Ireland and is found easily enough on coastal sites.  Most of the birds that over Winter here in Ireland are of Siberian origin.  Sanderlings are easily picked out as they busily feed at the waters edge scampering in and out with the flow of the tide never standing still.

Herring Gull 1st Winter

Lambay Island contains Irelands largest Herring gull colony, as a result Howth harbour just a short hop away is never short of them.  Winter is a great time for gull watching and Howth is a great place to find them.   Here's a 1st Winter Herring Gull from amongst the crowd yesterday morning.

Black Redstart

What began as a trip to South county Dublin to catch up on Med Gulls ended up being about a completley different bird altogether.  Meditteranean Gulls can be fairly reliably found along the coast anywhere from Dun Laoghaire down to Killiney and just beyond.

I parked up at Dun Laoghaire and headed down the steps off the East pier to the old baths where a large flock of mixed gulls were sunning themselves on the rocks and rafting just yards offshore.  There were lots of Pipits, Wagtails and other smalls in and around the shrubs and bushes behind me, however it was the flighty behaviour of one of the smalls that caught my attention.

The flighty bird turned out to be a Black Redstart, and soon it became apparent that there were in fact two individuals present.  Now you don't get to see Black Redstarts in Ireland too often.  We get regular enough visitors most Winters but in very small numbers and always to rocky coastal sites.  There are many years when I never manage to catch up on these fantastic birds so to get two at the one site is about as good as it should get.

An hour later and just a mile down the road at Bullock Harbour I was setting up the tripod when another Black Redstart made an appearance on the pier.  Three in a day, now that's never happened me before and if previous years are anything to go by unlikely to happen to me again anytime soon.

Black Redstart - Dun Laoghaire

Winter colours on show.

Soldiers Point, Dundlak

The day started  bright and breezy with clear blue skies as I headed towards Soldiers Point in Dundalk.  It's only a few miles further north of Seabank and Anagassan but a good spot that enables you to get great views of the mudflats when the tide is coming and going.

I arrived in the bright sunshine but that didn't last very long.  The sky darkened and a torrential downpour fell for a good 20 minutes.  This sunshine to downpour pattern persisted for the 3 hours I roughly spent on site.

A pretty mixed bag in and around the estuary, I would have liked to get the Forsters tern that's been spotted regularly enough at the Point for the last few weeks but it wasn't to be. The wait goes on for my first east coast Forsters.

Soldiers Point

Black tailed godwits

Black tailed godwit

more Godwits with a Black headed gull in the background

Hooded crow

Dunlin

Little Egret

Redshank

Wintering Brent

In another few weeks the numbers of Brent Geese returning here for the Winter will explode.  There are daily sightings at all the usual coastal sites but the numbers are still very small.

I was out on the Bull this morning and weather conditions were fairly poor, there were practically no smalls on show and fewer ducks and gulls than you'd expect to find if conditions were better.  There were however the first few returning Brent.  Numbers are still very low but I did manage to get some shots of a couple that came close to the causeway at high tide.

Can I put these on my Irish list?

Well, can I?