Greenshank

All birders have their very own go to places for certain species, those places where you need a tick for a list and you just know you'll get what you're looking for.  In Meath I head to Fairyhouse for Yellowhammer, Baltrasna for Barn Owl and the Broadmeadow River in Ashbourne for Green Sandpiper.  Admittidley these spots don't always produce results, I mean you cant expect to see a Barn Owl every time you walk the lanes of Baltrasna, but I can be sure I'll get a far better hit rate than just about anywhere else in the county.

One other such place is on North Bull Island, one of the best birding spots on the East coast and a place I've written about in previous posts.  To the North of the causeway near the outflow is an area frequented by Herons, Little Egrets and Gulls, Teal are also common here as well as the massed ranks of common waders.  It's also a great spot to catch Greenshank on the low tide, this most elegant of waders is unmistakable as it probes the mud and scurries around never seeming to sit still for too long.

Although the Greenshank is a common Autumn/Winter visitor to Ireland it's still quite scarce at most coastal sites with most records for individual birds or pairs.  I was back out on the Bull on Saturday and just scoping across the mudflats when a flash of white lit up my lens, a lone Greenshank right where I could have predicted, North of the causeway, on the mudflats near the outflow.  I spent a couple of hours on location, covering the Island from the wooden bridge right down to Sutton and this was the only Greenshank on show all day!