Spoonbill

I took a trip up the Meath - Louth coast this morning stopping off at the usual spots.  At Seabank which lies between the better known locations of Lurgangreen and Annagassan a Shorteared-Owl quartered the salt marsh lifting all the smalls at roost.

A scope of the very distant lowering tide line gave up a very rare find for this part of the country, a Spoonbill.  Most records for Spoonbill in Ireland are from the South and South-West coastline and even these are few and far between.  In fact a quick reference of the Bird Atlas 2007-11 when I arrived home showed up no records for Spoonbill on the East coast of Ireland at all during that particular four year period.  Furthermore Spoonbill were only recorded in eleven 10km squares during the Atlas and all were on the a fore mentioned South to South-West coastal region.

All of that makes this 1st Winter Spoonbill more than just a good bird for the region, it makes it a great bird for the North-East.  Apologies for the quality of the shots but this bird really was a long way out on the mudflats.