Old Head of Kinsale - Mark Shorten

I have being birding the Old Head of Kinsale since about 1975 when I found my first "rarity" - two Ring Ouzels. It was where I learned much of my birding. I have done winter and breeding atlas there, brought my current wife on our first birding date and fought against the construction of the Golf Club (and did a tiny bit of vandalism) so I reckon I can call it my patch.

Looking for migrants can be an exercise in frustration as with little cover there, birds move through quickly. Often during migration I only check a limited number of areas, mainly through time constraints (drop kids to school - run to Old Head run back to collect from school). Hopefully I will spread my birding out in terms of times and areas checked.

The Old Head has a nice variety of birding offerings:


sea watching can be superb, though access is by permit through the Golf Club.
a seabird colony with hundreds of Guillemots 
Mixed farmland with a reasonable amount of arable and a small amount of tillage.
There is little cover in most of the gardens, few trees and most hedgerows are sparse.
Two very busy beaches with small numbers of Dunlins, Ring Plover and Sanderling
Behind the beaches are two reed beds with small amounts of open water.
Old Head harbour a rocky area which is the best area for waders.



So far by 9th January and with 4 visits I am on 62 species 72 points. Highlights being Gadwall, Golden Plover and 3 Brent Geese - a patch tick. For the year a minimum of 120 I hope, to get 150 would be amazing. We will see.