Six months completed!

Since reaching the ‘ton’ with a Collared Dove in early April I’ve now managed to reach a ‘ton and a quarter’ by half-time with a couple of six-pointers to ease the way to a points score of ‘180’!

In anticipation for some autumn seawatching I took advantage of strong west winds in mid-April to suss out the patch for seabird potential. This resulted in a ‘baywatch’ from Blacksod pier which delivered small numbers of Puffin, Manx Shearwater and Kittiwake along with auks, Gannets and Fulmars moving out of the bay towards the wild Atlantic. Something to keep an eye on! The next day (15^th) my first patch Swallow for the year arrived followed by a Willow Warbler on the 23^rd and the month ended with a couple of male Eider ‘scoped at range, bringing the tally to 106.

Numbers of northward bound Whimbrels increased during May (Dave Suddaby)

May opened with a few summer arrivals in the form of Little and Common Terns in the bay, along with a small group of summer plumaged islandica Black-tailed Godwits which were northward bound with increasing numbers of Whimbrels (max day count 102) and Sanderling (max day count 52). On land the first Sedge Warblers arrived and a small passage of Swallows on the 8^th included a House Martin and a few Sand Martins. With news of a good skua passage starting to develop along the west coast, including seeing several Poms and Long-tails off Annagh Head on 13^th, I tried a few ‘baywatches’ but to no avail. However, sitting at the kitchen table and staring aimlessly out over the garden whilst having breakfast on the 16^th three shapes appeared that quickly transformed into gorgeous adult Long-tailed Skuas! They slowly drifted over the house and made their way down to the bay and then headed north! The next skua to be added to the list was an Arctic off Blacksod pier on 21^st followed by another 3, plus a Bonxie the next day, then to complete the set, 6 adult Pomarines drifted through on the evening of 23^rd whilst the first Grasshopper Warbler of the year ‘reeled’ from the garden. Following a further Long-tailed Skua passing through, May finished with a singing Corncrake ‘from the doorstep’ on the 30^th bringing the tally to 118.

A singing Corncrake appeared for a few days in late May (Dave Suddaby)

Number 119, on the afternoon of 1^st June, turned out to be #patchgold: on hearing the ‘typical sound of mobbing crows’ I instantly scanned towards the sound and quickly ‘locked onto’ a large raptor flying low over the ground and approaching the garden. After a few moments of taking in all the subtle features it was clear that I was watching a Black Kite! A ‘first’ in many ways, including the first record for Co. Mayo. The kite slowly drifted south and on reaching ‘the end of the road’ at Blacksod it started to thermal up before continuing to drift away. A few days later (4^th) my first patch Swift, Cuckoo and Crossbill of the year were added, followed by a Storm Petrel off the pier on 11^th, a fly-over Lesser Redpoll on 12^th and a Common Sandpiper ‘on the rocks’ on 15^th bringing the tally to 125 species for the year. Not bad!

So after six months what are the ‘obvious gaps’ in the patch year list? Well there are several but most obvious being species like Pheasant, Knot, Grey Plover, Blackcap, Whitethroat and Spotted Flycatcher. Hopefully these, along with a few ‘6+ pointers’, will make for a memorable autumn!

Dave

100 up on the 100th day of the year!

Well since mid-January and scoring the initial ‘run’ of species which culminated with the finding of a Green-winged Teal on the ‘duck pond’ on 14^th January, birding has been pretty quiet with a slow trawl through to scoring the ‘ton’ for the 2013 patch list. January closed with a total of 86 species with the highlights in the late January period being a juvenile Glaucous Gull off the pier and both Waxwing and Mistle Thrush in the garden.

Since mid-January most days have been like this!

February was quiet with 5 new species added; the first Skylarks and Lesser Black-backed Gulls of the year and a small group of Long-tailed Ducks being the highlights. March was even quieter but a smart adult Ring-billed Gull arrived on the 13^th and stayed for a few days loitering around the beach and towards the end of the month the first Sandwich Terns and Wheatears arrived (albeit in small numbers). March ended with a tally of 94.

The weather has started to improve!

Now April has opened with a little promise seeing the first Chiffchaff of the year ‘fly-catching’ in the garden on the 1^st in sunny ‘mild’ conditions and an Arctic Tern joining the Sandwich Terns off the pier. The following day, a Shelduck (a patch rare!) flew in and joined a small group of Pale-bellied Brents on the beach – after some 30 minutes it continued its journey north, whilst in the garden 2 Great Tits appeared. A good stomp around the patch on the 7^th found an increase in Wheatear numbers plus a few Fieldfares and Redwings but highlights were adding a Grey Wagtail and 2 Greenland White-fronted Geese to the 2013 patch list (now on 99).

So what was the 100^th for the year going to be? Well whilst sitting having breakfast, on this the 100^th day of the year, that question was answered – a Collared Dove arrived!

Dave

#patiobirding scores 9 points!

Not that I have a patio but following an all day stomp around ‘my’ Blacksod patch on Saturday I spent Sunday around the house, it has to be said more in than out! However following a tweet from Col of Galley Birding fame about 2 Gadwall on his Galley patch with the hashtag of #patiostrikesagain encouraged me to set up the ‘scope on the front doorstep and scan the patch. Result! After thirty minutes of scanning my #patchbirding score had increased by 3 points with a male Wigeon on the ‘duck puddle’, 2 distant white blobs which turned out to be a pair of Mute Swans and a fly-by Woodpigeon. Fantastic; definitely #lazybirding!

This morning I quickly scanned the patch again from the ‘patio’, particularly the ‘duck puddle’, and now 6 Teal had joined the male Wigeon - nothing new so I made my way to the office. Then during the morning another tweet from Col informed us that he had found a male Green-winged Teal on his patch - more #patiobirding! Congratulations tweets were then sent to him from his #irishminileague challengers and one, from Niall K, predicted that the next one would turn up on my ‘duck puddle’ - I smirked!

Lunchtime arrived. I headed for home remembering NKs prediction, so as I pulled up outside the house I grabbed the ‘scope and scanned the ‘duck puddle’ – 9 Teal, and, WOW one has an obvious white vertical stripe - a fantastic male Green-winged Teal - 6 points in the bag and #patchgold!

Long distance birding - can you see the white stripe? 

 

Thanks Col - I’ll certainly be spending a little more time #patiobirding!

Mopping up the leftovers

Arrived back home on the 6^th January under the cover of darkness following the festive period away. Heading for the office on the 7^th and, still under the cover of darkness, my #patchbirding challenge account opened with a ‘half-heartedly’ singing Song Thrush, quickly followed by equally ‘half-hearted’ attempts by a Robin and a Blackbird in the garden. As lunchtime approached I left the office and made the short way down to Blacksod Point in the hope of connecting with some pre-xmas ‘patch goodies’. Scanning from the pier I quickly added a variety of ‘regular’ waders and gulls, as well as some ‘2 pointers’ including several Great Northern and Red-throated Divers, 4 Slavonian Grebes, 100+ Pale-bellied Brent Goose and a couple of Black Guillemots whilst 3 Purple Sandpiper were roosting on the old pier. Heading back I made a brief visit back home and found the bird feeders busy with, in particular, 3 male House Sparrows – the first of the ‘patch goody leftovers’ – and ending the session with 46 species on the list.

Birdless Tarmon Hill - not even a Meadow Pipit!

The following morning, watching the feeders over breakfast added the next leftover in the form of 2 Great Tits. Again a lunchtime foray added a few more ‘2 pointers’ with an adult Black-throated Diver offshore, an over-wintering Whimbrel on the beach along with 4 Chough whilst in a ‘tatty patch’ a small group of Twite were feeding along with 7 Snow Buntings. Scanning through 300+ Barnacle and several Greylag Geese, a lone Pink-footed Goose was found. Heading back to the office a further 21 species had been ‘penned-in’ on the list.



#patchgold2012 - Treecreeper



The next addition, a Treecreeper, was actually a Mullet tick for me in November last year, which I had last seen on 10 December so it was great to see it appear in the garden again yesterday! The final ‘leftover’ appeared this morning with 3 Long-tailed Tits in one of the gardens.

Long-tailed Tit

A good stomp around the patch today clocked a further 5 additions including 2 Woodcock and a fly-over Whooper Swan bringing the overall score to 92 points i.e. 42.59%. Not a bad week!

Dave