Nice to see you – Visit 1

Got my 2014 account up and running on Rathlin yesterday (4 January) and despite an utter soaking, I managed a respectable 50 species during the day.  It was pleasing to see that many of the good birds seen on my last visit some 6 weeks ago were still present. This included single Long-tailed Ducks and Goldeneye in the Harbour, a female Pochard at Ally Lough and up to 5 Great Northern Divers off the West Pier.  The only surprises of the day were a second Long-tailed Duck off Mill Bay, alongside a female Common Scoter and a flock of 5 Whooper Swans flying north off Doon Bay.

More than 85 Greylags flew in to roost at Ushet Lough in the late afternoon, but still did not contain anything more unusual.  On my first visit last year I recorded 51 species, so I’m happy enough with a similar start this year.

 

I’ll leave you with this geektastic graph showing my accumulation of year ticks on Rathlin last year. It doesn’t show us birders anything we don’t already know, but highlights just what a pathetic autumn I had.

 

Score - 50 species, 60 points or 39.7%

 

Graph of the year at this stage...

 

Brownstown Head - visit 1

A slow start to the year, but between I-WeBS, being stuck in Cork and pure laziness, I only managed a 'proper' first visit to Brownstown yesterday (9th). A quick check of the garden produced nothing better than Goldfinch, so I headed to the west cliffs for a 'scope count of Tramore Bay in near flat-calm conditions. Rinnashark, the NE corner of the bay, held a good flock of 135 Brent Geese, and a single Bar-tailed Godwit was a patch scarcity. Slightly further out, 4 Great Crested Grebes then the first of many Red-throated Divers came into view, as hoped. Good numbers of Razorbills were also present, plus a couple of Porpoises, but just a single Great Northern Diver and no scoter. Still, with the addition of a few other seabirds (and slightly guilty scoping of Shelduck and Little Egret in Tramore Backstrand), the non-passerine list was creeping up nicely. Best of all, the Red-throat total hit a new county record of 235 (75 in Tramore bay, and 160 immediately SE of Brownstown).  That said, still a long way to go on the year list!

37 species, 47 points (32.2%).