Yank wader on the scoresheet!

Decided to head back down to the patch today instead of going for the usual Sunday birding trip to Wexford. With a few Whinchats popping up on the East coast I was eager to see if one could be found by the ruins at Six Mile Point (Whinner is one of my most obvious patch bogeys).

Arrived at Blackditch ECNR with Brian Porter at 08:30am to find a Grasshopper Warbler still reeling away, a nice flock of 20 Wheatears on the coastal fields (no sign of the Yellow Wag), a flyover Whimbrel and lots of warblers still singing in the reedbeds/birchwood (20+ Willows, 2 Chiffers, 7 Sedgies & 5 Blackcaps). A pair of Whitethroat (112) chasing each other about at a traditional territory site at the North end of the reserve was nice to see. Always enjoy good views of these birds.

 Male Whitethroat 

We later joined up with Noel Keogh at Kilcoole train station car park and checked out the Reed Warbler site at Ballygannon where 3 birds are now in song (some seen in flight too). There was a great sense of anticipation in the air as we birded South along the coast, lots of waders dropping in on the marsh & a nice assortment of feeding warblers in the Sea Buckthorn. Tallies as follows: 4 Whitethroats, c.25 Willows, 2 Chiffers, 4 Blackcaps, 7 Sedgies, 4 Swifts, 22 Wheatear, 10 Whimbrel, 2 Barwit, c.195 Blackwits, c.275 Golden Plover, 19 Redshank, 4 Turnstone, 37 Dunlin, 2 Common Sandpipers, 5 Light-bellied Brent Geese, 1 Greylag Goose, 6 Shoveler, drake Gadwall, 11 Teal, 3 Wigeon & 16 Little Terns.

Singing Skylark

On the way back, a final scan over Webb's field revealed some feeding Golden Plover which had broken away from the main day roosting flock. One of the plovers looked distinctly grey and slim as it ran over a grassy mound and onto the lagoon shoreline, out of sight. Dam!

It popped its head up a few times showing off a whopper supercilium and a long, thin bill giving a Dotterel like impression, but it was clearly a Pluvialis. After a few tantalising views scurrying about in the grass, the bird finally ran out into the open for all to see...a cracking 2nd calendar-year AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER (113). Well, there was hardly a notion of colour on the bird, but what it lacked in dazzle it made up for in structure. Even the most stunning breeding plumaged European Golden Plovers nearby looked like fat blobs in comparison to this elegant & sleek wader!

This bird represents the fourth AGP I have seen on patch (ticked my first here in June 1996) and the third Spring in a row where yank waders have been recorded at Kilcoole.

Onwards & upwards!

113 species, 140 points & 71.61%

Yellow Fever

Standards were starting to slip. Extended survey time on board the R.V. Celtic Explorer along the Rockall Trough and a recent trip to Scotland meant that I hadn't been birding on patch since 4th March...shameful! 

An impressive arrival of Wheatears & Grasshopper Warblers on the Bull Island during the week hinted that I needed to get the finger out and go patching so I headed off down to Kilcoole for 8am yesterday morning and 10 hours later I had racked up no less than 17 patch year ticks!

Swallows, Sand Martins & House Martins were trickling North in small bursts throughout the day along with a total of 9 Swifts. Great to see these guys back. Warblers were in song everywhere, particularly Willow Warblers & Blackcaps but only a handful of Chiffchaff were noted. Counted 10 singing Sedge Warblers along the full length of the coast and a nice Reed Warbler was chugging away at Ballygannon reedbed in exactly the same spot I hear one most years. Crippling views of a Grasshopper Warbler at a range of 3m in amongst the Sea Buckthorn at Kilcoole was most welcome. A further two were heard reeling at ECNR during a brief shower. Six species of warbler in a day is not to be snuffed at, but as hard as I tried, I couldn't dig out a Whitethroat anywhere.

White Wagtails and Wheatears were scattered along the coastal fields and beach, with six & ten respectively. Sandwich Terns were feeding up and down the shoreline throughout the day, at least 57 of these along with 4 Little Terns at the traditional colony site at Kilcoole. Nearly that time of year again! A few Manx Shearwaters loafing around offshore too along with some nice breeding plumaged Red-throated Divers and a couple of drake Common Scoter migrating North.

 A rather dull looking Wheatear (2cy?)

A Common Sandpiper on the first scrape at the BirdWatch Ireland Kilcoole Reserve and 11 Whimbrel along the coast were more additions for the year whilst c.145 Black-tailed Godwits & c.190 Golden Plover, all in full breeding plumage added a nice splash of colour to the coastal fields. Other migrant waders included a Bar-tailed Godwit & 4 Turnstone. A few wildfowl linger on with 3 Greylag Geese, 37 Light-bellied Brent Geese, 4 Wigeon, 12 Teal, a drake Gadwall & 2 Shoveler noted. A good day for raptors too with 1 Peregrine, 2 Buzzards, 2 Kestrels & 2 obliging Sparrowhawks seen.

 Whim-ber-dil

A tiny wee immature male Sprawk

Best was saved for last when I got to Blackditch ECNR in the afternoon. After a mooch around the Northern walkways & hides I scanned out across the coastal fields where a nice wet flash is still present. "Looks good for a Yellow Wagtail" says I...and sure enough there it was! A cracking male flavissima prancing about like a Dandelion on legs! A former rare but regular breeder along the Wicklow coastline, records are becoming more sporadic in recent years unfortunately so most definitely a good one for the scoreboards.

#patchgold

A great start to Spring! 

111 species, 133 points & 68.03%

A Day to Remember on Rathlin - Visit 9

I had a great day on the patch on Saturday 20 April which produced two island ticks amongst a decent fall of common migrants.  I wasn’t expecting very much as a stiff SW breeze was blowing, which isn’t the best wind direction for seeing birds on Rathlin.  So I focussed on the sheltered gardens and valleys.

One of the features of spring passage on Rathlin is the high proportion of Willow Warblers compared to Chiffchaffs.  I tallied 50 Willows (including 2-3 northern acredula types) and just 2 Chiffchaffs today.  Church Valley once again held a good number of these, yet it wasn’t until I had reached the East Light area when things really started to kick off.  A sheltered hidden pool which has a nice patch of scrub at one end was hopping with Willow Warblers and the hedges around the cattle fields held even more and a few Blackcaps.  It was here that I spotted a bird flying low over the fields, once it gained some height it began calling – Yellow Wagtail (90)!  I got onto it through the bins and watched it as it headed out to sea towards Kintyre.

I mentioned in the last update that I thought the Ballycarry Pool area looked ideal for attracting something good – along the lines of a Garganey perhaps.  Yet what I found there was completely unexpected! I had already scanned the pool noting that the 22 Teal were still present and had picked up a singing Twite nearby.  I often check the hedge along the lane here as migrants seem to funnel along it from the surrounding banks of thick gorse.  I noticed a bird fly up from the road into the hedge from about 100m away.  I raised my bins, scanned down the lane and there was a cracking male Common Redstart (91) perched in the hedge! I took a few record shots before moving a little closer to enjoy.  I watched it fly down from its perch to feed on the lane a couple of times, only to then disappear, never to be seen again.  This hedge also held 6 Willow Warblers and a Chiffchaff – think I’ll keep checking it...

Redstart - Prints available.......!

I have no doubt both today’s patch tick species are fairly regular in spring on Rathlin, but according to my records the Yellow Wagtail is the first since 22 October 1999 and the Redstart is the first island record since 6 May 1982, so both are triple point birds in my eyes!

I made my way to Doon Bay in a bit of a daze, hoping that the cove would be nicely sheltered from the wind.  I spent a fair bit of time here and checked a few rather precarious vegetated gullies in the cliff face which held numerous Willow Warblers, a few Goldcrests and further single Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps.  While perched at one of my favourite spots on the island overlooking the bay I noticed a few Sand Martins prospecting at a potential nest site where a recent land slide has exposed some nice mud banks at the top of the cliff.  Several Swallows were also swooping around and were joined by a couple of House Martins (92).  I scanned offshore and was eventually rewarded by a couple of Manx Shearwaters (93) gliding past Ushet Point.

Also noteworthy was the arrival of around 35 Linnets, making use of the early cover Corncrake plots near Church Bay and a flock of 7 Twite near Mill Bay.  Thrush numbers have completely dropped off, with only 15 Blackbirds and 4 Song Thrushes recorded.  Also present on the patch today were: 14 White Wagtails (including one from the ferry!), 9 Goldcrests, 13 Wheatears and 2 Common Sandpipers.

Target bird for next visit – Moorhen!

Scores – 93 species, 115 points or 90.55%

 

A Nice Suprise

Well, the Terns are well and truly all in with good numbers of all species up and down my patch, with the exception of Roseate which I would expect to get at some point due to my patch's proximity to Rockabill. Yesterday I had a nice small flock of Sandwich, Little, Arctic and Common Terns and at least one bird of each species was ringed. Somebody has been busy !
I had a little moment of frustration when I heard a Goose 'honk' overhead and looked up just in time to see a large Goose fly straight into the sun. I strongly suspect it was a Greylag Goose but..........!
A hour looking out to sea this morning from Laytown produced nothing new but it is nice to see the Great Northern and Red-throated Divers coming into summer plumage.
In the afternoon I got a call from Paul Kelly to say he had found 2 Avocets at Gormonston, which is outside my patch, and that they had just flown towards Ben Head, which is in my patch !!! I went straight to Laytown beach lower and Paul and Mark Stewart arrived a few minutes later. Paul picked up the Avocets out at sea wayyy north of where we were but thankfully heading our direction. They did land and we got to watch them for a while, albeit at a distance. Where were they ???? On the very beach I spent an hour looking from this morning !!!!!
I'm not complaining, really.

107 species, 132 points.
Eamonn

Spring Continues

Just a quick update of weekend species.

Made it down to Ballycotton on Saturday.
First up on the scoreboard was an Arctic Skua moving west, followed by flocks and flocks of Whimbrel making landfall.

A Common Swift at Shanagarry was the final year tick of the day.
No Groppers, Whitethroat, Sedgies, Common Tern or Puffins yet, but all are sure things in the next few weeks.

120 species, score of 159 and comparative of 67.47%.

April update - Brownstown

The first weekend of April added another six migrant species to the year-list. On the Saturday afternoon (6th), after finally connecting with a Willow Warbler (74), a brief seawatch produced a nice adult Little Gull (75) feeding close inshore – only my fourth ever record here. The Firecrest from 30th March was still feeding along the main lane (two others elsewhere in Co Waterford the same day included one at far side of Tramore Bay – a potential pair I wonder?). Otherwise, a young male Merlin and a couple of Chiffs and Wheatears rounded off the day. Next morning (7th), conditions were too blowy for a planned mist-netting session, so I headed for a seawatch. The first hour produced a couple of Puffins (76), in a cold SSE wind, the next hour (desperate for some further year-ticks!) a nice dark-phase Arctic Skua (77) and 3 Bonxies (78), all heading east, with a 2-hour tally of 20 Red-throated Divers & 90+ Manxies east. Back on land, conditions stayed a bit grim, but a male Blackcap (79) in the garden was new. 


Looking east from the "low" seawatch point

Saturday 13th was quiet, but highlight was a Moorhen (80) walking along the (wet) main lane – the first I’ve seen here, though I heard one last autumn (when locals reported the species on a local cattle-pond). Migrant or wandering local? Proper migrants were scarce, just a Willow Warbler & two Chiffs but, finally, I tracked down 4 Swallows (81) along the sheltered west side of the head.

"The stream" - site of Little Bittern & Subalpine Warbler in spring 2008

Anticipation was high the next weekend, after the arrival of a Hoopoe elsewhere in the county during the week. In the event, it wasn’t very exciting - various migrants seemed to arrive straight back at inland breeding sites instead - but a reasonable crop of new species obliged. Tree Sparrow (82) on 19th and Collared Dove (83) on 20th may have been local birds (both usually breed). More obvious migrants included 80 Whimbrel (84), 5+ Arctic Terns (85) & 2 Sand Martins (86) on 20th, also 11 WWs and 10 CCs. The day-total of 56 species on 20th was my best so far this year - and without ‘scoping Tramore Backstrand – but it took close to 12 hours’ coverage, including a quiet mist-netting session from dawn. Coverage was much less on 21st, but a seawatch produced 3 Bonxies and an Arctic Skua, and a ‘proper’ flypast Red-breasted Merganser (scarce here). The land had Siskin (87), and at least 2 hungry Sparrowhawks (88) which freaked out the local pipits, corvids and even Whimbrels. One of the hawks grappled with a live Jackdaw in long grass while plucking feathers (then flesh) from it – all while being dive-bombed by Hoodies and phone-videoed from 3-4 m range:

see video

 
Score to date 88 species (109 points, 74.66% of target).

South Dublin Coast - Update

Unfortunately sickness and travel put paid to Patching through most of March and the beginning of April. Thankfully all that is now over, so here is a breakdown of the species that have been added to the list since the Curlew at the end of February:

-A quick seawatch during a strong easterly gale on the 10th of March added Red-breasted Merganser (65), with one male seen flying north. A scarce species in the Patch area.

-Two Fieldfare (66) were heard during a large passage of Redwings on the 12th of April. Redwings were heard calling about once every one to two seconds (roughly 3000 birds/hour) and considering that Redwings generally migrate in small flocks, the actual number of birds passing overhead is probably many times that. It would have been very interesting to see a radar scan of the night sky! Conditions were perfect with a light southerly breeze and moderately heavy drizzle.

-One Chiffchaff (67) sang in the garden on the 14th of April, with a single Swallow (68) seen flying north the next day.

-A Willow Warbler (69) sang beside the Shanganagh River on the 18th of April, with a group of three Sand Martins (70) flying over shortly afterwards.

-A short trip to Coliemore Harbour this afternoon (21/4) added four new species. A few Sandwich Terns (71) dove for fish in Dalkey Sound, later being joined by a Manx Shearwater (72) which at times was only a few metres from shore. Another 50 or so Manx Shearwaters were present beyond the Muglins and in Dublin Bay. A quick scan of Dalkey Island produced a good count of 13 Wheatears (73), with another 8 on Lamb Island. The rocks below Sorrento Point held a nice bonus in the form a Common Sandpiper (74). The species is regular in late summer, but this is my first spring record at the site. Finally, the long wait for a DART in Dalkey Station was eased somewhat when a House Martin (75) flew over.

Manx Shearwater in Dalkey Sound

Non-birdy highlights include the first butterfly of the year at Sorrento Point today (probably Peacock), while a Fox was a rather surprising sight from the DART near the Magic Cove. Moths have also (finally) begun to appear in the garden, with six species recorded at the trap so far.

Common Quaker (Orthosia cerasi)

This all leaves me on 75 (bird) species, 88 points and 75.75%.