January 03, 2006
Pariahs round up- The end of 2005 and the start of the climb..
Well 2005 is over now and i thought id finish up the year with a little round up of the fantastic birding that it entailed for me.
In total i got 22 irish ticks in 2005 and beat my old year list record of 207 by 24 species and a total of 230. (just cramming in iceland gull and forsters tern at the last minute)...of course it would have been nice to cram in the golden eagle, white tailed eagle and caspian gull also but it was not to be!
My first tick of the year came in the form of Shane's Purple heron at tacumshin back in march and was also a birthday tick for me!
Who was to know that it would be the start of a big heron year for me!
In april i moved to cork, it was a big change in my life, and personal losses were offset by a phenomenal change of pace to birding.
On my first weekend in cork i found a hoopoe on toe head, and 2 weeks later a drake ring necked duck on the lough.
May was when things really started to hot up.
On april 30th i found a cattle egret in clonakilty, just sitting on the flood embankment all dopey looking. This led to a massive twitch over the bank holiday weekend and the excitement grew as the next day a black winged stilt was found in nearby whites marsh.
A truly stunning bird that technically should be on my finds list...but im not bitter.
It climaxed on monday with graham gordon doing his part and finding a golden oriole and a broad billed sandpiper at ballycotton.
4 ticks in a weekend...i was left shattered!;)
The following weekend was also impressive with a whiskered tern present at tacumshin along with garganey and montagus harrier. The whiskered tern performed beautifully giving amazing views and was tick number 6 for the year.
Ticks were hitting the ground fast now.
A laughing gull in cork city was quickly followed by a self found tick of the same species in clonakilty just 2 days later. This was to be the beginning of an invasion year for this species with near to 20 individuals recorded this year.
This day was also the begining of the seawatching season or "the madness" as i like to call it.
The 2nd of july gave rise to a phenomenal early movment of corys shearwaters with nearly 2000 recorded off galley head throughout the day along with my thrid Fea's petrel, sabines gulls, pomarine skua etc.
It was also due to be a phenomenal seawatching year...but i had known this upon my move to cork...now if i could just win the lotto it would be great!
The discovery of a sooty tern in the irish sea led to mass hysteria on the IBN. And after one failed twitch, i managed to catch this bird up north in groomsport co down...dublin would have been better... but cest la vie!
The end of july produced an self found hobby, long billed dowicther, and finally the tick of wilsons petrel.
A truly stunning species IMO, and one of the most enjoyable weekends of the year...especially as we went over to wexford for the Pacific Golden Plover that monday.
This was the eve of the new age..i had just started driving my car...and this was to lead to a new freedom and rate of ticking new birds as i had never seen!
All hail my VW Polo!!!!
August was a true seawatching extravaganza as the madness overtook me completely.
Every weekend was given over to the hunting of suitable seawatching.
And this paid dividends in seeing 2 more Fea's petrels (one of which i found), all the regular seawatching species, and the jewel in the crown...a self found Little shearwater!
Oh the joy and sweet panic that came upon me when that little gem came into view!
Self finding bee eater the day before made this a very memorable weekend!
The first two weeks of september were spent in spain getting lifers like black eared wheatear! A very enjoyable trip.
September led to some memorable dips upon my return, with Great spotted woodpecker, bonellis warbler, and lesser grey shrike all eluding my sights.
It was October that was to be the years back breaker, with some of the most memorable birds of the year!
The first of october was to be the last seawatch of the year with a fantastic skua day and impressive numbers of pomarine skuas moving south.
Impressive movements of Yellow browed warblers, firecrests and lesser whitethroats moved through and i managed to get these on my self found list.
A grey cheeked thrush showed exceptionally well on the old head of kinsale along with a hawfinch (which was a tick for that tart cronin!;)).
2 days later irelands first green heron was found down in schull.
And we were on site on the first evening!An incredible bird and a real beauty.
Icterine warbler and raddes warbler on the same day later in the month provided a bogey elimination for icky and a target met in raddes.
And indeed raddes was possibly my favorite bird all year!
The following week another bogey was eliminated with red breasted flycatcher at strawtown and this bird performed exceptionally well for observers!
November rolled around and an influx of chimney swifts heralded by dara's 2 birds on sherkin was another great experience,
With myself and Harry legging it down to baltimore for the next morning and refinding one 2 seconds out of the car!
"whats that?ITS A CHIMNEY SWIFT!!!"
The next day we were dipping on yellow rumped warbler but seeing my second grey cheeked thrush and seeing it exceptionally well!
The following weekend was stressful with my brother the Beast calling me and informing me he had found a summer plumaged white billed diver off balbriggan.
The next day we were on site for first light and the bird showed very well.
A fantastic find and catchup!
Everyone owes him a pint!
Blue winged teal was also a nice little bonus that day!
The next weekend we were staring down a franklins gull in galway at exceptionally close range!And a laughing gull made an appearance in nimmos pier.
The next weekend was equally good with irelands first barrows golden eye under my belt as well as mandarin duck and year tick bean geese.
That was to be the end of irish ticks for the year, but last minute year ticks came about with forsters tern, iceland gull, long tailed duck, a dublin laughing gull (making my total 6 birds this year).
A fantastic years birding long to be remembered!
Total irish list as of 2005 - 290
Irish self found list - 227
Happy new year to all,
and good birding for 2006!
Pariah
Worth while links
Carmo Police
My (outdated) website