August 28, 2006
The bridges were dull....waterford was nice though!
The head was wrecked so i took a day off and went up to the bridges on friday.
Reasonably quiet.
2 leaches petrels.
2 juv black terns.
A few great shears.
a few balearics.
A 3rd year Pomarine skua.
A couple of arctic skuas.
1 grey phalarope.
and in the evening I had 2 juv intermediate type long tailed skuas.
Saturday morning was good with about 70 great shearwaters.
2 corys shearwaters.
6 Balearic shearwaters.
Another Pom (dark phase)
A couple of arctic skuas again.
Sunday, save for five minutes of excitement was crap.
8 greats, 1 adult pale pom.
2 arctic skuas.
1 Balearic shearwater.
I then got news of the Booted warbler having been relocated on the Cunnigar in Dungarvan.
I drove from the bridges to dungarvan in 4 hours.
And arrived to find the bird had pitched into cover and not been seen for a short period.
We managed to relocate it, and the bird gave fantastic views for over an hour.
At times it could look like a garden warbler, or an acro or a phylosc!
And in flight it looked very much like whitethroat!
It couldnt make up its mind.
Nice bird all the same!
First tick of the autumn.
Pariah
Worth while links
Irish County yearlists page 2006
Carmo Police
My (outdated) website
August 21, 2006
More waders
A quick update.
Wood sandpiper still at shanagarry, providing a tick for SR.
Little else doing around east cork.
A male ruff at Ballymacoda was the best.
On sunday went down to see the Pectoral Sandpiper at Clogheen, clonakilty.
Saw the bird at 10.30 for a bout 1o mins up close...too close....couldnt get the camera on it!;)
It then flushed into the back and we didnt see it again.
Nothing else of interest down west cork.
Pariah
Worth while links
Irish County yearlists page 2006
Carmo Police
My (outdated) website
August 14, 2006
2 week update _ Seabirds and Waders
Okay...been a tad busy so this is a bumper entry.
Went down to Ballycotton on Saturday the 5th of August.
Very few waders at all, but a nice surprise was an Osprey, which flew high over allens pool and out to sea. Finders Tick.
On sunday i went down to Kerry for the rest of the weekend. in preparation for the Dingle pelagic.
Started off at blennerville. An adult Med gull and a summer plumaged knot were the best here.
Black Rock strand had A few more knot, including the first peachy juv of the year. Lots of dunlin and sanderling but nada in amongst them.
On out to brandon point, where I kipped the night in the car.
Next morning I had a quick look out to sea. A distant Leachs was an early record, but otherwise it was dead.
Spent the rest of the day doing the various wader sites on the peninsula, from Trabeg right around to Smerwick Harbour.
Baile na reannaigh had a twite. And ventry bay had 3 med gulls, 1 ad. and 2 Juvs.
But otherwise very quiet.
The pelagic the next morning was very good.
A 1 hour chug out off the coast was blessed with incredible scenery.
No sooner had the chum gone out than I picked up a cracking Great shearwater, which came right by the boat.
A couple of sooties and a bonxie, arctic and pomarine skua all made an appearance.
And then the star bird...a stunning wilsons petrel came right in just 15 feet off the boat, and hung around for a good hour or so.
The best views I have ever gotten of wilsons. And well worth the 50 euros for the boat!
This weekend I Went up to the bridges on saturday.
Despite good winds there was almost zero passage, with just 2 balearics, 1 sooty and a scattering of arctic skuas and bonxies to keep us occupied.
All the seabirds were heading north aswell, very unusual!
The ad summer Long Billed Dowitcher was on show at shannon airport lagoon, but it took a good half hour to root it out amongst the high tide roost!
It was a tad distant also. But a year tick none the less and a lifer for Sean.
On sunday i had a lazy day, spent at home snoozing and wathcing DVD's.
However in the evening i decided to head down to ballycotton, to play around with my new nikon coolpix 4500.
I was half hoping there would be something more interesting than dunlin and sanderling to test it out on...and i wasn't disappointed!
A beauty of a Juv Wood Sandpiper was on shanagary pool, giving great views for most of the evening.
The bird was even twitched by Brain Lynch who it was a tick for (owes me a pint).
See shots of the bird below....not bad for the first time messing with the camera.
Natural talent i reckon!;)
Went up to skinnys then for a bite with Graham and a pint before heading on home.
Pariah
Worth while links
Irish County yearlists page 2006
Carmo Police
My (outdated) website