A weekend with Birdwatch Ireland at The Cliffs of Moher

Volunteered  for a Bank Holiday weekend at the Cliffs of Moher  for Birdwatch Ireland. Spent some time showing people the Puffins that were sitting on the open sea a few 100 metres below. The weather was ok with calm seas , we brought  sightings of the Puffins , Fulmar and Peregrine Falcons  to the general public.
It does bring a wonder to people eyes when you show them a Peregrine `.
The Puffins had left by the Monday afternoon.

Jeff and JD

Tourist viewing the Puffins

Common Tern photo time

Common Terns. A joy to photograph in flight .

Pectoral sandpiper...Lady Island Lake

Pick of the bunch today! This Adult Pectoral Sandpiper 17:30 showed well for me at our Lady island Lake ...Thought it was a female Ruff at first.This was on my 3rd visit here today, just shows Keep looking!

Buzzard or Marsh Harrier or both.???

Bit of a suprise round the corner while driving round Tacumshin, a Buzzard sitting on a Post over looking fields. TIDY!, Flew off. went round another corner and a bird flys over a hedgerow. is it a Marsh Harrier or the Buzzard  i just seen??????
Turns out its a Buzzard...Molting

Roseate Terns

My first Roseate Terns. Lady Island Lake, south end off the shingle beach toward the sea. Hard to find among the large numbers of other Terns

Hurry on Sundown

Sunset. View of Aran Islands overlooking Doonagore

A Lough in Tipp

Black necked Grebe

Common Sandpiper

Great crested Grebe carrying chicks

 

 Today i went somewhere new, to a small Lough in Tipparary to try and find a Black necked Grebe,

A host of birds were here, Grebes,Ducks,Gulls,Sandpipers,Lapwing,Coots, Moorhens and all were with young ,making it a very busy pond, Wild Mint grows all over giving off sent in the heat of the day,Dragonflys and Damselflys haunt the reeds, and a Buzzard and a Jay where at the Fairy fort......

The Linnet and the Sand martin

With mid-summer upon us and very little movement with birds a couple of more common birds are busy around Lough Donnell

Our Ladys Island lake

With the rain teaming down and poor light , i was determined not to go home early so i searched for a place to birdwatch from the car . Our Ladys Island lake was just the spot. Several Black tailed Godwit allowed me to watch a while with nesting Terns everywhere. nice place!

Reed Warblers

 

After getting back from the Saltees, i headed up the road 5 miles  to a place off Tacumshin where i saw 4 Hen Harriers in the morning .Hopefull of a few birds, I spent an hour with Killian Mullarney and Nigel Marvin watching a family of Reed Warblers. 

Thanks lads it was nice to meet you both

The Gannets of the Saltees

Impressive ! is a Gannetry. Graceful Seabirds but MY do they smell.

How to catch a Gannet

Three students from some University were also on the Saltees tagging adult Gannets for research. I watched  for a small bit, because it allowed me to get a bit closer to the birds than i normally would have.
Sort of interesting, but i prefer to let them be....after all they are busy feeding young.

The Saltee Islands

B4 the rain

Fulmar

Razorbill

Gannet

Guillemot

Six hours on an Island, Four hours spent in driving rain and wind with no shelter....no-one said the sun shines every day!, sometimes this is the nature of what i enjoy.
Still the first hour or so i managed to get a few photos of the Seabirds.

Black-tailed Godwit Flyover

With the reeds encroaching over Shannon airport Lagoon ,birds are never really close enough to photo so you take what you can get. Still a nice quiet place to scope 400+ Black-tailed Godwit and a handful of Little Egret