Red throated Divers-Lahinch bay

 A calm morning with a light offshore wind.

Pop up the scope in a quiet top carpark and view the bay

Over 20 Red throated Divers have made it to Lahinch bay. Adult birds work hard to keep the rafts of juveniles together.

As the day moves in, they drift out to deeper water to avaid the humans that surf and swim in the waves.

All happening at Lough Atedaun

 The water table is low at Lough Atedaun.

Ive made a few visits this week in a variety of weather conditions because the birding has been good.

White tailed Eagles , Peregrine Falcon, Marsh Harrier on the aerial prowl.

 Black tailed Godwits and  Lapwings are in good numbers joined by Redshank, Ruff, Snipe and Little Egrets and a good number of ducks such as juvenile Pintails, Eclipse Shovalars, Teal, Wigeon, Gadwall, Tufted Duck and plenty of Mallard.

 A Common Sandpiper hopped along the slipway. A Kingfisher past in a flash into the reeds .#

Greenfinches - Moher

A flock of Greenfinches were feeding in the Rosa rugosa bushes at Moher showing Trichomonosis on the beaks of all of them

 It has been recorded to affect a number of garden bird species such as the Greenfinch population that was first noted in late summer 2006.the disease came to prominence in summer 2005, when it was first noted in British finches. Epidemics of the disease occurred in 2006 and 2007, with smaller scale mortality events noted in subsequent years. Greenfinches and Chaffinches are the species that have been most frequently affected, but the disease has also been documented in other garden bird species

Osprey - Lahinch day 19

 I was making my way back toward Ennistymon from Liscannor, the Osprey caught my eye again hovering over the water near the castle.

 I stopped for a watch as it moved out over the bridge and out of sight. I turned the car around and headed for Lahinch bridge just round the corner and there it was hunting the river , again I pulled over and got this fly by as she went back over the bridge into the marsh

American Golden Plover at Clahane

 Not a bit of wind this morning , seas were glassy and the tides were high. 

I wanted to see if any birds were on the reef roosts at Clahane.

 A few Curlews, Ringed Plover, Oystercatchers and an American Golden Plover that stood out in the small group of juvenile Golden Plover that were tucked in together on the reef top

As the tide was moving back quickly and  day moving in these birds made their way into the reef  for the day.

Basking Sharks - Loop Head

 So word was out among social wildlife groups and the public that Basking Sharks were breaching off Loop Head.

 Over the few days the reports were amazing as were some of the people photos and coverage of the phenonium , I grabbed a few hours Saturday morning and took down some of the kids on a promise that they`ll see sharks`..

Id seen this spectacle a few years back

.http://www.alifeattheshoreline.com/2020/09/basking-sharks-breaching-off-loop-head.html.

Today was a bit different, Slightly overcast, with a light east wind with no swell, we managed to see  over 30 breaches in the 2 hours that we stayed . It has to be said that getting photos of these 3 tonne beasts is no easy feat. you can never tell where they will come up until BOOM they are in the air and a Heavy splash gone .

There was one individual that was breaching way over near the Fodry point that was feckin Huge.

Sparrowhawk at Seafield

 I was walking along the beach at Seafield watching the shore birds when the noise of a few thousand Starling went up behind me.

I quickly looked round, Id missed the kill that this juvenile Male Sparrowhawk had made. It landed on the grass of a dune to assess the kill and then floated over the dune out of sight

An untidy looking bird and Id say a meal well needed if he gets to keep it.

Curlew Sandpipers arriving

 The Sanderling and Dunlin arrive first at Seafield and as September rolls in I look forward to a few Curlew Sandpiper coming to join them on  the shoreline. 

This bird being my first of autumn and hopefully not the last.

Lahinch Gull fest

 A few days back,  a sudden a flock of a few thousand Gulls came into Lahinch beach . The 2 stand outs were the juvenile Sabines Gulls and a Ring billed Gull that was tricky to ID in the melee of Gulls in the wind .

As I was walking down to the reef  I lost my target Ring billed Gull as an Arctic Skua came off the sea and put up the whole beach up.

It flew back out settling in choppy ocean 150m off the reef.

A great Skua was also seen out in the bay.

Osprey 3rd day on the Marsh

 Its been a good few days for this Osprey on Lahinch Marsh

Its seems highly successful at catching Mullet and Ive seen it on a few occasions over 3 days feeding and carrying fish.

Osprey round Lahinch Marsh

 A call came through from my friend Geoff to say he has a distant Osprey on Lahinch marsh from our corner that we view from.

Jeez, Ill be an hour., But an Osprey is not to be missed around your home patches.

It stayed,,circling the whole Marsh river system all the way upto Ennistymon sometimes out of sight , but always returning for another lap.

It landed on a sandbank where it met a  Hooded Crow, a Peregrine Falcon came in low so fast and buzzed them just as I was ending my video

It returned caught a fish a slowly lifted over toward Kilshanny.

This birdwatching.

Sabines Gulls in at Lahinch

 I parked up in Lahich top car park waiting for a phone call.

I noticed an extensive number of gulls had come in the outflow pipe along the reef.

It didnt take long to notice two juvenile Sabines Gulls just a few metres further out as usual.

The weather wasnt great, very dark clouds and rain with a stiff NW wind.The Herring, Common and BH Gulls would drift toward the beach and land on the shoreline but not the Sabs, they always stayed just out from the surf.

The phone call never came .

Common Sandpiper -Clahane

 The tide was very high covering the reefs of Clahane with water .

Over in the corner a Common Sandpiper was on the seaweed dump close enough to photo from the car.

Cory`s Season at the Bridges

 August has seen a steady flow of westerly direction winds, the sea is at its peak temperature.

 The food is flowing our way, followed by thousands of Cory`s Shearwaters which have been consistent for the month so far and other seabirds using the winds, this brings them close to the coast where its possible to see them before they venture back into open ocean on a migratory quest.

Today alone 500 Cory`s per hour and the beauty and excitement of a Fea`s Petrel at 1145.

Great, Sooty and Manx backed up the Shears as did Long tailed, Arctic, Pomarines made up the numbers for the Skuas, still Bonxies remain rare this year