Black Brant at Clahane

At this time of year over 100 plus Pale bellied Brent Geese can be found along the north end of Liscannor Bay along the reefs and river outflows where the Eel grass grows on the rocks. They gather here feed up before they head north

 I was checking through the 90+ Pale Brent Geese at my favorite  patch at Clahane with my lad Harry I was hoping to find a bird with a ring as I have found many here at Clahane over the years.

 A Black Brant stood out in the crowd of Pale bellied Brent Geese and was a nice find personally as I always believed I had a good chance that Id find one one day among these flocks

Signs of migration out west

 The tide was the high at Clahane . A noisy flock of Herring Gulls bossed the bay, a Greenshank caught my eye in the rocks near the cliff it was with 5 Redshank . A White Wagtail briefly flew into the river entry, flitted around being busy went high and crossed the bay.

A flock 95 Brent Geese were on the middle reef with 60+ Golden Plover that were changing into summer plumage and 5 Whimbrel. The Geese began to move to the reef near the road and among them was a Black Brant

"Which way you heading"..."North"

Black Brant (type) on The Rine

 The joys of giving a family member a lift to and from Ballyvaghan is that I have had a chance to spend a good few hours a week along that stretch of North Clare coast.
 I had been meaning to try and catch up with this Black Brant (type) Brent Goose that was found a week earlier out on The Rine that had joined our more familiar Pale bellied Brents.
I walked out on the evening high tide, windy with nice light.The Geese were out on a small island but the tide moved them onto the Rine where I got a chance of a view
In the field the light plays tricks with this bird, it took me a while to be convinced I was looking at the correct bird.

Black Brant and Brent Geese

Martello tower , Aughinish

Pale-bellied Brent Geese heading to  the fields in Munnia 

 Black Brant in  flock of 275+ Pale-bellied Geese

Thursday I spent the day looking for the Black Brant that had been seen with Brent Geese near Newquay on the north coast of Clare
I checked the fields around  the shorelines , the reefs and the Loughs from Finvarra to Aughinish , plenty of Brent geese and other local birds but no Brant.
In the afternoon  small flocks of geese started to head to a field in Munnia where I was waiting. I had  been patient and sure enough the Black Brant joined the flock of 275+