Playful Juvenile Shags

At the mouth of Ballyvaughan harbour over a 100 juvenile Shags were hanging out and they seemed to be in a playful mood giving great views

Breaking January

The waves break all though the first few weeks of January.

Some days the sun would break to heavy rain clouds producing rainbows.

Some days the wind would batter.

The rivers filled.

 Life goes on along the coast,

Herring Gull

As the sun rises

Lahinch salt marsh

Empty beaches  

Shags -Killard Point

Sharing steps with a Shag

My eldest son of 8 years found this Shag resting up on the harbour steps at Ballyvaughan.

The bird didnt seem to mind him as they shared the steps with each other.

Wildlife experiences start early in our family.

Portrait of a Shag

This Shag was resting up alongside the harbour wall at Liscannor, it allowed me really close, close enough to grab a few portrait photos

Birds from the boat

guillemot

Great Skua

Inisheer

gannets

It was good to be at sea , I tend to function better. Off the Aran island , plenty of Guillemots, Shags ,Black guiellmots and Kittiwake, we saw 3 Great skua and 2 Pomarine skua which was a bonus  , Dusty the  Dolphin was in Doolin harbour

Purple sand in the seaweed

The build up of seaweed at seafield ,Quilty is a huge attraction to a variety of birds , Dunlin ,Purple sandpipers, Gulls,Rooks ,Turnstone and Wagtails forage the insect rich seaweed muck. Shags, Cormorants and Divers
feed just offshore