The colour of Golden Plover and Purple Sandpiper

 A nice flock of Golden Plover were shining in the sunlight as they roost on the reef at Clahane .

A count of 9 Purple Sandpiper were to the side of the reef out of the wind where they can go unseen if you dont know where they hang out.

The sun was in the right place and the birds were all showing some nice colours

Greenland Wheatear pushing through at Clahane

 This stand out Greenland type Wheatear has been hanging around the river entry area at corner in Clahane for about a week, and will probably push through with west coast with the last of the |Waders such as Whimbrel , Dunlin and Purple Sandpipers

Ruff with Purple Sandpipers

 After mugging around lough Donnell trying to catch up with better views of the Black winged Stilt which we didnt see,, a call into Seafield produced a Ruff with 30 Purple Sandpipers and a 50 flock of Turnstone. Lots of Easter disturbance moving the birds along the beach 

Clahane reef birds and Sandfield Barnacle Goose

  

Outside the invasion of Gulls on the middle reef a few birds were to be found foraging on the south reef with 8 Purple Sandpiper , 2 Greenshank , 15 Oystercatcher and 6 Brent Geese

On the way back home a lone Barnacle Goose was in the field along the river creek at Sandfield

Purple Sandpipers

Golden Plover

Brent Goose

barnacle goose

Spring at Loop Head with Dolphins

Surprisingly it was quiet on The Loop for a Sunday morning.

I wandered behind the lighthouse checking for birds.

While watching a Chiffchaff and a Robin along the fence a Lesser Whitethroat flew over my shoulder and into the bracken beside briefly, moving off ,after 20 mins it came back but stayed low and was impossible to get a shot of.

I sat at the tip of Loop enjoying the peace and a calming ocean with a pod of Bottle nose Dolphins for viewing."magical".

A few Wheatear were about as the song of the Skylark, A Peregrine was on a post surveying the Fodry .

A Purple Sandpiper was a Ross bay

Purps among the shorebirds at Cloghauninchy Corner

The coast between Lahinch and Quilty was quite busy due to the Bank holiday weekend and not much was to be seen,,,,
But in a quiet west facing corner of a beach a small gathering of shorebirds were in the seaweed awaiting the drop of the tide among them 18 Purple Sandpiper, 25 Dunlin, 22 Sanderling, 24 Oystercatcher , 15 Turnstone & 20 Whimbrel

Start of the winter birds

You can feel the cold coming , November showers mixed with chilly winds.
Winter visiting birds are now flooding in to the country as the north starts to enter winter.
Great Northern Divers are entering the bays and a few colour ringed  Purple Sandpipers start to turn up at Seafield.

Return of the Purps

The Purple Sandpipers have arrived back to the shoreline of Seafield , nice to see a few of the ringed birds that winter here every year

Purple sandpipers.. "Close up"

A few days have passed since my last visit to Seafield and I was keen to find out if any more Purple Sandpipers have arrived. Today I counted 42, but there may have been more...with 4 colour ringed birds
While watching the shoreline the sun came out and was giving good light, so I took the opportunity  for some photos.

Purple Sandpipers arrival

22 Purple sandpipers have arrived for winter at Seafield , some of these birds I recognise from last year due to the colour ringing scheme that the birds are involved in , more birds will arrive over the coming week and we should hopefully see over 100 birds.

Clahane spring birdlife

Turnstone

Purple sandpiper

White Wagtail

Clahane seems to be getting over its drought of birds. Several species of wader including Purple Sandpipers,Whimbrel,Turnstone,Ringed Plover and Oystercatcher go through the washed up seaweed.
White Wagtail ,Pied Wagtail and Rock pipit feed on the abundance of flys.Stonechat and Linnet were in the fields and a summer plumage Great northern diver was in the sea