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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

County Louth (formerly Dundalk Bay) local patch. (5 Viewers)

I hope i live again to see one grown woman and seven grown men come out at 8pm on a wednesday to twitch a gargany (a species all have seen many times before)...and alas all dip! Amazing run of birds for Louth though.
 
Spent the day drilling holes into Clogher port new quay wall to facilitate black guillemots (or which only 9 recorded this morning versus 29 at Giles quay a few days ago). A single dark phase arctic skua harassing the many terns off the head was the best...iceland gull still at Cruisetown...
 
Manx shearwaters (126) off Cooley point today in the rain. Now about a dozen white wags along the shore at whitestown and templetown beach.
 
At Lurgangreen this afternoon there were good numbers of Knot and Godwits as well as 100 or so Dunlin. There was a Purple Sandpiper with the knot! It looked a bit odd standing on the sand bar and kept running behind a lone rock. It eventually showed reasonably well(at a distance) standing on the rock before disappearing. The drake Green winged Teal and a single Ruff were also on show. Lots of Swallows and a few Sand Martins and House Martins still moving north.

my list

138 Purple Sandpiper
 
Little Tern

3 Little Tern at Laytown today.Watched from beach across from O`Reilly`s newsagents.Worked their way up and down beach feeding.Great to see them again.Wish the team at Béal Trá the best of luck for coming season.Today 12.15.
 
Male hen harrier in cooley mountains

This male hen harrier was present in the cooley mountains this evening the burnt heather & gorse from the recent fire makes it stand out well in the distance.to the best of my knowledge hen harriers are unknown from this area in any season.could they have been overlooked? could this bird be just on migration? any thoughts anyone
grasshopper warbler nearby also
 

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Enda said:
This male hen harrier was present in the cooley mountains this evening the burnt heather & gorse from the recent fire makes it stand out well in the distance.to the best of my knowledge hen harriers are unknown from this area in any season.could they have been overlooked? could this bird be just on migration? any thoughts anyone
grasshopper warbler nearby also
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Well done Enda, great to get photos as well!!
 
mairon said:
3 Little Tern at Laytown today.Watched from beach across from O`Reilly`s newsagents.Worked their way up and down beach feeding.Great to see them again.Wish the team at Béal Trá the best of luck for coming season.Today 12.15.
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There were 36 Little Terns at Baltray yesterday. Went out again today but only 4 to be seen. Numbers will fluctuate for a while. Lovely to hear their unmistakable call again. We hope to get the cordon up tomorrow - it's that time of the year again!!
 

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Very quiet today from Dundalk to Hermitage (and indeed along Cooley coast yesterday). Good numbers of Whimbrel - c.100 over two days. Dipped the male Hen Harrier tonight by 5 minutes - a bit of a trend starting! I also had Grasshopper Warblers at two locations.
 

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Some nice shots there Derek,just after you left about 50yds down the road a grasshopper warbler started reeling showing itself on some brambles
 
MargaretM said:
There were 36 Little Terns at Baltray yesterday. Went out again today but only 4 to be seen. Numbers will fluctuate for a while. Lovely to hear their unmistakable call again. We hope to get the cordon up tomorrow - it's that time of the year again!!
Click to expand...

I only had 3 Little Terns at Kilcoole today...I wonder which colony will be favoured this year. There was certainly a drop off in numbers last year, but most likely due to relocation to the Baltray colony...

Still though, better not to have all ones eggs in the same basket!

See Ya,
Niall
 
Enda said:
Some nice shots there Derek,just after you left about 50yds down the road a grasshopper warbler started reeling showing itself on some brambles
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Enda, I went back up later and heard it.

I was sorting out my internet favorites there and came accross this site which should be interest to us here a short distance West. It will give indications of what's on the move and what we might see off Clogherhead etc. PS - I didn't realise there was a Great White Egret so close.
The site is http://www.manxbirdatlas.org.uk/index.shtml
 
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