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

Tried seawatching from clogher yesterday - a single manxie was all, not even fulmars or gannets, though there were at least mixed 450 auks (razors and guillemots).

At Cruisetown one white wag (at least), one arctic skua, one 2W med gull (ringed) and a little stint about half way along the beach hanging with a flock of 20 or so Dunlin...not a bad day out.

(couldn't resist the medow pipit in really fresh autumn plumage + the 2W lesser black backed gull - cruisetown affords a great opportunity to look at gulls in all ages right now...)
 

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Yesterday was quiet enough until we caught up with the little stint at Cruisetown, nice one Breffni thanks. Did IWeBS count on the Boyne in the morning, numbers low, wasn't helped by the All Ireland Road Bowling championship taking place along the road at the time!
 
Enda said:
anyone know anything about the sabines reported on birdguides from co louth yesterday (sunday 10th)
Bird was apparently seen off Baltry in the late afternoon Sunday...yesterday evening an adult med gull again at Shelling Hill...hanging around for a week or so now - quiet out at sea.
 

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Four curlew sandpipers at dundalk harbour today, also one at seabank yesterday + something else in the dieing light -maybe a pec...
 

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breffni said:
Bird was apparently seen off Baltry in the late afternoon Sunday...yesterday evening an adult med gull again at Shelling Hill...hanging around for a week or so now - quiet out at sea.
Thanks,Breffni. a very good Louth record
 
2 Curlew Sandpipers at Baltray village this morning, also 2 Little Egrets, a flock of golden plovers, a couple of hundred Curlews, some Mallards, Redshanks, a few Dunlins, a few Herons, Lapwings
 

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Adult med gull at Baltray village this evening (on the estuary in the village rather than out at the beach). Great numbers and variety of birds there these days.
Photo courtesy of Margaret.
 

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Just happened to catch this buzzard being hassled by a grey crow yesterday at Queensboro/Beaulieu.
 

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curlew sandpipers at dundalk harbour,lurgangreen &seabank little stint at lurgangreen (heard 2nd hand of ylg at cruisetown) .nice shots Margret & Sandra . maybe of interest to some of you was this red underwing moth which was at hermitage yesterday.records indicate that the last known record (for ireland) was in 1906 in cork amazingly on the 16th sept. making it 100 years to the day. in flight it was like a big butterfly showing its red & black hindwings which are concealed when at rest
 

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Enda said:
maybe of interest to some of you was this red underwing moth which was at hermitage yesterday.records indicate that the last known record (for ireland) was in 1906 in cork amazingly on the 16th sept. making it 100 years to the day. in flight it was like a big butterfly showing its red & black hindwings which are concealed when at rest
You did well to spot it Enda, it must have been difficult to see with it's colouring, it really blends in perfectly with the stone. Amazing coincidence about the dates ..... hopefully it won't be quite as long before it is seen here again.
 
MargaretM said:
You did well to spot it Enda, it must have been difficult to see with it's colouring, it really blends in perfectly with the stone. Amazing coincidence about the dates ..... hopefully it won't be quite as long before it is seen here again.
yes margaret, only i spotted it in flight theres no way i would have seen it on the wall luckily Don Hodgers was closeby and we both agreed it was very interesting (red underwing just wouldnt be on the radar) good photos were taken of the upperwing to enable Don (when he got home to suspect red underwing) although i had seen it in flight i was unsure of the hindwing pattern although i had earlier described it it as red & black so after about an hour on the phone we decided to go back to hermitage an luckily when we arrived it was in flight in the ruins enabling us to confirm the fore wing &underwing patterns from the photos & the description we have given it has been accepted by all the "irish experts"(who have seen the pics) as being the 1st irish record in 100 years
 
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Back on 7th September I spotted a huge moth on the wall of a house in Kilsaran, I'd no idea what it was, took a few photos but couldn't identify it. It was only when I saw Enda's photo of the red underwing that I began to wonder if it was something interesting.... Enda took a look at it for me and confirmed that it was indeed a red underwing! And then just as Enda was confirming that for me he got word of another sighting in Drogheda back in August. So after a hundred years absence in Ireland there seems to have been some sort of small influx in Co Louth. The question is how many might there be out there, if 3 have been spotted there are bound to be more. It'll be interesting to see if there are many more reports.

Enda - thanks for all the help!
 

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Well Sandra and Enda, that sure is one hell of a coincidence for both of you to spot this elusive moth. Doesn't it make you wonder why it hasn't been seen for 100 years and then turns up this year and is sighted at least 3 times. It would be extremely interesting to know why .... has it been in Ireland all this time but not spotted but if so then there must have been very few of them around. Or have they increased in numbers for some reason and if so what has changed in our environment to make this happen.
 
well done sandra for the foresight to photo it, which meant the record wasnt lost.and of course for realising you had something good,the message,you sent with the photo to me indicated you were inclined to think red underwing.3 new records have come to light in the space of a week & all are in co. louth,and as margaret asks, why? i believe they have been expanding north in britain which might explain why they have now reached ireland. but why louth. greater coverage in co" Down,Dublin &wicklow to name just 3 neighbouring counties have failed to turn up any. there is a reason we just dont know it yet. could it have been a female with eggs blown over & we are now seeing the offspring or is it just an influx who fancy a holiday in Louth
 
The tide was quite high yesterday, probably due to the windy conditions and seemed to be in, well in advance of its due time. Plenty of roosting waders including the usual Red Shank, Curlews, Green Shank also a couple of Grey Plovers, Mallards, Wigeon, Shellducks, GC Grebe (2 in very close) and 2 Little Egrets all at Seabank. A couple of Red Throated Divers off Salterstown.
 
Twitched the greenish warbler in cape clear last weekend (also garden warbler, redstart, rose coloured starling, chough) and added a few more to the annual list...must be close to 190 now...btw the three green sandpipers at rogerstown are probably still there and easy to find, just point scope to the left from top of the stairs of the southern hide - birds are at a small pool 30 or so yards to left giving good views).

On Friday after the storm had white wags at templetown (first time i've seen them here in autumn), well-marked arctic skua at balaggan point with small passage of manx shearwaters, a few washed up dead seabirds, guillemots i think but all headless; checked the hedgerows for passerines but quiet; on thursday a possible ylg at seabank (see photo, bird looks good except seems to be in primary moult - ylg should be already well-moulted).
 

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breffni said:
a few washed up dead seabirds, guillemots i think but all headless;
Seemingly they are dying from starvation, doesn't account for why they were headless though! Thanks for Rogerstown info, pity there aren't more Irish local patch threads, seems to be just us and the NI thread. It'd be great to be able to follow what's going on in other counties.

Only out briefly today to Dunany, really not a lot to be seen except for an arctic skua.
 
7 little egrets at lurgangreen ,with a kingfisher also out on the marsh. juv perigrines at seabank & lurgangreen (likely the same one) & one at cruisetown.2 artic skuas at hermitage & cruisetown were the best of a quite weekend
 

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