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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. (4 Viewers)

Thanks ... a fabulous picture. I was back quite a few pages looking at lovely pictures of rare orchids by Peter Phillips. Hope he posts a few more this summer.

Thanks Dolce. I hope they are there this summer!

I had a quick look at the rocks in Clogher head this afternoon-no Purple Sandpipers. The best at Cruisetown were two Iceland Gulls.

There must be a Cattle Egret out there somewhere!
 
I had a quick look at the rocks in Clogher head this afternoon-no Purple Sandpipers.
I also spent some time this afternoon on West end of Carlingford Lough - Newry, Omeath to Carlingford. Nothing much - nice flock of 18 scaup. Target birds were purple sandpiper and dipper - neither showed despite good search. Area East of Omeath looks good for Purple SP but they seem to turn up further out on the coast. Had a dipper some time back on the river that runs East of Omeath but no luck today.

There must be a Cattle Egret out there somewhere!
I totally agree Peter. Two have been present in Cumbria, NW England for quite some time now and as I stated in an earlier thread it's easily visible from Slieve Foye and only a short flight away.

Off now to watch the eclipse - gonna be a long night!
 
I took a look for the eclipse around 2am but it was overcast and starting to rain...(check the flurry at ballymascanlon for a regular dipper)
 
Drove home by Salterstown today. Saw 3 Long Tailed Ducks and 1 male Goosander. Conditions were rough, did try digiscoping a few photos but had no success.
 
I took a look for the eclipse around 2am but it was overcast and starting to rain...(check the flurry at ballymascanlon for a regular dipper)
Not a great night for it - few short breaks but not worth staying up till 4am for.
Thanks Breffni for tip on the Flurry - have checked it already but no luck - are you talking close to the main Greenore road or further upstream?
 
The Lonely Twitcher

Drove home by Salterstown today. Saw 3 Long Tailed Ducks and 1 male Goosander. Conditions were rough, did try digiscoping a few photos but had no success.

My kind boss let me off an hour or so early today so I could nip up to Salterstown to twitch Long-tailed Duck and Goosander for my Louth Big Year List.

By the time I arrived the tide was way way out. I dont think I have ever seen it out so far. The wind had got up and was blowing the wrong way (out to sea). Anyway it did not look promising. I started scanning the miserably few waterfowl and sure enough there was a very hansome male Goosander in amongst 5 Red-brested Merganser. The conditions made photography almost impossible, but I did manage to get one recognisable shot.

I looked for a good half an hour for the Long tailed Duck, but they had obviously high tailed it out of there.

Never mind I got the best bird.

Well done Margaret--You legend!


115 Goosander
 

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My kind boss let me off an hour or so early today so I could nip up to Salterstown to twitch Long-tailed Duck and Goosander for my Louth Big Year List.

By the time I arrived the tide was way way out. I dont think I have ever seen it out so far. The wind had got up and was blowing the wrong way (out to sea). Anyway it did not look promising. I started scanning the miserably few waterfowl and sure enough there was a very hansome male Goosander in amongst 5 Red-brested Merganser. The conditions made photography almost impossible, but I did manage to get one recognisable shot.

I looked for a good half an hour for the Long tailed Duck, but they had obviously high tailed it out of there.

Never mind I got the best bird.

Well done Margaret--You legend!


115 Goosander

You did well to get that photo Peter. When I first saw the Goodander, it was well out and the tide was so rough and it was so windy that I was afraid to let go of the scope in case it blew down! Then I couldn't find my camera! Finally remembered where I'd put it but by that time I was frozen and my shots were a waste of time, so I'm delighted that you managed to get such a good shot of it.
 
Not a great night for it - few short breaks but not worth staying up till 4am for.
Thanks Breffni for tip on the Flurry - have checked it already but no luck - are you talking close to the main Greenore road or further upstream?
Close to the road - the bird is hanging out either under the new bridge (view from old bridge) or further downstream - you will see some stones with droppings on them. As a matter of fact i walked the whole upstream part to ravensdale (looking for a photo on the fast moving water, but didn't come across one - there used to be several - no idea why)...nice walk though.

Great find Margaret - another possible blocker!
 

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Someone at work today was just talking about returning home about week and half ago and the Clanrye river Heron just sitting staring at her. It was a bit dark and she got a creepy feeling that someone was watching her near the bus station but she wasnt quite expecting it to be the Heron. I held my breath last summer as we sailed so close past it near the quarry and I couldnt believe how he never even flinched or took us under his notice. It was as if it was his territory and we were only passers by.
 
Close to the road - the bird is hanging out either under the new bridge (view from old bridge) or further downstream - you will see some stones with droppings on them. As a matter of fact i walked the whole upstream part to ravensdale (looking for a photo on the fast moving water, but didn't come across one - there used to be several - no idea why)...nice walk though.

Thanks Breffni - that's why I could not locate it - I was searching further upstream!

Spent 2 hours this morning at Salterstown - no sign of either Goosander or LT Ducks. Very very windy with rough seas - car was near airbourne on occasions.
 
Spent 2 hours this morning at Salterstown - no sign of either Goosander or LT Ducks. Very very windy with rough seas - car was near airbourne on occasions.

I went by there this morning and went home that way this afternoon and no sign of either. It certainly was wild out there Derek, I actually struggled to open the boot door against the wind.
 
While walking along the Fane tuesday evening saw these in the distance ,are they red backed shrike?
 

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While walking along the Fane tuesday evening saw these in the distance ,are they red backed shrike?
Red-backed shrike would be nice! Never seen one in ireland. The fieldfare and redwing are thrushes that migrate to ireland for the winter by the hundreds of thousands but are genarelly unknown to most people so well spotted! They mainly frequent the countryside where they eat up all the red berries to be found - they will be gathering to return north at the moment.
 
Fieldfare , redwing

Red-backed shrike would be nice! Never seen one in ireland. The fieldfare and redwing are thrushes that migrate to ireland for the winter by the hundreds of thousands but are genarelly unknown to most people so well spotted! They mainly frequent the countryside where they eat up all the red berries to be found - they will be gathering to return north at the moment.

Thanks for that , got some good reference books so , I'm learning !
 
Seabank , ebbing tide

At Seabank this afternoon , many shellduck , lapwing and a small gathering of wigeon
 

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Had a Blue Tit inside the nestbox in the garden today, hopefully they will use it this year.
Also had 3 Goldfinches, 2 Redpolls and 2 Siskins on the peanut feeder this morning.
 
3 iceland gulls at cruisetown today,also pic of sparrowhawk on marsh at lurgangreen
 

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