County Louth (formerly Dundalk Bay) local patch. (3 Viewers)

Derek Watters · Aug 29, 2008

I spent 2 hours at Rathcor, Shelling Hill and Ballagan (11am-1pm). Water was almost mirror smooth. Large rafts of auks throughout Dundalk Bay - I recon 400 razorbill and 175 guillemot. Also had about 10 white wags. I was specifically looking for puffin and checked every auk but didn't see one - pity I had not met Gerry :C. I skipped Templetown and Cooley Point due to time pressure. Surprisingly I had no arctic skuas today - first time in about 5 visits I had none (nice action photo breffni). 1 wheatear at Ballagan. 3 Maxies far out. 30 gannets.

Gerry o Neill · Aug 29, 2008

my louth list

Gerry o Neill said:
Correction to list now 161.Gerry.

Now 162 with puffin shelling hill.Gerry

Derek Watters · Aug 31, 2008

At Lurgangreen this morning there was a dramatic rise in the numbers of wildfowl and waders. Had my first teal (x7) and wigeon (x9) of the "winter". Also present were 6 eclipse shovelers and 2 peregrine. Up to 300 mallard, which should brighten the eyes of the hunters who will no doubt be out early tomorrow morning for the start of the shooting season.

Derek Watters · Aug 31, 2008

Last Swifts

Quick request - can people please let me know when they seen their last swifts of the summer. I had several on Wednesday 20th - anyone had any since. Thanks

breffni · Sep 1, 2008

Derek Watters said:
Quick request - can people please let me know when they seen their last swifts of the summer. I had several on Wednesday 20th - anyone had any since. Thanks

There were several over Beaulieu pond on the 25th Aug.

Peter Phillips · Sep 2, 2008

Clogher Head

I was out at Clogher Head this morning.Only one Willow Warbler in the garden.Spent one hour seawatching.The best were 1 Balearic Shearweater with about 50 Manx Shearwater, 2 Storm Petrels and 2 pale phase Arctic Skua harrassing the large numbers of terns present at the harbour and Cruisetown Strand.

Has anyboby tried a pelagic from the east coast? I know Leachs Petrel turns up on the west coast of Britain most autumns,so they must be moving down the Irish Sea

my county year list 152 Balearic Shearwater 153 Arctic Skua

breffni · Sep 2, 2008

Good numbers of manxies, an arctic skua and several stormies in close at lunchtime today...

Peter Phillips · Sep 3, 2008

Little Tern Barbeque

There will be a barbeque on the beach at Baltray County Louth.It will take place on Saturday 13th September at 7pm WEATHER PERMITTING!!!

Everybody is welcome even well behaved pets.

We will supply the barbeque....you just need to bring food and drink enough for yourself.

Look forward to seeing you there

breffni · Sep 3, 2008

Blast of winter today - four great northern divers flyby, three wheatears, greenland type, still a good few white wags, a flock of brent and a cold northwesterly...

peter ro · Sep 3, 2008

one it's own at seabank today

Derek Watters · Sep 4, 2008

A 2 hour seawatch at Clogherhead and Hermitage produced nothing! A few shearwaters very far out. 1 wheatear at Cruisetown. 300 commic terns at Cruisetown - many of the juvs were ringed.

After much research I finally bought the Canon Sureshot A590is for digiscoping. With Peter Rooney's help and 3 hours of filing at the weekend, I made a DIY adapter costing €3 and so far works fine.

I attach some photos taken today in variable lighting and at varying distances to give an idea of the camera's performance. So far I'm very impressed with the camera.

breffni · Sep 4, 2008

Great shots - can you do a photo of the adaptor setup?

breffni · Sep 4, 2008

Three buzzards, two willow warblers and seven female chaffinches in the garden this morning. Good few wheatears and a common sandpiper at the point. A little auk was seen off Dunaney from a boat this morning...

MargaretM · Sep 5, 2008

Large numbers of Auks off Seapoint (between Baltray and Clogherhead) yesterday, at least 2,000 by my reckoning.
Thought that with the strong north easterly winds today, Clogherhead would be worth checking out - but looks like we will have rain all day!
Photos below of Commom Terns at Clogherhead on Wednesday. Good quality photos from the sureshot Derek, I'd be very happy with that.

breffni · Sep 5, 2008

Two med shearwaters, a smattering of storm-petrels and three arctic skuas from cooley point this morning before the rain hit. I can still see manxies and gannets from my house. Gerry has six sooties and a med shear from shelling hill.

Peter Phillips · Sep 7, 2008

Seawatching

I raced out to Clogher Head yesterday afternoon, having heard news of some great birds passing Skerries County Dublin ( 16 miles south of Clogher Head), that and the previous day -Pomarine Skua Sabines Gull Med Shearwater Great Shearwater and Long tailed Skua to name a few.

I arrived at Clogher head at 2- 2.30 and was disappointed to find it was almost birdless. 2 Gannets 2 Kittiwakes a Red throated Diver a few Scotor a juv Common Tern and a single Puffin, the only birds to pass in 15 minutes...Hermitage was no better...the wind was North East about force 4 or so and backing North.
The Puffin was little consolation

my list 154 Puffin

I am presuming that the birds must have passed earlier in the day when the winds were strong easterly backing North East and keeping the birds close in shore.

Any comments?

Derek Watters · Sep 8, 2008

Peter Phillips said:
I arrived at Clogher head at 2- 2.30 and was disappointed to find it was almost birdless. 2 Gannets 2 Kittiwakes a Red throated Diver a few Scotor a juv Common Tern and a single Puffin, the only birds to pass in 15 minutes
The Puffin was little consolation
Any comments?

I spent 6.5 hrs seawatching on Saturday from Cooley and didn't even have the consolation of a puffin! :C Seas were disserted for most of the day. Best was 100 maxies and female-type hen harrier at Ballagan.
Missed the sabine Sunday morning by minutes. Clogherhead was otherwisae very quiet. Quick run to Ballagan this evening (Sunday) at 7.20pm - light was fading but masses of gulls, terns, gannets and shearwaters visible in 3 or 4 seperate feeding frenzies. Could be good early tomorrow morning (Monday).

Finally a few more shots from the new camera - waders from Shelling Hill in the rain (can see water drops on backs) and Egret from a cloudy Lurgangreen. Still waiting to try it in some sunny conditions.

breffni · Sep 8, 2008

For the record Enda and Don had an adult sabines off clogher and Paul Kelly had a juv sabines feeding at Baltray at the Haven yesterday (was there a second sab off clogher?). From what I heard from Skerries the movement was not so great and for long periods it was quiet. The sabines stayed foraging for a good while. I think that basically the northerly gale pushed a lot of birds into the Irish sea and some are still hanging around. A family of buzzards (three juvs), several greenland type wheatears, roseate terns, a porpoise and redpolls were the best I had around Cooley. A peregrine was hunting over Marsh south.

Great photos Derek!

Peter Phillips · Sep 8, 2008

I was out at Baltray and Clogher Head today good numbers of Swallows/martins moving through..Two Wheatear including one Greenland type at Baltray.One wheatear also at Clogher Head..all else quiet.

Little Egrets have officially taken over from Grey Heron.

breffni · Sep 9, 2008

One good med shearwater along Balaggan shore yesterday evening. Still good numbers of roseate terns hanging around...

County Louth (formerly Dundalk Bay) local patch. (3 Viewers)

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