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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. (8 Viewers)

breffni said:
Counted 103 great northern divers sheltering at the mouth of carlingford lough yesterday.
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At Hermitage and Salterstown yesterday I counted 32 GN divers so that certainly makes a high number for the county.

Went to Lurgangreen this afternoon and checked out the geese, counted 130 greylags. Waited there till 5pm until it was practically dark and no more flew in. 3 hunters arrived just at dusk, anybody know what they would be shooting after dark?
 
Those hunters at Lurgangreen yesterday evening went out to the area where we would expect to see the geese so I'm wondering if this sort of disturbance could be responsible for the lack of geese roosting there??? They were only starting their hunting at dusk.
Saw a hen harrier flying across Lurgangreen also a peregrine at Seabank.
 
MargaretM said:
Those hunters at Lurgangreen yesterday evening went out to the area where we would expect to see the geese so I'm wondering if this sort of disturbance could be responsible for the lack of geese roosting there??? They were only starting their hunting at dusk.
Saw a hen harrier flying across Lurgangreen also a peregrine at Seabank.
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I would'nt have thought it would be legal to shoot so close to Blackrock -a built up residential area.
 
Peter Phillips said:
I would'nt have thought it would be legal to shoot so close to Blackrock -a built up residential area.
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Hunting is permitted from Lurgangreen to Annagassan - the only rule is that you must be more than 50 yards from a road or dwelling to shoot. It could be that an increase in hunting is having an adverse effect...(hunters would argue that they have been hunting the area for years anyway).

One point about the hunting community though: hunters are one of the few other consitituencies that are interested in the conservation of wild places, albiet for different reasons...
 
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breffni said:
Hunting is permitted from Lurgangreen to Annagassan - the only rule is that you must be more than 50 yards from a road or dwelling to shoot. It could be that an increase in hunting is having an adverse effect...(hunters would argue that they have been hunting the area for years anyway).

One point about the hunting community though: hunters are one of the few other consitituencies that are interested in the conservation of wild places, albiet for different reasons...
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seabank had a no hunting (parks & wildlife) sign in place for years not sure where the boundarys start or finish you make a good point about the conservation of wild places and they would have a stronger lobby so perhaps we have more in common than first meets the eye
and a happy new year to u pluvis and to all
 
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MargaretM said:
Thanks Pluvius .... A happy new year to all the forum users.
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Finally caught up with the Red throated Pipit this morning. There was a Merlin hunting over the area when I was leaving so it might not last too long.
 
Enda said:
seabank had a no hunting (parks & wildlife) sign in place for years not sure where the boundarys start or finish you make a good point about the conservation of wild places and they would have a stronger lobby so perhaps we have more in common than first meets the eye
and a happy new year to u pluvis and to all
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I know the sign you mean, but there is nothing on the map - must try to get a better map.

Enjoyed your blog Pluvius - though took a while to figure out how to turn off the audio! and nice score for the first day of 2007.

Peter Phillips said:
Finally caught up with the Red throated Pipit this morning. There was a Merlin hunting over the area when I was leaving so it might not last too long.
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Nice one - i went for the rt pipit, waxwings and blue wing teal in Dublin area yesterday but ended up with a carrion crow the best (recalling 1st Jan 06 when, thanks to enda, i had a jay, hawfinch, mandarin ducks and purple sandpiper to start the year)!
 
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Couple of blackcaps feeding in my garden today below. I've had 3 in total so far this winter, the most I've ever had was 5.
 

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Peter Phillips said:
Would be interested in looking for these crossbills on monday, does anybody have directions and location
Thanks in Advance
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If you look at page 11 of this forum, Derek has a post there giving full directions to Mullahattin. Good luck on Monday, I hope to get out there in the next week or so as well.
 
Derek Watters said:
Forested area in Cooley mountains above Jenkinstown.
From North: Travel south towards Dundalk until you reach the large Ballymac roundabout (approx) 8km South of the border. Take the first left on the roundabout (signs for Carlingford and Greenore). Continue along this road for 4.5km and you will enter a 60kph speed zone. Having passed a church / soccer pitches on left / garage on right, you take the next left (small filter lane). After 150m follow the road round to the right (do not go straight) and continue to next junction. This is a staggered crossroads. Turn right the immediate left up steep hill. After 1.3km take right turn (only right turn on hill). Proceed through forest for c.300m to reach location.
From South: Travel 4km North of Dundalk to Ballymac roundabout then as above.
From Omeath: Proceed up hill at garage in the village towards Long Womans Grave. Pass through the Long Womans Grave, after which take right over bumps on road. Take first right(2km) then first left(further 1.4km), then location 300m.
From Carlingford/Greenore: Head towards Dundalk on main road. Take first right after the turn for Giles Quay. At t-junction turn left, pass sharp 90 degree bend and proceed uphill for 2.5km to location.
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These are Derek's directions for Mullahattin. You can try going in at the 2nd barrier on the left, it was in there I saw them. It seems to be hit and miss with the crossbills, we looked for them numerous times earlier last year with no luck when everyone else was seeing them, so good luck with your search. Good spot for ravens, jays and plenty of other birds too, it's never disappointing.
Edit: These are the same directions as Margaret referred to, we posted at the same time!
 
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ardnasx1 said:
Couple of blackcaps feeding in my garden today below. I've had 3 in total so far this winter, the most I've ever had was 5.
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Got one female Blackcap this year in my mothers garden in Knockbridge. First time we had one there.

Recently moved house to beside the Avenue road and am surprised at how many birds are readily taken to the feeder. Since xmas i've had Greenfinches, Goldfinches,Chaffinches, blue, great and long tailed tits among others. No Blackcaps to report as of yet though!!
 
gareth2005 said:
Got one female Blackcap this year in my mothers garden in Knockbridge. First time we had one there.

Recently moved house to beside the Avenue road and am surprised at how many birds are readily taken to the feeder. Since xmas i've had Greenfinches, Goldfinches,Chaffinches, blue, great and long tailed tits among others. No Blackcaps to report as of yet though!!
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Have you tried putting an apple out, if there are blackcaps around it's a great way of attracting them.

Saw some tree sparrows on the road between Castlebellingham and Seabank this morning.

Good show of greylag geese at Lurgangreen this afternoon, I counted 875 and there were bound to be more that couldn't be seen. A few white fronted among them, didn't see any others apart from brent, though 2 barnacle were seen earlier (also the green winged teal had been seen there). Great to see the geese back in force. I could see one of them had an orange or red band around it's neck, hard to tell at the distance.
 

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ardnasx1 said:
Good show of greylag geese at Lurgangreen this afternoon, I counted 875 and there were bound to be more that couldn't be seen. A few white fronted among them, didn't see any others apart from brent, though 2 barnacle were seen earlier (also the green winged teal had been seen there). Great to see the geese back in force. I could see one of them had an orange or red band around it's neck, hard to tell at the distance.
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Great count - the question remains: where are they grazing? I saw a goose with a coloured neck band last year but it had a three number code on it which was unfortunately unreadable - they probably come from this group: http://home.scarlet.be/~pin02658/cr-GreylagG.htm
 
breffni said:
Great count - the question remains: where are they grazing? I saw a goose with a coloured neck band last year but it had a three number code on it which was unfortunately unreadable - they probably come from this group: http://home.scarlet.be/~pin02658/cr-GreylagG.htm
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I couldn't see anything on the band, it was a very distant view, and it's legs were obscured so I couldn't see if it had a leg ring. Watched the geese for around an hour. At the beginning around a hundred flew off in the general direction of Dromiskin, and after the hour around the same number returned from that direction. The main movement I saw was a flock of approx 450 flew in from Blackrock direction so it might be worth checking out some areas further north than their usual grazing areas. I heard too that they sometimes graze somewhere out the road from Dundalk to Ardee near where that road crosses the Fane, anyone know about that area?
 
Ring-necked Duck

Found/Refound Adult male Ring necked Duck at Descart Lough (Discovery Series 35) 7km south of Carrickmacross. If your driving from Dundalk its about 28km. When you arrive in Carrickmacross, take the Kingscourt Road. After 3-4km there is a left turn and Descart Lough is signposted from here about 4km due south. You will see the small lake on the right of the road dont stop keep going till you get to lay by for fishermen. Bird easily viewed from here with 30 tufties. Rahans Lough, Lough Fea and Ballyhoe Lough are all nearby and the birds seem to commute between them.
Whooper Swan ,Wigeon and 120 Tufties on Lough Fea.
 
As Sandra said, Lurgangreen was busy yesterday with plenty of geese. Also a merlin which seems to perch on the same post for long periods of time. Lots of ducks including at least ten golden eye. Had intended to go to Mulahattin today but the weather was too bad.
 

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