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County Louth (formerly Dundalk Bay) local patch. (4 Viewers)
- Thread starter breffni
- Start date
Derek Watters
Well-known member
Glad to be of sum assistance - also glad it's still there - might get up again tomorrow for another look. Did it take you long to locate it - it is very dull this evening so I don't think it would have stood out as much as it would if the sun was shinning.MargaretM said:
I managed to see it yesterday too, it was in the second field in. The flock took flight and landed in a tree. The yellow one stayed perched on the tree for about 10 minutes, got a fantastic view of it. Well worth the wait. Plenty of whimbril still hanging around and spotted one great northern diver.
Carlingford Birding Weekend
Eric Dempsey will give a talk on bird migration focusing on local birds at 8 - 9:30 at Trinity Centre in Carlingford on the 29th April. This will be followed by a guided tour at noon on Sunday (NOT Saturday) - details of the tour will be given after the talk or can be had from the tourist office in Carlingford. All are welcome!
Eric Dempsey will give a talk on bird migration focusing on local birds at 8 - 9:30 at Trinity Centre in Carlingford on the 29th April. This will be followed by a guided tour at noon on Sunday (NOT Saturday) - details of the tour will be given after the talk or can be had from the tourist office in Carlingford. All are welcome!
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Hi all,
Great to see so many interesting postings on this thread. It's also great that so many of us got to see the beautiful wagtail. What a find Enda!
Took a walk down to the River Dee this evening at Stabannon, about 100 metres from my home. Met a mute swan with buckets of attitude as you can see. Hope the weekend brings as good as last.
Freddie.
Great to see so many interesting postings on this thread. It's also great that so many of us got to see the beautiful wagtail. What a find Enda!
Took a walk down to the River Dee this evening at Stabannon, about 100 metres from my home. Met a mute swan with buckets of attitude as you can see. Hope the weekend brings as good as last.
Freddie.
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Derek Watters
Well-known member
Breffni, to avoid any confusion - should the above message not have the outing down at noon on Sunday??breffni said:
swifts have started to arrive in good numbers counted 46 this morning at hermitage all flying into Dundalk bay. a dark phase artic skua was also offshore the first of the year for me(attached a couple of distant shots )
about 10 whimbrel were also there.The wag field has been ploughed and was devoid of birds early this morn.Did the forum help anyone who otherwise would not have known about the yellow wag.?
about 10 whimbrel were also there.The wag field has been ploughed and was devoid of birds early this morn.Did the forum help anyone who otherwise would not have known about the yellow wag.?
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Enda said:
Absolutely, I would have never have known it was there only for the forum. I used to keep an eye on the Bird News on Irishbirding.com but that hasn't been updated since the end of last year, whatever has happened to it. So it was great to be able to find out about a rarity so local, and with such good detail.
Hermitage continues its good run of late with a black throated diver offshore this morn. among 62 (min count) red throated divers & 6 great northerns.24 whimbrel & 5 swifts flying into the bay .heard there was 39 white wagtails in the ploughed field were the yellow was.anyone check cruisetown today?
Birding weekend Carlingford
We had about 25 people for the talk bu Eric Dmepsey in Carlingford last night - not bad for 8pm on the saturday night of a bank holiday. The following morning about 45 showed for the tour - the prevoius noon i had checked Carlingford bay and was a bit worried as there were no birds there at all...spring seems to be late this year..anyway in the event we had black guilemot, rock pipit, whimbrel, sambo tern, turnstone, ringed plover, buzzard, a swift, cormerant, great crested grebe, gannet, swallow, housemartin, all the usual. I searched for the black throated diver but no luck, however did have an arctic skua briefly on the shore opposite fitzpatricks pub between carlingford and dundalk...
As it happens eugenes site is back up at least temporatily(www.irishbirding.com) - its not updated but there is good content apart from that.
We had about 25 people for the talk bu Eric Dmepsey in Carlingford last night - not bad for 8pm on the saturday night of a bank holiday. The following morning about 45 showed for the tour - the prevoius noon i had checked Carlingford bay and was a bit worried as there were no birds there at all...spring seems to be late this year..anyway in the event we had black guilemot, rock pipit, whimbrel, sambo tern, turnstone, ringed plover, buzzard, a swift, cormerant, great crested grebe, gannet, swallow, housemartin, all the usual. I searched for the black throated diver but no luck, however did have an arctic skua briefly on the shore opposite fitzpatricks pub between carlingford and dundalk...
As it happens eugenes site is back up at least temporatily(www.irishbirding.com) - its not updated but there is good content apart from that.
Derek Watters
Well-known member
Forum
This forum has been a brilliant addition to local birding. I was also a regular visitor to Eugene's site and was very disappointed when it ceased in December 2005. However it was usually only updated every week or so. The IBN service is also very good but dosn't provide much in the way of rare bird news. The only realtime option, was ringing BINS every day, but this was accounting for over half my monthly phone bills!
The problem with these excellent services is that they are primarily for twichers who travel the lengths of the country to see a particular bird. For the likes of myself, who spend a few hours a week birding locally, this forum is invaluable. It's great to know that others are also out there on the same patch. Local information about artic skua and the black troated diver are more useful to me than bonapartes gull or montagaus harrier in Belfast.
It has also resulted in an increase in my own birding activity.
I also note of late that the forum has become much more active; there have been 3 pages of postings for April alone (5 pages for the previous 14 months). I hope it continues to develop.
This forum has been a brilliant addition to local birding. I was also a regular visitor to Eugene's site and was very disappointed when it ceased in December 2005. However it was usually only updated every week or so. The IBN service is also very good but dosn't provide much in the way of rare bird news. The only realtime option, was ringing BINS every day, but this was accounting for over half my monthly phone bills!
The problem with these excellent services is that they are primarily for twichers who travel the lengths of the country to see a particular bird. For the likes of myself, who spend a few hours a week birding locally, this forum is invaluable. It's great to know that others are also out there on the same patch. Local information about artic skua and the black troated diver are more useful to me than bonapartes gull or montagaus harrier in Belfast.
It has also resulted in an increase in my own birding activity.
I also note of late that the forum has become much more active; there have been 3 pages of postings for April alone (5 pages for the previous 14 months). I hope it continues to develop.
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Hi Derek,
I couldn't agree more with you and know I'm not alone on this. The forum is fantastic. Like you, I visited Eugene's site also but the news was always too late or for a lot of us too distant. I was lucky enough to be parked directly behind Enda at Hermitage on Sunday morning when he found the BTD but know either by text, phone call or this forum that the news is not far away. Perhaps we all could take this a step further - mobile numbers, email addresses, even a meeting or two. Despite the size of the "wee county", we have a lot of coastline but not a lot of eyes watching it. Would love to know what the rest of you think.
Freddie.
I couldn't agree more with you and know I'm not alone on this. The forum is fantastic. Like you, I visited Eugene's site also but the news was always too late or for a lot of us too distant. I was lucky enough to be parked directly behind Enda at Hermitage on Sunday morning when he found the BTD but know either by text, phone call or this forum that the news is not far away. Perhaps we all could take this a step further - mobile numbers, email addresses, even a meeting or two. Despite the size of the "wee county", we have a lot of coastline but not a lot of eyes watching it. Would love to know what the rest of you think.
Freddie.
well said, Derek,this forum is providing a service for local birders who are interested in whats at baltray or lurgangreen doesnt have to be rare,thats covered by the likes of bins(birds of ireland news service) im interested also of gadwall scarce round here shoveler uncommon etc etc just wish i had bird forum when i started
Derek Watters
Well-known member
Freddie. I agree with your suggestion about the "step further". To give an example - I had read on the forum that Enda had discovered a yell wag at Hermitage. The following morning (Sunday) I spent 2.5 hours at Hermitage. What I didn't realise until later, was that Enda was watching the yell wag only a few hundred yards away. (PS - that's no critism of Enda, as he dosn't have my no.) I totally agree that we all should at least have each others mobile nos. / email addresses. It would also be great to meet up to put faces to the names on the forum (perhaps some Sunday morning at Hermitage - you's must all get up very early as I never see anyone else there!).
Also, thanks to Enda's posting about the BTD, I spent about 2 hours yesterday and today looking for it (without success :C) - but it's a great incentive to get up and out (and hopefully find something to let everyone else know about).
We can sent private messages to each other on this forum (by clicking on the persons name), so we can easily send each other our contact details.
Also, thanks to Enda's posting about the BTD, I spent about 2 hours yesterday and today looking for it (without success :C) - but it's a great incentive to get up and out (and hopefully find something to let everyone else know about).
We can sent private messages to each other on this forum (by clicking on the persons name), so we can easily send each other our contact details.
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Sounds like a good idea to me. I have to agree with all that Derek said about this forum, I am an occasional bird watcher and the information on this forum has also increased my activity. The up to date information is so useful, but it would be all the better if the information was being shared instantly by text. The meet up sounds like a good idea too.
Derek Watters
Well-known member
Swifts return
The sound of swifts once again fills the air over the centre of Dundalk. I am just in from my nightly drive round the swift colonies in Dundalk and am glad to report they are back. Counted 20-25 in the older centre part of town. Their return is 6 days later than last year.
The sound of swifts once again fills the air over the centre of Dundalk. I am just in from my nightly drive round the swift colonies in Dundalk and am glad to report they are back. Counted 20-25 in the older centre part of town. Their return is 6 days later than last year.
