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Tipperary/Offaly Birding (1 Viewer)

Pat Brennan had a first winter Little Gull at Clonmacnoise (Offaly) today. An excellent inland record.

Continuing the theme of birds usually found by the sea being seen inland, he also had a Little Egret at Ashton's Callow (Tipperary) on the Little Brosna. They are becoming regular in winter, this is the third winter in a row one has been seen there.
 
Pat Brennan had a first winter Little Gull at Clonmacnoise (Offaly) today. An excellent inland record.

Continuing the theme of birds usually found by the sea being seen inland, he also had a Little Egret at Ashton's Callow (Tipperary) on the Little Brosna. They are becoming regular in winter, this is the third winter in a row one has been seen there.

Nice record. You will have to start keeping an eye on the local Heron nesting sites. Does anybody know if they have started breeding inland yet?
 
Nice record. You will have to start keeping an eye on the local Heron nesting sites. Does anybody know if they have started breeding inland yet?


I don't know if they have bred inland yet Peter. Might be better feeding for them in coastal areas. Its must be a possibility though. The heronries deserve more than a cursory glance from now on thats for sure.
 
Yesterday on Ashton's callow the Little Egret was still present.

Also I saw three banded Black-tailed Godwits in a flock of 4-5000 birds. I got as much info as I could on the bands and hopefully it'll be enough to identify the birds. I'll post it if they can be identified. The Godwits will soon be heading back to Iceland. Looking great just now as many of them are in breeding plumage. Yesterday was the first time this year I've seen them anywhere near the hide too.

The usual ducks were present yesterday too.
 
Here is couple of pics of a lone Godwit from yesterday
 

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One (possibly two) Buzzards reported from a site in Tipperary on Tuesday. Up to two present at this location for almost two years. Also I saw one last Friday at another site at least 8 miles away from the other. Thats the first time I've seen one in Co. Tipperary in spring.
Can't put locations especially at this time of year but it is great that they are spreading. Hopefully they'll breed this year for certain.

Just noticed in the Godwit photo above that there is a stream of water coming from the tip of the bird's bill.
 
Yesterday afternoon at Ashton's callow.

Peregrine (quite large so probably a female). Had at least four separate attempts at the Godwit flock but unsuccessful.

Godwit numbers down on last weekend but still 1-2000 at a guesstimate. None came close enough to see their legs clearly so could not see any banded ones.

3 Raven also present. 2 of these seemed to be a pair flying close together with wing tips almost touching at times. Also one of these birds made some odd clucking type calls.

Male Hen Harrier in adult or near adult plumage.

2 adult Herring Gulls. These are a scarce bird in Tipperary. I can almost hear the laughter from those who live on the coast ;)

Also an odd drake Wigeon with a green splodge behind the eye on an otherwise brown head. Perfectly normal drake in all other respects. After reading this thread below I've been looking out for them. Some decent light between the showers today helped me pick the one out. Almost identical to the bird in the thread below.
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=108628

Apart from these sightings the usual Swans (Whooper and Mute), Ducks (Pintail, Teal, Shoveler, Mallard, Tufted, Gadwall) and waders (Lapwing, Curlew, Golden Plover, Redshank) were present.



Today at Reddan's Lough Pat Brennan had two summer plumaged Med Gulls. Nice record. Also Pat saw a male Hen Harrier at Claree Lough near Puckane.
 
Hi all

Thought it may be worth posting an email I've received from the the Black-tailed Godwit team, who are particularly keen to track colour ringed Black-wits on their return migration to Iceland (see text below). Any sightings of colour ringed individuals can be reported to [email protected].

I made my first visit to Ashton's Callows a week or so back - nothing unusual to report, but very impressed with the huge numbers of dabbling duck and black-wits present. Shall return again soon.

Troakie

Dear godwitologist, As most of you are aware, during the last two years we been focusing ourstudies on the wintering ecology of the black-tailed godwits at severalareas of the range. During this period, the tracking of colour-ringedindividuals was very intense particularly in areas where detailedinformation was missing, namely in West Portugal and Sout Ireland. We have also added 100 colour-marked individuals to the black-tailed godwitschemes, all marked on these wintering locations, plus several otherhundreds ringed elsewhere across the range. We now wish to unravel another question on the fascinating tale of theIcelandic Black-tailed godwits, and to do so we request your help! The question we now face is “Which migratory routes are mostly used byblack-tailed godwits during spring migration”. Our current data show thatsome birds wintering in Iberia and France migrate north mostly via theNetherlands, while others take another route via England. Interestingly,quite a few birds wintering in Ireland also make a westwards detour,towards England, on their way to Iceland. These suggestions however, areextracted from a small sample, since only few godwits from thesewintering locations were recorded during migration so far. As we have increased considerably the numbers of colour-ringed godwits atthese winter sites, we are aiming to get more migration sightings so thata good sample is recorded. We are also organizing a trip to Iceland sothat we can record the arrival of these birds, which hopefully have beenseen on migration. In order to tackle this question we ask for your help in recording thecomplete colour-ring combinations of any marked black-tailed godwits youmight encounter during these next two months. Recording their location,moult stage (as % of breeding plumage and bill colour (% of orange),habitat used for foraging and ideally length of stay, would be veryhelpful for our study. Please be aware that some of these birds have now been fitted with flags!Several other black-tailed godwits colour-ringing schemes also use flagsso it is important to note the colour and position of the flag and alsothe total number of colour-rings on each individual. We thank you for all your input on this project and we hope to send youvery colourful life-stories of these individuals any time soon… All the very best! The Jadrakan Project team
 
Hi Paul,
Thanks for the info.
Hopefully the Godwits will be on the Little Brosna for for another while this spring.
Good to hear you visited Ashton's. Its a great place and much underwatched. If anything special turns up there I'll be sure to post it. Next time you visit let me know.
Below is a report I received on a colour ringed Godwit I saw there a while back. Unfortunately they put Ashton's down as being in Offaly on the email. As a Tipperary native its a little hard to take ;)




GR-OX was ringed in SW Iceland. Top line is the day of ringing. Details below.



27.04.02
Grafarvogur, Reykjavík, SW Iceland
Faxafloi

28.04.02
Grafarvogur, Reykjavík, SW Iceland
Faxafloi

29.04.02
Grafarvogur, Reykjavík, SW Iceland
Faxafloi

30.04.02
Grafarvogur, Reykjavík, SW Iceland
Faxafloi

01.05.02
Grafarvogur, Reykjavík, SW Iceland
Faxafloi

08.10.02
Réserve Naturelle du Marais d'Yves, Charente-Maritime, W France
W Fra

28.11.02
Exe Estuary, Devon, SW England
SW Eng

01.03.03
Exe Estuary, Devon, SW England
SW Eng

14.05.03
Kílhraun, Árnessýsla, S Iceland
S Low

02.12.03
Exe Estuary, Devon, SW England
SW Eng

08.01.04
Exe Estuary, Devon, SW England
SW Eng

15.01.04
Exe Estuary, Devon, SW England
SW Eng

19.01.04
Exe Estuary, Devon, SW England
SW Eng

23.01.04
Exe Estuary, Devon, SW England
SW Eng

07.02.04
Exe Estuary, Devon, SW England
SW Eng

07.02.04
Exe Estuary, Devon, SW England
SW Eng

05.03.04
Exe Estuary, Devon, SW England
SW Eng

19.04.04
Loch Beg, Londonderry, N Ireland
N Ire

20.01.05
Exe Estuary, Devon, SW England
SW Eng

15.03.05
Exe Estuary, Devon, SW England
SW Eng

05.04.05
Dundalk Bay, Co. Louth, E Ireland
E Ire

11.08.05
Alde estuary, Suffolk, E England
E Eng

12.03.06
Bowling Green Marsh, Exe Estuary, SW England
SW Eng

30.03.06
Exe Estuary, Devon, SW England
SW Eng

01.03.08
Ashton´s callow, Little Borsna callows, Offaly, C Ireland
C Ire
 
Here are some pics I digiscoped a few weeks ago on the Little Brosna callows. Digiscoping is not something I'm very good at so you'll have to imagine how good the Merlin looked through the scope. I've posted them before in another forum so apologies if you've seen them before. I also include a pic of a raptor kill I took last weekend. Any ideas on what the prey species might be are gratefully received. As indeed are some better photos![/QUOTE )
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I will have to show your Merlin pictures to my nephew as he will be fascinated too. I am wondering would it be rare to see a Merlin and was it your first time. Just great pictures.
 
Its the first time I've managed to photograph one but this winter I've seen Merlin on the Little Brosna callows around 6 - 7 times. I do go there at least once a week though and I didn't see them every time by any means. I always count myself lucky when I see one. There has been at least three individual birds using the callows this year. The places where they spend the winter are the easiest places to see them. Usually lowland areas with lots of small birds for them to hunt. In summer in the mountains they are fairly thinly spread. And they are not found in every mountain range. Wicklow is a particularly good place. Some pairs breed on lowland bogs but very few.
I think I've seen your name on the Louth thread and I'd say there must be a reliable wintering spot in the north east for them. The lads on the Louth thread would be able to tell you a lot more about likely areas. You'll have to be quick though. They'll be returning to the mountains to breed very soon.
Good luck

BTW, Thanks for appreciating the pictures, bit fuzzy but was delighted it posed so well on the post. Usual views are of a small falcon shaped blur whizzing by!
 
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I think I've seen your name on the Louth thread and I'd say there must be a reliable wintering spot in the north east for them. The lads on the Louth thread would be able to tell you a lot more about likely areas. You'll have to be quick though. They'll be returning to the mountains to breed very soon.
Good luck

Yes there are a few along the Louth coast in winter. Lurgangreen and Salterstown are probably the most reliable places, but as Brosnabirder said, its getting late for them now.
 
Thanks I will ask them about areas around here where you might see them. You have been lucky indeed to see them quite a few times and even better to photograph one. Its lovely to see something just out of the ordinary. I must post a picture of a Hoopoe woodpecker I was lucky to see in a woods in Mallorca last september and amazed myself by managing to get a picture at same time as enjoying seeing it. I was reading an article where they have been spotted in south England with the warmer summers.
 
Yes there are a few along the Louth coast in winter. Lurgangreen and Salterstown are probably the most reliable places, but as Brosnabirder said, its getting late for them now.
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------I
Hi Peter,
Thanks at least we know where to go now to look out for them and that during the winter is more favourable.
 
Pat Brennan found a drake Ring-necked Duck this morning at Lough Ourna near Nenagh Co. Tipp. Went to see it this afternoon myself. It may be a returning bird seen at Reddan's Lough last April. Pat found the bird last year too and I saw it after on 2 occasions in late April and early May.
I'll post a picture of the bird from today at some stage tomorrow. Its a very poor record shot but it'll show most of the id features.
 
Black Redstart at Knocklofty this morning, just inside the Tipp border. Dont think I've ever seen an "inland" Black Redstart so an interesting record.

Regards,
 
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Thanks for the posts.

Hi Tom,
I know of one pair of Buzzards in Co. Westmeath but there are surely more than that. The ones I know about have been at the site for several years so there must have been some spread in the meantime.
There are now 4 separate areas in North Tipp where Buzzards are either breeding or are present regularly. Can be hard to pin down though. Not sure if theres been a proven breeding record as yet in Tipp. Does anybody know?

Black Redstart inland is interesting. Welcome to the thread. Where is Knocklofty near?
 
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Lough Boora Parklands

Hi all

Was just down in Boora today for an hour or two. I finally managed to see a Buzzard there. They've been seen by a few people for a number of years there now but I've never managed to see any there dispite birding there on and off for 13 years. I've seen them at 2-3 other sites in Offaly and would probably hazard a guess of maybe half a dozen pairs breeding the county now. Still a while to go before they reach the densities found in the north of the country. They are far and away the most regularly seen bop in Donegal when I'm out birding.
Also down in Boora were two 2nd cal Hen Harriers who were together briefly, 1 female-type Merlin and at least 5 Kestrels. Lots of Linnets, Reed Bunitngs, pipits and larks there as usual thanks to the fantastic habitat created for the partridge.
Have to say Boora is pretty much useless for waterbirds. However birds of prey make up for this. Its had Marsh Harrier on a few occasions, Short-eared Owl (flushed one from an old partridge pen last winter) and I've seen Barn Owl also at Finnamores a good few years back.
Good for wintering Whoopers (usually 250 birds) and breeding waders. Lapwing and Redshank getting down to business already.
The bird hide at Turraun is a disgrace, falling apart and the one at Boora Lake isn't far behind either. If Bord na Mona aren't going to anything with them they should really get rid of them, they're more of a health hazard than anything at the moment.

Dermot
 
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