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

while trying unsuccessfully to get a shot of the clouded yellows at rathcor (there were at least three but very flighty) i eventually noticed a juvenile kestrel watching me from the old mill...
 

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this 3rd winter yellow legged gull was at lurgangreen this morning taken about high tide he was standing out on the marsh at a good distance so the pics are not that good (they never are anyhow)
 

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Thanks - pic is helpful for looking for bird again - I guess its not a herring gull because the mantle is dark? but what else to look for?
 
Hermitage

A licence for an oyster farm has been given for the area opposite hermitage. This involves clearing the existing biodiversity so that there is nothing to compete with the oysters, then laying immature oysters out in metal trays. Work started in the last week or so - still trying to find out the extent of this.
 
breffni said:
A licence for an oyster farm has been given for the area opposite hermitage. This involves clearing the existing biodiversity so that there is nothing to compete with the oysters, then laying immature oysters out in metal trays. Work started in the last week or so - still trying to find out the extent of this.
A few weeks ago large quantities of "mussel seed" were removed from Dunany Point on the southern side of Hermitage. I made enquiries from Dept of Marine as to the legalities of this as I know it requires a licence but haven't had a proper answer yet. The amount being removed seemed like an awful lot and I couldn't see how it wouldn't have a bad effect on the ecosystem there. I since read in the Drogheda Independent that locals had complained and that seemingly the Dept of Marine had no objection. I wonder if this was related to this oyster farm, could this have been the reason they were allowed to remove the mussel beds, if the area was going to be cleared anyway. Last week I walked around Dunany Point a couple of times and the water looked black and there was a terrible smell. It could be coincidental and just be rotting seaweed, but it could also be to do with the mass disturbance.
 
breffni said:
Thanks - pic is helpful for looking for bird again - I guess its not a herring gull because the mantle is dark? but what else to look for?
dont feel im qualified to be giving advice on the identification of yellow legged gulls but will try.the 3rd winter gull is mostly adult looking dull yellow legs,mantle darker then argenteus herring but not as dark as lesser black back, it is a more powerful looking gull than herring(chest stuck out) with a heavier looking head & bill which is blunter looking there is still some immature feathers on the tertials & wing coverts & on the tail.this photo is of a adult YLG at seabank today with a herring in the shot notice the difference in mantle & leg colours its quite a small bird probaly a female. hope this is of help to someone BTW the 3rd winter ylg put in appearances at both lurgangreen &seabank this morn with a fly by osprey at lurgangreen
 

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gareth2005 said:
Just a quick question, Where do you all buy your garden bird food peanuts etc.
Is there anywhere locally where you can buy in bulk to cut down on cost ??

Cheers

Gareth

Hi Gareth. Just a quick note relating to your query on bird food. I used to get mine in the pet store on the way into newry from dundalk (down the hill on LEFT). However recently I called into a shop called Poundstrechers in Newry and got the following - sunflower seed (£1.75 for 1kg) and (£1.85 for 1.85kg of mixed seed). This is the cheapest I have managed to get them - I don't know how this compares to other sources, but it may help you.
Derek
 
Enda said:
dont feel im qualified to be giving advice on the identification of yellow legged gulls but will try.the 3rd winter gull is mostly adult looking dull yellow legs,mantle darker then argenteus herring but not as dark as lesser black back, it is a more powerful looking gull than herring(chest stuck out) with a heavier looking head & bill which is blunter looking there is still some immature feathers on the tertials & wing coverts & on the tail.this photo is of a adult YLG at seabank today with a herring in the shot notice the difference in mantle & leg colours its quite a small bird probaly a female. hope this is of help to someone BTW the 3rd winter ylg put in appearances at both lurgangreen &seabank this morn with a fly by osprey at lurgangreen
Every bit helps - went looking for the ylg's yesterday but no joy - there was an influx of knot though, 1200 roosting at high tide at dundalk harbour, along with a ruff. Also a few wheatears psssing through...saw a kestrel size raptor with pointy wings flying down towards lurgangreen, following the river - might have been a hobby.
 
Derek Watters said:
Hi Gareth. Just a quick note relating to your query on bird food. I used to get mine in the pet store on the way into newry from dundalk (down the hill on LEFT). However recently I called into a shop called Poundstrechers in Newry and got the following - sunflower seed (£1.75 for 1kg) and (£1.85 for 1.85kg of mixed seed). This is the cheapest I have managed to get them - I don't know how this compares to other sources, but it may help you.
Derek
Minor point but if mixed seed contains sunflower seeds, finches will selectively discard everything to get at the sunflower seeds.
 
Derek Watters said:
Hi Gareth. Just a quick note relating to your query on bird food. I used to get mine in the pet store on the way into newry from dundalk (down the hill on LEFT). However recently I called into a shop called Poundstrechers in Newry and got the following - sunflower seed (£1.75 for 1kg) and (£1.85 for 1.85kg of mixed seed). This is the cheapest I have managed to get them - I don't know how this compares to other sources, but it may help you.
Derek

Thanks for that Derek I'll have a look there.
 
An osprey this morning at Lurgangreen was reported on BINS. That's two weekends in a row, wonder if it's the same one and it's hanging around.
 
Checked out Lurgangreen and Seabank yesterday. Plenty of birds, though sadly, no osprey. Re Seabank:- saw a large flock of Curlews, probably a couple of hundred in flight. They landed at Seabank where they were, for the most part not visable in the grass. Had we not seen them in flight, we would have thought that there were about twenty or thirty of them only - makes me wonder just how many birds we miss. A tall hide would be great in that area!! Large numbers of Redshank there, resting in grass at the water edge, very easy to miss as they blended in so well, a few Greenshank as well. Large numbers of Oystercatchers, some Lapwings, Godwits and Mallards. Also Herons and one Little Egret.
Hope to make the walk at Lurgangreen 6.30pm on 3rd September Breffni.
 
I missed that osprey also - i think there is a regular passage of ospreys moving south to overwinter in africa from breeding areas in scotland where there are over 200 breeding pairs and they are expanding - two sites in wales have recently been naturally colonised through expansion of the existing population. Hopefully a pair will decide to breed on this side of the irish sea one day.

On friday though, two hours of difficult seawatching conditions along whitestown/balaggan produced hundreds of manxies, one arctic skua and finally a sooty shearwater...two other arctic skuas and a med gull were also reported. Seawatching off louth coast to date this year seems to have produced several arctic skuas, a few bonxies, at least one sooty, a few med shearwaters, many manxies + storm petrels.

Also report of a hobby briefly seen last week at rathcor on a post on top of the sand cliffs...
 
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at hermitage this morn myself & Freddie were both in our vehicles & about to drive off when Freddie spotted a wader fly in off the sea & land at the pond gesturing me over we discovered this juv. wood sandpiper(a very rare bird for Louth) 2 seconds later and it would have been missed ,so well done Freddie.. a number of other people managed to also catch up with it & im sure better photos are out there. also,nice to finally meet up with Sandra & margaret .Elsewhere a adult ylg at seabank& 2nd winter med gull was the best(but have heard of black tern-hermitage &juv med gull- cruisetown also)
 

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produced several arctic skuas, a few bonxies, at least one sooty, a few med shearwaters, many manxies + storm petrels.


nice one Breffni, sootys are rare off east coast
 
Thanks Enda, it takes two as they say and I'm very glad you were there. A great record for the county. As you said great to see a few people there this morning, news certainly travels a bit faster this season. For what it's worth my photo of the bird is too large to upload!!
 
fredbern said:
Thanks Enda, it takes two as they say and I'm very glad you were there. A great record for the county. As you said great to see a few people there this morning, news certainly travels a bit faster this season. For what it's worth my photo of the bird is too large to upload!!
yes Freddie news is certainly travelling a bit faster this year,which is good to see long may it continue
 
my own best effort - great bird lads! (look forward to paul's shots)
 

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Was delighted to finally be able to react to a sighting and saw the Wood Sandpiper at Hermitage, thanks Enda.
It was a good experience to be able to put faces to names at last and to gain from more experienced birders.
It's great to hear about these sightings so quickly, much appreciated.
 
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