County Louth (formerly Dundalk Bay) local patch. (1 Viewer)

[MargaretM]

A few of us went up to mulahattin tonight. Three quarter moon or so, calm, warm, clear - the woodcock showed at about 10:25 and later at 10:40. Gropper (at last) calling at the same time, then long-eared owlets started at 11:10 and were intermittant near the trail until we left at 11:45 or so...

Yes, it was a really worthwhile walk, very enjoyable. Great to see the roding woodcock, the first time that I have seen and heard it. I'll certainly know a calling owlet again, very distinct. The weather was perfect...great idea Breffni.

 

[ardnasx1]

Mulahattin outing was very rewarding and enjoyable, glad I could make it this time.

Paid a visit to Mell quarry at lunchtime. There are still a fair few tufted ducks, a good number of great crested grebes, some little grebes, cormorants, mallards, and coots and swans with young. No sign of the fulmars in the nest hole today.

 

[Derek Watters]

Enjoyed our walk on Thursday evening - returned last night - some silhoutted potos of WC and L.E.O. (started calling at 10.20pm) attached. Only 1 LEO chick - already capable of flying from tree to tree. Grasshopper was much further away than it appeared on Thursday night - song we heard was about 1km away!

 

[breffni]

some silhoutted potos of WC and L.E.O.

Great shots - what equipment? i only managed to collect some pellets yesterday afternoon...

 

[MargaretM]

Paid a visit to Mell quarry at lunchtime. There are still a fair few tufted ducks, a good number of great crested grebes, some little grebes, cormorants, mallards, and coots and swans with young. No sign of the fulmars in the nest hole today.

Went to Mell Quarry today and a greater crested grebe appears to be nesting there. There are a number of coots with young and one moorhen with one chick.
The egret chicks (yes there are definitely two) are noticeably bigger and we were lucky enough to see the parents change over on the nest and feed them. There is a lot of foliage in front of them which makes it difficult to see them in any detail and almost impossible to get any photos.

 

[Derek Watters]

Great shots - what equipment? i only managed to collect some pellets yesterday afternoon...

Thanks Breffni, just some still grabs off my Sony camcorder. Have other shots of owl using infared but they look a bit scary with two big flashlight-type eyes! Spent 2 - 3 hours at owl location this afternoon - found an additional 8 pellets - all mice. The owl in the photo was calling loudly in the typical "squeaky-gate" way, indicating it is a young bird. I watched it for 10 mins with the nightscope and it was capable of short flights (max 15ft), if a bit jittery. As fledgling takes place at 30 days, I'd recon this bird was c.28days old. Combined with 25-30 days incubation this means the egg was laid on approx. 17 April. I found it strange however that there was only 1 young bird calling, as they usually lay 3 to 5 eggs. I was also surprised at the easily visible eartuffs; none of my books indicate at what stage of maturity these grow.

 

[Derek Watters]

Mullahattin was quiet, with the sounds of chaffinchs and willow warblers, but very few sightings - not even a buzzard in sight.

Anyone else notice the absence of buzzards in this location over the past number of weeks?

 

[Tully]

Thanks Breffni, just some still grabs off my Sony camcorder. Have other shots of owl using infared but they look a bit scary with two big flashlight-type eyes! Spent 2 - 3 hours at owl location this afternoon - found an additional 8 pellets - all mice. The owl in the photo was calling loudly in the typical "squeaky-gate" way, indicating it is a young bird. I watched it for 10 mins with the nightscope and it was capable of short flights (max 15ft), if a bit jittery. As fledgling takes place at 30 days, I'd recon this bird was c.28days old. Combined with 25-30 days incubation this means the egg was laid on approx. 17 April. I found it strange however that there was only 1 young bird calling, as they usually lay 3 to 5 eggs. I was also surprised at the easily visible eartuffs; none of my books indicate at what stage of maturity these grow.

Hi Derek,
The attached pic was taken on 22 June last year near my home at around 10.00 pm. It was one of three chicks at about the same stage as yours. They had just begun to move away from the nest into different trees. Have not had time to go listen for them this year, but there have been no reports from their human neighbours

 

[ardnasx1]

Great photos. Hope to head up to Mulahattin in the next night or two. About the buzzards, about 4 or 5 weeks ago I saw buzzards nesting there, the nest was in a tree quite close to the path. The 2 buzzards would go crazy when you'd pass by so I assumed there were eggs or young in the nest. So last week when there was no sign of any of them I thought maybe the young had fledged and that's why they weren't so obvious. I have 2 books with conflicting info on when and for how long their nesting process is, so I'm none the wiser really. It does seem early though.

Visited Mell quarry again at the weekend - this time I saw 3 fulmars. 2 of them were in the same crevice I've occasionally seen them in since I started going in there in March. The third one was flying around most of the time. Seems like an unusual place for them to be hanging around?

Breffni - I realised at the weekend that I think I've been looking in a different part of the quarry than where you directed me. I saw a gap in the wire on the road that runs along the south side of the quarry (between the N1 and the Slane road) and went in there assuming I was in the right place, I never looked any further. I went up at lunchtime today and went in from the old N1 where you had said and it was a different lake altogether - there are 3 lakes in total. Have you tried the other one? It might explain where the ring necked duck was spending the rest of it's time and why we were seeing it at different times.

When I then passed the place where I usually go into the quarry there was a JCB there and it had knocked the fence and was levelling out the area where I would normally stand - let's hope they aren't going to do anything drastic there, or build a birder proof wall!

Latest on the little egrets today, the young are getting bigger by the day and are getting much easier to see, the wind is helping as it is blowing the foliage around. Today I was able to count 3 nestlings in the nest, it'll be great if they all survive. I saw the second pair of little egrets that I'd seen starting to nest but they were hanging out together in the reeds so this would indicate that they haven't nested (yet?).

 

[breffni]

Buzzards: its amazing how such large birds can just drop completely out of sight when they have vulnerable fledgling birds.

Mell: a quick literature search would suggest that fulmars are expanding and using atypical nesting sites, but in a freshwater quarry 10 miles from the sea is amazing see http://tinyurl.com/nrthu. I have long suspected the existance of other "lakes" at Mell but never properly investigated...OS #36 does not include drogheda for some reason so consulting google maps i find indeed three seperate "lakes", which explains a lot! - see attached - amazing! thanks! Re development of the quarry, might be worth checking this: http://www.louthcoco.ie/index.aspx?deptid=10&dpageid=4 - the online planning system - when i asked the CoCo i was told that there would be a recycling centre...

Little egrets: to date can find no record of more northerly breeding pair...do the nestlings make any begging call?

 

[ardnasx1]

Thanks for the info re fulmars. It will be interesting to see if they stay there. I couldn't follow the link re the Co Co planning - it brought me to the online planning homepage. A new recycling centre has recently been built in that area so what they told you was probably correct. The place where the jcb was working thankfully isn't big enough for a building, but they are up to something so I'll keep a watch. You should try it out, it is a bigger lake and there is a lot more life in it. The crevice that the fulmars use is on the left hand side. Still haven't heard any noise from the little egret nestlings, I can see their beaks opening but I haven't been able to pick out any noise. They are still flailing around barely able to support themselves.

 

[ardnasx1]

Caught up with the long eared owlet last night. Followed the signs that had been left and found pellets about 15 yards further up the hill from there around 2 trees. I was lucky enough to spot the owlet before it started calling, it was moving between a few trees which were near the tree to the left hand side of the area which has been knocked or has fallen. Its all within the same general area. Left Mulahattin at around 10.50, no sign of any woodcocks.

Spotted a jay too which was an added bonus.

 

[breffni]

Birds of the Galapagos

Birds of the Galapagos
A talk and slide show by Oscar Merne
The Spirit Store, Dundalk Quay,
Monday, June 26th, 8 - 9:30pm

Oscar Merne retired from the National Parks & Wildlife Service (Department of the Environment, Heritage & Local Government) two years ago. He was responsible for setting up the Wexford Wildfowl Reserve in the 1970s and then moved to the Wildlife Research Branch in Bray/Dublin, where he was responsible for bird research and conservation matters throughout Ireland. During his career and since retiring he has travelled widely in six continents, studying wildlife and conservation issues worldwide. He visited Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands (which inspired Charles Darwin's thoughts on the evolution of species through natural selection) in 2001.

This talk is an account of his visit to the Galapagos.

After the talk we will have an opportunity to talk about some local issues.

 

[Derek Watters]

Hi Derek,
The attached pic was taken on 22 June last year near my home at around 10.00 pm. It was one of three chicks at about the same stage as yours. They had just begun to move away from the nest into different trees. Have not had time to go listen for them this year, but there have been no reports from their human neighbours

Thanks for that Tully - great photo you took there - I know the area the owls are in, but because they are so well camoflagued and because of the density of the trees, I have been unable to get any daylight shots despite many hours trying. At least I know now that even the chicks have quite prominant ear tuffs.
Thanks again
Derek

 

[ardnasx1]

Saw a ruddy shelduck in Lurgangreen (info from Enda) yesterday lunchtime. It was in among the other shelducks there, stood out a mile though. Tried again that evening but couldn't find it, the tide was well out at that stage. Has anybody heard if it is still around?

 

[Derek Watters]

Saw a ruddy shelduck in Lurgangreen (info from Enda) yesterday lunchtime. It was in among the other shelducks there, stood out a mile though. Tried again that evening but couldn't find it, the tide was well out at that stage. Has anybody heard if it is still around?

No mention of it on BINS today.

 

[ardnasx1]

Little egrets: to date can find no record of more northerly breeding pair...do the nestlings make any begging call?

I was able to hear their begging calls today. It is much quiter than a young heron and not as distinct. It would be hard enough to pick out if you couldn't see them.

 

[ardnasx1]

Louth County Council seeks expression of interest from competent and experienced civil engineering contractors wishing to tender for improvement and upgrading works at piers and harbours in the Cooley Peninsula area.

I emailed Louth County Council about the above and received a reply from an engineer in roads and marine containing the following:

First of all we have no work planned for the Greenore harbour area. This would be a matter for the private company 'Dublin Port Authority' who own the port. I am not aware of a planning application. Our planning section or the DCMNR may have information

With regard to Port Oriel (Clogherhead) work is proceeding and the existing Guillemot colony are using their normal nesting holes/areas. These nesting areas will be covered by the storm protection works. This work will not commence until post the breeding season. I have requested our consultants to examine locations for new nesting holes/boxes to be ready for next years breeding season.

The work proposed for Gyles quay is of a minor nature i.e. replacing quay toe rails, ladders and pointing capping stones which were disturbed by a poorly moored fishing boat.
The pointing work can be delayed until post the breeding season. We must establish where the Guillemots nest at Gyles Quay.

 

[breffni]

Good news about Clogher - i had difficulty getting access to the site to do a count a few weeks ago...

what do we think of this ruddy shelduck? escape? genuine vagrant?

also heard mention of a ylg at lurgangreen the other day...

 

[ardnasx1]

Out at Baltray yesterday I spotted one little tern on a nest. Great to see but it really will be a miracle if its successful. The signs about the little terns aren't in the right place, not that many people take any notice of them. The most I was able to count was 17, I've no idea what the total numbers in the colony are.

On Saturday when I was in checking on the little egrets I counted 4 young in the nest. What a success that was! They are really big now and you could see them with the naked eye. They are also much louder now at feeding time. The parents are leaving them on their own in the nest with one of them generally hanging around nearby.

Hard to know about the ruddy shelduck, I couldn't see with the haze if it was ringed. I wonder where it headed after Lurgangreen.

I checked Mell quarry during the week, they have put up a big fence where I used to go in. You can see through it but you can't get in for a good view like you used to. The gap on the Dublin road is still there (for how long?) but I don't think you can access the bigger lake from there. Will have to investigate further.