Summer bugging happy at last.

 Over the last few weeks I`ve been busy looking for some other types of winged creatures other than birds and I found a couple of nice ones. You can`t beat finding some bugs you haven`t seeing in a while and it is always nice to find a new one, like Leptopterna dolabrata also known as the heteropteran bug. This is my fist time coming across this bug so I was well pleased. Other nice ones were a Hummingbird Hawkmoth and a Poplar Hawkmoth as well a an Emperor Dragonfly and so on. So here are some shots I got.

 

   

Emperor Dragonfly.

  4 Spotted Chaser

       Hummingbird Hawkmoth

                                          

   Common Chaser

  Common Groundhopper

   Demoiselle Fly

    Common Hoverfly

        7-spotted Ladybird

    Heteropteran bug

     Meadow Brown

   Painted Lady

Goosander

On one of the wettest miserable days of any summer in Ireland you really shouldn`t bother go birding if you have any sense at all. Because in 20 minutes of birding and even though I was covered from top to bottom in rain gear I still got a soaking. But this still didn`t stop me from trying to find a new bird for my year list, and with the light (what light there was due to the poor conditions) fading I was just about to give up when I stumbled across 3 Goosander, and my first male ever as well. In the birding world they say all it takes is one bird to make your day, well I got 3 beauties. So so Sweet!! The reason being as these birds are quite shy and spend their summers on river in forests and build their nests in a tree trucks, and then move to lakes and reservoir in the winter. I`ve only ever seen a female in winter so to see a male and what looks to be 2 females in the summer on a Irish river is a bonus.

Tacumshin Co Wexford

I was down around Wexford last Friday as there was a pair of Glossy Ibis seen on the Thursday and I need them for my year list. So when I arrived the birds were in flight and flew off in the direction of Our Lady`s Island so I made note to head off in that direction after a look around Tacumshin. So while walking around the lake I got some views of the Forster's Tern but they were distant and he did not hang around for me to get closer (oh well maybe next time), but what I did notice was a Little Gull sitting in among a fling of Dunlin. As I walked on further an adult Little Gull flew in with a juvenile and a second year bird as well. A pair of Kestrel's flew over putting all the birds up so I decided to head for Lady`s Island for a look. While there I had excellent views of Common and Sandwich Terns along with the usual suspects. So no Ibis`s here I headed back to Tacumshin. As I got out of the Jeep I was informed that a Red-backed Shrike was just seen over at the east end so I headed over for a look. On the way I had a pair of Garganey and distant views of the Glossy Ibis, I spotted the lads over at a gate and as I approached I could see the Red-backed Shrike sitting on a hedge. So after a while we got word of a Red-footed Falcon flying around in the Dunes behind us so off we set. On the way we got to see the falcon but he was keeping low and distant, but we did have great views of a Little Ringed Plover. So a day that started slow but ended well. This is what makes birdwatching great.

Kestrel one of the two that sent everything up.

 Glossy Ibis in flight, would have loved a better shot but this was the closest they came that day.

A couple of shots of the Little Gulls.

A couple of the Red-backed Shrike which was quite flighty.

The Little-ringed Plover which was also flighty.

 Skylark one of the regulars seen on the day.

 As was the Female Stonechat.

 Common Tern at Our Lady`s Island.

 A male Wheatear another regular seen.

As was this Whitethroat one of many at Tacumshin.

A hidden gem.

 Female Hooded Merganser.

Male Hooded Merganser.

 Male Hooded Merganser.

 Mandarin taking it easy.

 Female having a peek at me.

 Smew my first male so nice to get.

 Male Wood Duck.

 Male Wood Duck again.

 Sometimes it can be so tiring just stiing about looking so striking

 Dont forget me, One of many male Tufted Ducks that are at Blessinton Street Basin.

I took a wander around Blessinton Street Basin near the centre of Dublin as last year I remembered photographing Mandarin Duck there and getting some nice shots as well of these pretty ducks. However in the last year or so there has been sightings of Wood Duck and Smew so I had to get there and see these birds. So when I arrived there was a lovely female Hooded Merganser swimming about in front of me but no sign of the rest of the rare ducks that were suppose to be there. There is an Island in the middle of the pond so I thought to myself they maybe sleeping there. So I hung around for a while and sure enough they started to appear one by one. What a super place to see these birds sometimes they were too close for photos but still quite shy as well. No one knows excatly where these birds arrived from but they can leave when ever they want. So wild or not they are defo worth a trip to see them.

A life and Irish tick to never forget

 Dotterel

Dotterel having a strech.

They don`t half like sun bathing.

And can move when they want!

Male Little Tern presenting a female with a sand eel.

Whimbrel

A pair of male Cormorant showing the white breeding patch they get.

Plenty of Wheatears about at present.

Last Thursday week I got a text from John Murphy of Murfs wildlife blog about 3 Dotterels that had been seeing in the Trusk area of Galway. Well since I started birding I always wanted to see these birds and I hoped they would hang around long enough for me to see them and so they did. They gave great veiws although quite hard to pin down as the area they were in was quite a big area of land to search. I also headed to Kilcoole in Co Wicklow as they are running a Little Tern conservation project and I wasn`t too sure if I had little tern on my Irish list I also wanted to see how it was going. I have to admit I was very surprised to see nearly 100 little trens flying about and doing mating displays with sand eels. So here is a few shots from the last couple of days.

A Woodland Walk on a late spring day.

I took walk around my local patch on the look out for new spring arrivals in the birding world and when I say new arrivals I mean chicks not migrants. Sure enough I was treated to a nice showing of 7 Long-tail Tit chicks and a family of Robin chicks that all had fledged and were out and about in the big bad world while futher up the road I had a pair of Stonechats busily gathering food to feed the chicks back at the nest along with Red Grouse and both Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs all in song announcing thier arrival into the country. A long with the birds I`ve been noticing an delightful increase in the amount of butterflies about like the orange tip shown below.

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