Limerick Waxwings at last.

I was home in limerick for the day yesterday and deceided to have a look around while I was there. So I took a quick trip to Curraghchase to see if the was any big flocks of finchs out there. I couldn`t find one big flock which is puzzling me??, why aren`t they there this year, the more i wandered the more I want to try and find answers so I search the ground around the beach trees and notice there is little or no beach mast on the ground or in the trees! does this mean they failed to produce any this year I don`t know maybe someone can shed a little light on this for me. Anyways I headed back to Doradoyle as waxwings had been reported there monday and sure enough after a little searching I found 3 of them feeding on berries in the rain. It was quite a dull wet day but to finally get some Limerick waxwings for my blog was just the treat I needed.

Some birds I had in Dublin recently

Over the past 2 weeks I`ve been getting out birding in Dublin on the odd occasion but I haven`t been updating my blog as much as I would like. So here is a small collection of shots I have built up.

 Pale Bellied Brent at Bull Island.

 Mandarin Duck in the Phoenix Park.

 Pintail at Bull Island.

 Wood Duck in the Phoenix Park.

 A recent Waxwing I had on the south side of the city.

 Kestrel at Turvey in Rogerstown.

 Male Hen Harrier at Turvey.

Waxwing in Portmarnock.

Bombycilla garrulus

There has been an influx of Waxwings over the past few weeks to Ireland. Reports are that their food source failed this year in Scandinavia so this pushed these birds into the UK and Ireland. They are one of my favourites and I have struggled these last few years to get any sightings let alone photos of these birds. But thankfully that run has come to an end and I managed to see and photograph 14 of these birds today in the Liffey Valley shopping centre in Dublin. Though the light wasn`t great and the birds were flighty I was just happy to see them.

A little snow in November on Bull Island

There has been 3 Snow Buntings sighted on Bull Island in Dublin over the last few days and I was waiting for a break in work to try and get down for a few shots of these wonderful birds. You have to admire they’re resilience as they journey from all round the Arctic Circle, from Arctic Canada, Scandinavia and Spitsbergen, Greenland and Iceland, Siberia to Alaska so for a small bird its is truly a massive flight for some of them to take to find food in the winter. And for that they are in my top 5 birds to see.

Lesser Yellowlegs

I took a spin out to Bull Island in Dublin this evening as I wanted to try and get some views of the Lesser Yellowlegs thats been hanging around for the last 2 weeks. It has been shown up near the river Santry outflow and sure enough it was there again tonight. So if you`re around Dublin try getting down to see this bird as it is a fantastic bird for anyones list.

Clare in a Day

I took a spin down to Clare the other day to have a look around as I haven`t been down there in a while. I heard about a Buff-breasted Sandpiper that was seen out at the Bridges of Ross last week so I headed to see if it was still there and yes it was although it was very flighty and not making it easy to get a shot off but I managed a couple. Also seen was chough, Raven, a dark phase Aortic Skua, Brent Geese, Peregrine Falcon and many of the normal shore birds. I left Loophead behind and headed for the 5 Todd’s Canada Geese that were seen in the post office field in Ennis. The following day I headed back to Limerick and did a trek around Curragh Chase, I was a little early in the year and there wasn`t much around but I did have 8 Jay and a Grey Wagtail and new bird for me in Curragh Chase ( I had Grey Wagtails but never in Curragh Chase)  and 1 lone Red Squirrel. I will make a trip back there in 2 weeks time and hopefully the finches will be back.

 A couple of the Buff-breasted Sandpiper.

 A adult dark phase Artic Skua at loophead

 Todd`s Geese in Ennis.

 Jays were busy stripping acorns for the Oaks in Curragh Chase.

Grey Wagtail on the little stream flowing through Curragh Chase.

Gone Fishing

While walking around the local esturay recently I had this Little Egret in the rain fishing for his supper. Forgive the quality as it was late in the evening and it was raining which didn`t help.

Greenshank

I was in Swords Co Dublin recently for a look around the estuary to see if anything was about. It was full of the usual suspects so I spent an hour sitting in the jeep waiting for the birds to get closer and they did. I took a few shots of a Greenshank that seemed a little weary at first before legging past me. Here are some of the shots I got.

Some recent birds

I`ve been quite busy lately and my blog has been ignored so I`m playing catch-up with the shots I got over the last couple of weeks. There has only being one bird that made me want to twitch and that was the Rose-coloured Starling that showed up in Dungarvan Co Waterford. There was some great shots of this bird showing up on other websites so I thought to myself it was showing well. So much for thought! the day I was there it didn`t stop raining (like most of the days I`ve had this year when birding) and the starling wasn`t showing well at all. It was when I was just about to give up when it appeared on a roof of a house in a cul de sac and it didn`t hang around. It disappeared down behind the house and into a tree at the back where it stayed for the rest of the evening. So here are a couple of shots of it and other birds over the last few weeks.

 Rose-coloured Staring looking as wet as I was.

 Yellowhammer, 1 of 4 I had outside Cahir County Tipperary.

 A few shots of a Buzzard I had recently.

 Dunlin are returning to the shores after breeding, this one is showing it breeding patch on its belly.

 Turnstone in it summer colours, so different to the plain bird you see at winter.

 Spotted flycatcher 1 of 3 birds I had in Griston Bog in Co Limerick.

 Grey Partridge, 1 of 28 birds I had in Boora a few weeks ago.