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Saturday, April 26, 2008

5,000 up at last!

A brief morning seawatch revealed 9 puffins west for the year (87), while c50 manx shearwaters were also knocking about. A summer plumage black guillemot was in Dirk Bay, and a willow warbler was pretending to be a new migrant there.


 



Big news of the day was that the 5,000th visitor to the blog happened at 9.44.56 pm tonight , from Redditch in Worcestershire, apparently - it's only taken almost a year to reach that total (and thats page views not hits, apparently, or something). Congratulations - come back again soon!

Thursday, April 24, 2008

legs

Feck all doing at Galley today but the lesser yellowlegs was still at Rosscarbery this afternoon, coming into summer plumage - nice!

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

clearout

Much quieter at Galley this morning, with just 2 blackcaps, 4 wheatears, 1 whitethroat, 2 willow warblers and 3 chiffchaffs seen. A new grasshopper warbler was reeling at Long Strand this afternoon.

Monday, April 21, 2008

migs at last

Missed all the weekend action, but there were still a fair few migrants knocking about Galley this morning. Four blackcaps, 3 whitethroats and a sedge warbler were all new for the year (86), while other migrants included 35 willow warblers, 12 chiffchaffs, 25 wheatears, 9 whimbrel, a reeling grasshopper warbler and a collared dove.


 



Headed to Cape mid-morning to try for the great spotted woodpecker (1st for Cork, in living memory anyway), but no luck. Did connect with 2 hoopoes and a cracking male redstart though, plus plenty of willow warblers, chiffchaffs, blackcaps and a grasshopper warbler.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

take it away, gropper!

Scouting for hoopoes this morning, I flushed a migrant grasshopper warbler skulking around a wall - memories of shetland came flooding back!  A good bird for Galley though, and one I missed last year. Also had 2 wheatears, 1 chiffchaff, 4 shelduck over and a house martin, which was also new for the year (83).

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

sarnie

A sandwich tern over the lake this morning was new for the patch year list (81).

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

a trickle

A singing willow warbler near shite lane this morning was new for the year (79), and 5 great northern divers were off Long Strand.  This evening Kilkeran Lake was awash with hirundines, well ok there was about 20 sand martins and 3 swallows (80).

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

ooo migrants

A sand martin over the lake this evening was new for the year (78).

Sunday, April 6, 2008

spring seawatch

Sat in the sun at Galley for 20 minutes this morning and had 1 manx shearwater and 2 common scoters heading east (77). There were still at least 11 red-throated divers in Dirk Bay too.

Saturday, April 5, 2008

a couple more

Still no migs to speak of, but  2 shelduck on Kilkeran Lake this morning and a black guillemot in Dirk Bay this afternoon were both new for the patch year list (75).  Also in Dirk were 12 red-throated divers and 2 iceland gulls (ad & 1st-w), with another or the same 1st-w on the lake this evening.

Friday, April 4, 2008

very tystie

Spurred on by all yesterday's migrants, I tried again this morning and had the same wheatear on the top lane, singing. The iceland gull and 5 sand martins were at Kilkeran Lake this afternoon, while another iceland gull and the lesser yellowlegs were still at Rosscarbery.  News late this afternoon of 2 tysties by the slipway in Dirk Bay, which can be tricky for the patch. Hope they hang around...

Thursday, April 3, 2008

ear we go!

A fine male wheatear this morning on the top lane was officially my first spring migrant on the patch this year (about feckin' time!) - 73.  Not much else doing though.