Paid a site visit out to some of the islands around Ballyconneely and Roundstone on Tuesday. It's been around three years since I was last out on Slyne Head. It was pretty quiet on the bird front during the entire day as the majority of seabirds have now finished up with the breeding season and a lot are now on route to the wintering areas. The best out around Slyne was a Storm Petrel and Little Tern from the boat on the way out and two Sand Martins on Illaunamid with just a handful of Manx Shearwaters passing offshore. Inishlackan was also quiet. The Little Terns didn't appear to breed here this year. There were several people sitting out by the beach where they normally breed, hopefully disturbance earlier in the season was responsible for this.
There seem to be a few Whimbrel moving through at the moment. They are normally much more scarcer here in the autumn compared to spring.
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| Grey Heron on Inishlackan with the Twelve Bens Mountains in the background. |
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| Whimbrel heading back south on Inishlackan. |
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| Old Raven nest in old lighthouse window. |
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| Old Raven nest in old lighthouse window. |
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| Warbler habitat on Slyne Head, have had Lesser Whitethroat in here before. |
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| Old and new Slyne Head lighthouses. |
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| Panoramic view of Slyne Head looking North. |
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| Church Bay looking back towards Duck Island from Chapel Island. |
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| Human remains buried adjacent to the NE corner of the oratory on Chapel Island, exposed by the winter storms two years back. Probably the remains of a priest or monk given the proximity to the chapel. |
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| 12th or 13th century chapel on Chapel Island |
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| Abandoned digger on Inishlackan, really adds to the island character of the place - not! |
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| Layer of peat being eroded by rising sea levels on Inishlackan. |
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