It's been well over a month now since my last blog post. The main reason for this is there hasn't a whole lot to blog about. Galway has been rather quiet to say the least with the best of the bunch being the returning Forster's Tern and a few scarce species such as Little Auk, Grey Phalarope and surprisingly a summer plumaged Sabine's Gull. There are just the two Icelands at Nimmo's Pier so far with none seen out here in Connemara yet nor a Glaucous Gull anywhere as of yet.
I had a quick look out at Ross Beach near Cleggan this morning to have a look at the gulls hanging around the offshore fish farm. There have been in the region of 200 to 300 large gulls here in recent weeks which compares favourably to the likes of Rossaveel which has produced a max count of 30 large and small gulls combined, pretty grim. I had two adult Mediterranean Gulls at Ross beach this morning, one of which had an unread metal ring on the right leg. While I was there I had this Black-throated Diver fishing relatively close in along the beach. I've had presumably the same individual in the same area of Ballinakill Harbour for the last winter or two now. I'm lucky to see one per annum in Connemara. Strange to think how scarce they are away from the south side of Galway Bay. The only are that they are regular is just before the county Clare border along Aughinish to Traght/Newtownlynch Pier area but are exceedingly rare on the north side of the Galway Bay. I'm not sure if I've actually seen any in the Galway city area. The odd one is reported from Silver Strand but I'd have to wonder about these.
I had a quick look out at Ross Beach near Cleggan this morning to have a look at the gulls hanging around the offshore fish farm. There have been in the region of 200 to 300 large gulls here in recent weeks which compares favourably to the likes of Rossaveel which has produced a max count of 30 large and small gulls combined, pretty grim. I had two adult Mediterranean Gulls at Ross beach this morning, one of which had an unread metal ring on the right leg. While I was there I had this Black-throated Diver fishing relatively close in along the beach. I've had presumably the same individual in the same area of Ballinakill Harbour for the last winter or two now. I'm lucky to see one per annum in Connemara. Strange to think how scarce they are away from the south side of Galway Bay. The only are that they are regular is just before the county Clare border along Aughinish to Traght/Newtownlynch Pier area but are exceedingly rare on the north side of the Galway Bay. I'm not sure if I've actually seen any in the Galway city area. The odd one is reported from Silver Strand but I'd have to wonder about these.
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