Dotterel update

I returned to Slyne Head yesterday to find the two Dotterel again present in the usual spot along with a few European Golden Plover nearby (no American Goldies quite yet). I headed off to retrieve the trail camera which I had put out in the marsh a few nights previously. I put it out to see if anything interesting would show up on it, who knows maybe a crake species or Solitary Sandpiper? Not surprisingly it didn't quite pan out like this but it was nice to pick up a Water Rail and a few Snipe. After checking a few other spots I returned to have another look at the Dotterel. On the way I inadvertently flushed two Pectoral Sandpipers from a very small pool in the car ruts near the surfers beach. I then noticed that there was a Peregrine sitting further along the car ruts. It flew off and as it did so it appeared to be carrying a largish bird, it couldn't be, could it? A quick search failed to find either Dotterel. I followed the Peregrine but before I could get close a farmer herding cattle flushed it. When I reached the spot at which it had been feeding I discovered a few feathers and even a lower and upper mandible. It was one of the Dotterel. I must say I was disappointed that one of these great little characters had been taken but then again this is the sort of danger that Dotterel like every other species in nature faces every day. There's been no sign of the remaining bird since and it has probably wisely moved on. It's been relatively quiet in the gardens on Slyne Head. The best have been a Pied Flycatcher, Spotted Flycatcher and a male Blackcap in the Trident/Ballyconneely Holiday Homes garden. The first two have been present there for over a week now.

Dotterel scapular feathers.

Assorted Dotterel feathers including primaries and secondaries.

Dotterel bill

One of the Slyne Head gardens, this site hasn't been farmed in years which has resulted in a dense carpet of Dwarf/Western Gorse.

Pied Flycatcher

Pied Flycatcher

Pied Flycatcher

Pied Flycatcher

Male Blackcap doing his Black-and-White Warbler impression!

Woodpigeon

Snipe

Water Rail

 

Dotterel 18/9/2015 Part 2

This is the second of the two juvenile Dotterel I had at Truska last Friday. The video below is actually of the first individual. I returned today and while both were again present it didn't end up well, more to come in another post...
 

Second Dotterel from Dermot Breen on Vimeo.

 

16.9.2014 Truska Pecs

It had been about a week since I had last checked Truska at Slyne Head. The marsh on the West side of Truska Lough hasn't been grazed by the cattle in recent weeks so its a little overgrown making it less than ideal for waders. However the edge of the marsh behind False Bay is still being grazed and the area immediately behind the beach is particularly good for Snipe. While checking this area I had three Pectoral Sandpipers yesterday evening which were mainly doing their own thing by themselves in slightly different areas. It was only while reviewing the pictures that I noticed that one of the birds had replaced a single scapular on each side in a slightly different position. The shots aren't as good as the bird I had in Crompaun as they were generally that bit more timid in nature. With the high pressure system still holding here its strange to think that three Pectoral Sandpipers can still show up here in non-existent conditions for crossing the Atlantic!

Juvenile Number One

Juvenile Number One

Juvenile Number Two

Juvenile Number Three, note the replaced lower scapular.

Juvenile Number Three, note the replaced lower scapular.

Juvenile Number Three

Juvenile Number Three, note the replaced rear lower scapular.

Juvenile Number Three, note the replaced lower scapular.

Juvenile Number Three

Juvenile Number Three, note the replaced rear lower scapular.

Record shot of two of the Pectoral Sandpipers with Snipe, one if on the top left and the low right.

Muddy work walking through the marsh!

The strip of marsh grazed by cattle.

The Snipe and Pec hotspot behind the False Bay

Great Yellow Bumblebee in Galway at last!

Still very quiet here in Connemara wader-wise. Haven't seen a Ruff, Curlew Sand or Little Stint yet never mind a Yank! Hopefully that should change from next week. A few details on a few colour ringed Sanderlings I've recently received from Jeroen Reneerkens.
Probably the highlight for myself came today in finally managing to rediscover a population of Great Yellow Bumblebee on mainland Galway. Last recorded in 1972, quite close to where I saw at least three individuals today near Ballyconneely. I've been doing a transect as part of the Bumblebee Monitoring Scheme every month since April. It involves walking a 2km transect through machair and old traditional cattle grazed meadows. It's a little strange how after visiting the same site six times now, how I've only just seen the species?


Colourcode: G1RRRW  Ring number: NT60905  
Name Ringer: Gunnar Þór Hallgrímsson 2nd Ringer: Jeroen Reneerkens 
Date Catch: 10/05/2011   Catching Place: Sandgerði, "second beach", Iceland.
Sightings of this bird:

• Date(d/m/y) Place Observer 2nd Observer 3rd Observer
• 04/08/2011 Omey Island, Clifden Co. Galway, Ireland 53.32.20 N 10.09.50 W Dermot Breen.
• 22/08/2011 Omey Island, Clifden Co. Galway, Ireland 53.32.20 N 10.09.50 W Dermot Breen.
• 29/08/2011 Omey Island, Clifden Co. Galway, Ireland 53.32.20 N 10.09.50 W Dermot Breen.
• 31/08/2011 Omey Island, Clifden Co. Galway, Ireland 53.32.20 N 10.09.50 W Dermot Breen.
• 04/09/2011 Omey Island, Clifden Co. Galway, Ireland 53.32.20 N 10.09.50 W Dermot Breen.
• 01/11/2011 Omey Island, Clifden Co. Galway, Ireland 53.32.20 N 10.09.50 W Dermot Breen.
• 31/05/2012 Siglingamerki, Sandgerði, Iceland 64.01.49 N 22.42.47 W Jelle Loonstra
• 13/08/2012 Omey Island, Clifden Co. Galway, Ireland 53.32.20 N 10.09.50 W Dermot Breen
• 20/08/2012 Omey Island, Clifden Co. Galway, Ireland 53.32.20 N 10.09.50 W Dermot Breen
• 30/07/2013 Omey Island, Clifden Co. Galway, Ireland 53.32.20 N 10.09.50 W Dermot Breen
• 03/09/2013 Omey Island, Clifden Co. Galway, Ireland 53.32.20 N 10.09.50 W Dermot Breen.

G1RRRW, Omey Strand.

Colourcode:W6RRYY   Ring number: H321318    

Name Ringer: Jeroen Reneerkens 2nd Ringer: Jelle Loonstra

Date Catch: 22/11/2011   Catching Place: Iwik village, Banc d' Arguin, Mauritania.

Sightings of this bird:

• Date(d/m/y) Place Observer 2nd Observer 3rd Observer
• 25/11/2011 Iwik village, Banc d' Arguin , Mauritania 19.52.40 N 16.18.11 W, Jeroen Reneerkens.
• 26/11/2011 Iwik village, Banc d' Arguin , Mauritania 19.52.40 N 16.18.11 W, Jeroen Reneerkens.
• 28/11/2011 Iwik village, Banc d' Arguin , Mauritania 19.52.40 N 16.18.11 W Jeroen Reneerkens.
• 28/11/2011 Ebel Kheaiznaya, Banc d' Arguin, Mauritania 19.53.56 N 16.18.35 WJan van Dijk
• 30/11/2011 Iwik village, Banc d' Arguin, Mauritania 19.52.40 N 16.18.11 W Stef Waasdorp.
• 11/12/2012 Ebel Kheaiznaya, Banc d' Arguin, Mauritania 19.53.56 N 16.18.35 W Jan F. de Jong.
• 12/12/2012 Ebel Kheaiznaya, Banc d' Arguin, Mauritania 19.53.56 N 16.18.35 W Harry Horn.
• 13/12/2012 Ebel Kheaiznaya, Banc d' Arguin, Mauritania 19.53.56 N 16.18.35 W Harry Horn.
• 14/12/2012 Ebel Kheaiznaya, Banc d' Arguin, Mauritania 19.53.56 N 16.18.35 W Harry Horn.
• 09/01/2013 Ebel Kheaiznaya, fish processing, Banc d'  Arguin, Mauritania 19.53.18 N 16.18.44 W Camilo Carneiro.
• 26/05/2013 Pointe de Mousterlin, Fouesnant, Finistère, France 47.50.54 N 04.02.05 W, Sebastien Nedellec.
• 27/05/2013 Pointe de Mousterlin, Fouesnant, Finistère, France 47.50.54 N 04.02.05 W Michel le Bloas.
• 26/07/2013 Gortnagarryan Strand, Emlagh, Louisburgh Ireland 53.44.37 N 09.53.44 W Dermot Breen.
• 31/07/2013 Lividic, Plounéour-Trez, France 48.40.02 N 04.18.25 W Pierre Leon.

W6RRYY, Gortnagarryan Strand, Co. Mayo.

Colourcode: G1GRGG   Ringnumber: 897177

Name Ringer: Gunnar Þór Hallgrímsson   2nd Ringer: Jeroen Reneerkens

Date Catch: 19/05/2011   Catching Place: Siglingamerki, Sandgerði, Iceland.

Sightings of this bird:

• Date(d/m/y) Place Observer 2nd Observer 3rd Observer
• 19/05/2011 Siglingamerki, Sandgerði, Iceland, Gunnar Þór Hallgrímsson  64.01.49 N 22.42.47 W, Jeroen Reneerkens.
• 19/05/2011 Siglingamerki, Sandgerði, Iceland Gunnar Þór Hallgrímsson,  64.01.49 N 22.42.47 W, Jeroen Reneerkens.
• 19/08/2012 Gortnagarryan Strand, Emlagh, Louisburgh, Ireland, 53.44.37 N 09.53.44 W, Dermot Breen.
• 18/10/2012 Bunlough strand, Louisburgh, Ireland, 53 44.2 N 09 54.9 W, Eoin McGreal.
• 01/09/2013 Gortnagarryan Strand, Emlagh, Louisburgh, Ireland, 53.44.37 N 09.53.44 W, Dermot Breen.



G1GRGG, Gortnagarryan Strand.  



Great Yellow Bumblebee

Great Yellow Bumblebee

Male Red-tailed Bumblebee

Bane of machair in Ireland - bloody golfers. Not very helpful when trying to find an AGP, Dotterel or Buff-breast. I wouldn't mind but there's a golf course only 2 miles away - grrr!!

Autumn Lady's Tresses

Plovers R Us

A few more shots of the adult American Golden Plover from last Friday and a few record shots of the juvenile American Golden Plover at Aillebrack on Monday. The adult AGP was also with the same plover flock at Aillebrack on the same day. Quite difficult to view the plover at Aillebrack at the moment. The commonage here has only been grazed by a small herd of cattle which results in a much more diverse make-up of flora with a resulting higher sward unlike the close cropped sheep grazed Truska. Aillebrack almost looks potentially good for an Upland Sandpiper... Almost expecting a Dotterel to some up at some stage on either Aillebrack or Truska.
I checked the two small marshes yet again at Truska on Monday without turning up anything. Will 2012 be the first year since 2008 that I fail to have any Pectoral Sandpipers in there?
Did have at least one Lapland Bunting typically flying over. Adult Peregrine also sitting up on the high area between the two marshes on the east side of the machair where the Buff-bellied Pipit showed up in 2010. Massive turn out of three Galway birders for this bird at the time, all of which dipped! Just goes to show the massive change in the species' status in Ireland since 2007. 14 of the 16 Irish records have occurred since 2007.
I ran into a local farmer here a while back who told me about the big white owl that used to sit up on the hill during the day watching the rabbits years ago, wonder what that could have been?!

Adult American Golden Plover, Truska, 21st September 2012.

Adult American Golden Plover, Truska, 21st September 2012.

Adult American Golden Plover, Truska, 21st September 2012.

Adult American Golden Plover, Truska, 21st September 2012.

Juvenile Grey Plover, Truska, 21st September 2012.

Juvenile American Golden Plover, Aillebrack, 24th September 2012.

Juvenile American Golden Plover, Aillebrack, 24th September 2012.