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

Mweenish Buff-breast Sand

Visited a few wader sites in the East of the county on Sunday. Off to a poor start with Muckrush up first. Arrived early on site only to find two shooters standing in the reedbed next to the main bay. Wasn't much point in walking all the way down to the lakeshore as firstly they had flushed everything in sight and secondly there was the good possibility of getting accidently shot!
After last weekend Glenamaddy Turlough was well worth another visit. I was a little surprised to say the least when I arrived to see that water levels had dropped by at least three metres which meant there was no significant area of water left just mud as far as you could see. Despite all the mud the only waders present was a single Black-tailed Godwit and 50 Lapwing. I'm not sure what is the story with this place as it seems to be the opposite of every other surrounding turlough. I visited it during the Spring when nearly all other turlough were nearly dry, Glenamaddy was full to the gills and when most other turloughs are full, the water levels can be very low. I had a very quick look at Rahasane Turlough in the evening and the water levels had actually risen there - go figure!

I then took a trip out to the Mweenish Island area of Tawin near Clarinbridge. Its nearly a 8km walk out to the tip of the island and back. Having only seen a single Curlew Sandpiper and less than 10 Dunlin (all in flight) in the area I made my way back. I ran into Paul Troake who was also in the area. He then proceeded out to the salt marsh which I had just checked and managed to find a Buff-breasted Sandpiper. Thankfully I wasn't that far away and headed back out for a look. This is the third Buff-breast Paul has now found in the same area. The previous two records were on 15th September 2011 and 9th September 2007. Paul also had a White-rumped Sandpiper on the same day in 2011 and I had a Baird's Sandpiper the following day.
I also had a look for Paul's adult Semipalmated Sandpiper out on Aughinish Island that he had up until yesterday but there wasn't any sign of it.

Top highlighted area holds big numbers of waders at low tide. Middle spot is where all the Buff-breasts & single White-rumped have been and the lower area is where the Baird's was in 2011.

Bunlough Strand Semipalmated Sandpiper

I did a three hour seawatch up at Kilcummin Head this morning but despite good NNW winds there was very little passing. Up until 1015hrs when I left we only had 22 Sooty Shearwaters, 1 Leach's Petrel, 1 Arctic Skua and 8 Great Skuas. We had more Fulmars passing than Manx Shearwaters which gives an idea of how poor the passage was.

I headed back down to the Louisburgh area afterwards to check on waders. I first had a look at Gortnagarryan Strand which usually has the largest number of Sanderlings and Ringed Plovers along this stretch of coastline. I've had several colour ringed Sanderling here but to date haven't turned up anything mega. It's usually at its best at low tide. Lough Baun which is located just behind the beach here has turned up Ring-necked Duck, Smew and of course last winters Pied-billed Grebe, all of which were found by Pat Lonergan.

Another good spot nearby is Corragaun Lough. This can usually be a quiet spot (as it has proved to be today and last Saturday) with small waders often completely absent. It consists of a large area of sandy beach, machair, seamarsh, tidal creeks and brackish lough. When waders do drop into the area they more often that not contain something good. It has a good track record so far such as 2+ White-rumped Sandpipers, 2 Semipalmated Sandpipers, 1 Pectoral Sandpiper, Little Stints, 3 Buff-breasted Sandpipers, Grey Phalarope, Black Tern, 1 Citrine Wagtail, etc. so always worth a visit.

I headed back North in the direction of Roonagh Lough and decided to check two small beaches that sometimes have small numbers of waders but never anything of note up until today. I came across a juvenile Semipalmated Sandpiper on the second beach (beside the slipway) in amongst a small flock of Sanderling. It gave great views although the light wasn't fantastic as it was raining most of the time. Hopefully we'll turn up one in Galway some time this year. This bird was less than 10km away from the Galway border and there's currently an adult literally just across the Clare border at the moment also.

I never made it to Roonagh Lough afterwards as after leaving the Semi-p I could see that the water levels on the lough were very high which means no waders. There were also 2 or 3 three kite surfers on the lough which most certainly wouldn't help matters. You can get small waders roosting along the channel that runs from the lough out to the sea most of the time.





Note how the bill tip could change dramatically in shape.

It's raining Manxies

Every September I get a few calls about strange "seagulls" in peoples back gardens, more often that not in Clifden town. Nearly without exception they turn out to be Manx Shearwaters.
The main breeding colony in Galway is on Cruagh Island which is located West of Omey Island.
The first and only complete census was undertaken during the Seabird 2000 survey when 3,286 pairs were recorded using the playback method. Amazingly the colony was completely unknown up to this point. They only visit their underground during the hours of darkness so they can easily remain unseen to most visitors to the island during the daytime. Its a common sight to see a few dozen dead shearwaters shattered around the island during the summer and are most likely predated on by Great Black-backed Gulls. While it does look very bad it's all part of the natural life cycle of your typical Manx Shearwater colony and with at least 7000 adult shearwaters present, the rate of mortality amongst adults is very low in relative terms.
A lot of the young are now leaving their nest burrows and get disorientated by the lights of Clifden town at night.
I came across one in the middle of the main street of Clifden on Saturday night and managed to rescue him. Doubt he'd last too long there between cars, cats and dogs. They find it virtually impossible to get airborne in enclosed spaces. I subsequently got two calls about two other shearwaters stranded in peoples back gardens in the town. I released them all out along the Sky Road where they have a much better chance of reaching the open sea. However as I released the bird below he promptly flew up to about 100 metres or more and headed back East inland! There's only so much you can do and hopefully he managed to reorientate himself.

Pied-billed Grebe and co.

Been a while since my last blog post. Busy few weeks since.
I managed to get down to the Bridges of Ross for a spot of seawatching on the weekend of 17th & 18th August. Excellent weekend with the undoubted highlight being two Fea's-type Petrels on the Saturday. The first bird which was picked up by Victor Caschera which gave good views. The second bird picked up by Keith Langdon gave briefer and more distant views. The other highlights were 697 Great Shearwaters, 25 Cory's Shearwaters, 6 Balearic Shearrwaters, 177 Sooty Shearwaters, 2 Blue Fulmars, 6 Pomarine Skuas, 30 Arctic Skuas, 22 Great Skuas and 20 Sabine's Gulls.
I also had a very good seawatch by Galway standards off Inishbofin on Monday 19th August with the following totals - 1 Cory's, 13 Great, 926 Sooties, 4 Balearic, c.3000 per hour Manx Shearwaters, 8 Great Skua's and 2 Sabine's Gulls. The Cory's was a long overdue county tick for myself. A lot of the shearwaters were feeding quite close in to the shoreline. The Great Shearwaters were the only birds that didn't stop off to feed. Interesting to see that only 128 Sooty Shearwaters were noted off the Bridges of Ross the same day. I think that the West coast of Galway may well be an important feeding area for quite a few seabirds as we have had 8000 Sooties feeding off Slyne Head over the course of a weekend in August 2011. Amazingly over the same period a grand total of just 41 passed the Bridges!

Skip forward to yesterday I was up in Mayo to check on a few wader spots in SW Mayo. Numbers of waders up there and here in Connemara have been quite low of late. Afterwards I headed up to Achill to twitch the Pied-billed Grebe. It proved to be very elusive and remained hidden for long periods in vegetation. It was first picked up on 14th May and hadn't been seen again until 27th August so it's feasible that it was there throughout the summer given it's skulky behaviour and the fact that the site rarely gets checked especially during the summer.

While down near Ballyconneely today I found a second-calendar male Surf Scoter. It had a reduced white forehead patch while the white nape patch was completely absent. Nearly all the Surfers I've seen have been females so it was nice to find a male on the local patch though not what I was expecting to find in early September. This is the most regular American duck I've seen out here now with three different individuals.

Colour ringed Little Egret at Kilcaimin, one of two present and both ringed very close-by.

I headed on up to Glenamaddy Turlough on Saturday on the off chance that the water levels might be low and thankfully my luck was in - oodles of mud! A real wader-fest with 1 Little Stint, 52 Dunlin, 150 Lapwing, 14 Ringed Plover, 6 Golden Plover, 8 Ruff, 133 Snipe (all out in the open), 21 Black-tailed Godwits, 20 Curlew, 1 Greenshank, plus 41 Grey Herons and 116 Little Grebes, not bad for a site 45km inland, I'll definitely be back before the Autumn is out.

Glenamaddy Turlough full of mud which is a rare sight Galway. 

Irish Hare

Shark fishing trip

I got out with John Brittain of Blue Water Charter Fishing http://seafishingireland.net/ last week on a Blue Shark fishing trip. I managed to last about 2 hours but after that I was completely out of action with seasickness and really couldn't care less what was flying around the boat!
I didn't see a huge amount up to that point anyway save for a few dozen Storm Petrels, a single Sooty Shearwater and 2 Great Skuas. The shark fishermen caught at least half a dozen Blue Sharks all of which were successfully released back.
Can't say I'll be in a hurry to head back out to drift up and down and side wards on a small boat any time soon..

Great Skua

Adult Kittiwake, moulting.

European Storm-Petrel

European Storm-Petrel

Juvenile Arctic Tern

Juvenile Arctic Tern

Manx Shearwater

Northern Gannet