Sandwich Terns

It looks as though the Sandwich and Arctic Terns nesting at Corronroo on the Clare/Galway border have suffered the same fate as the Little Terns on the east coast early in June.  High tides with strong North westerly winds flooded many of the breeding Island in Galway Bay this year, washing out large numbers of nesting Sambo's.  I hope all the terns make a good recovery next year.

Iceland Gull

A few of us took a trip across the North Clare coast yesterday 7th January 2012, to add to our new years list of birds.  We managed to find ten Black-throated Divers, one immature Common Eider, 14 Long-tailed Ducks, 18 Common Scoter, 600 Brent Geese, 80 Great Northern Divers, two Red-throated Divers, one Gannet and 50-60 Razorbills and Guillemots, three Sandwich Terns on the Ballyvaughan Bay side of Finvarra Point, along with this first-winter Iceland Gull that fed up and down along the shore near the Martelloe Tower.