It's great to see that Ireland's first three Penduline Tits, found at the Gearagh in County Cork, are still surviving the winter. Well so far anyway. It took me three attempts to catch up with them and I did so on Friday 13th January 2023. The last ones I saw were on the Greek Island of Lesvos about 13 years ago, where there was a nest in willows trees on a dried up riverbed to the west of the island near Skala Erosou.
I was in Waterford just before the Christmas and managed to go through Tallow Bridge in the east of the county where there was a very confiding North American Greater Yellowlegs. The first and only bird that I had ever seen in Ireland prior to this was one I found at Poulnasherry Bay, County Clare, way back in September 1990.
During the late autumn and the early part of this winter, strong storms blew in off the sea large numbers of Grey/Red Phalaropes along the west coast of Ireland. It is always a great delight to see these delicate little waders as they bob around on rough seas or small pools picking off tiny insects or fish/invertebrate eggs disturbed by rough waters. In the series of shots below there are three different birds with one from Liscannor Bay and the other two birds at Loop Head.
With all the recent stormy weather and some very large swells and rough seas, hundreds of Oystercatchers that normally feed along the rocks are shorelines, have moved up on to grassy fields to dig out worms. Here are some shots of a small flock of 22 birds on coastal cliff fields west of Kilkee during the week in late afternoon sunshine.
I was back at Loop Head during the week and while observing a mixed flock of waders feeding in a field down by the shore a Peregrine came through the field and scattered birds right, left and centre. I just got the camera up in time as the Peregrine flew off with a Starling in its talons. See below.
Once a very rare bird to Clare and Ireland, the Great White Egret a widespread heron throughout much of Europe is now a regular visitor to this country with at least two birds per annum in Clare. For such a large obvious white bird they are sometimes very hard to find as they skulk in drains and dense vegetation around lakeshores. The bird below is currently frequenting Clonlea Lough about 20 minutes from my home. I saw three others recently at the Gearagh near Macroom in Cork and I now in the last couple of weeks there were up to six in neighbouring Galway.
Here in county Clare we are just about to see another bird species going extinct in the county. Ten years ago our close neighbours in County Limerick saw the lose of their Yellowhammer population. Here in Clare we have a couple of pairs of these fantastic colourful birds holding on in a small region of the north east Burren but not for long. I was back at a small farmstead north of Tubber earlier this week and where there are normally 10 to 15 birds, only one male was found in the farmyard. Intensive agricultural changes in farming to fields of common ryegrass where fields are now heavily fertilised for consumption of the grass by milking and beef cows/cattle are the main reason for the loss of this species throughout our country. In times gone by when we diversified in our farming practises species like the Yellowhammer, Tree Sparrow and many more common bird species survived on mixed grasses with seeds being plentiful from a broader range of grass types. Now it is all a monoculture and the fields are the same shade of green no matter where you look. In my lifetime Yellowhammer is another bird species I will see go extinct along with the Corn Bunting, Tree Sparrow and Corncrake in Ireland. Unless drastic measures are taken within our Agri sector I'm afraid these and many other forms of biodiversity are doomed along with civilisation.
Last man standing, a lone Yellowhammer near Tubber on the fringes of the Burren National Park John N Murphy
