White-winged Scoter

I was back in Rossbeigh, County Kerry today to see the White-winged Scoter.  It was a fantastic sunny day and the bird was showing well along the cliff top, west of the beach and much closer than last Saturday.  I managed to get a few record shots.

Rock Pipit

I visit a lovely little National School at Furglans near Ennistymon today and afterwards skipped down to nearby Clahane to look for an early Wheatear.  While at Clahane I managed to locate the Water Pipit, and at least 70 Rock Pipits were still feeding along the shore.

The Kingdom

Kerry has to be one of the countries most spectacular areas of natural beauty and yesterday while searching for birds we had stunning scenery all around us of the snow covered mountains and the inlets and points at Rossbeigh.

A view across Castlemaine Harbour from Cromane Point

Slieve Mish Mountain near Tralee

Castlemaine Harbour

Rossbeigh Point

Knocknadobar Mountain and Doulus Head on the south side of Dingle Bay

Little Egret

I was back in search of the White-winged Scoter at Rossbeigh, County Kerry again yesterday.  This time we struck gold and got distant views of the bird about 3-400 meters out in the bay. We were lucky that the sea was calm and everyone who travelled to see the bird got respectable views throughout the day.  This bird is a first Irish record and thought to be of the Siberian race Melanitta stejnegeri and not North American Melanitta deglandi as first predicted.  While in the area we went to see the Spoonbill again and I got shots of this Little Egret in the same pool where the Spoonbill fed.

Little Egret coming into breeding plumage

Adult Spoonbill seen feeding with the Little Egret

Brent Geese

On the way to see the Spoonbill at Cromane yesterday, there were lots of Brent Geese feeding the shore, many of whom were wearing colour leg bands.

Spoonbill

I was lecturing at a small school near Lissycasey in west Clare this morning.  When I checked my mobile, I had missed 17 calls to alert me of a White-winged Scoter found at Rossbeigh, County Kerry.  This is a first Irish record of this Trans-Atlantic sea duck. So a few of us headed off to try and twitch the bird but to no avail.  At nearby Cromane we knew a Spoonbill was overwintering there, as he has done for the past four winters.  With five hours spent looking for the scoter with out any luck, as a bonus, we decided to head to Cromane with the hope of seeing the Spoonbill, to tick it off our year list.  Below are shots of the bird that was fairly approachable.

Bullfinch

While out feeding my hens this morning I noticed a small group of Bullfinches, eating through new and fresh buds on my Blackthorn hedge.  I ran in for the camera and got the shots below.  At this time of the year Bullfinches travel through hedgerows eating up many new blooms and can cause problems to fruit trees and bushes.  Covering your black currant bushes and other fruiting plants is highly recommended to prevent loss of future crops.