Continental Cormorants

I grew up on the banks of the River Slaney in Enniscorthy, County Wexford.  As young kids in the early 1970's my brother Jim and my cousin Jim, spent most of our summers exploring the banks and tributaries of this grand river. Exploring Kingfisher nests along with Sandmartins and finding bridges where Grey Wagtails were living were some of our childhood activities. Over the winter I have been back and forth visiting my aging parents and regularly take walks along the river south of the Riverside Hotel, where I often photograph the birds and wildlife along its banks.  When we were growing up here, there were no Little Egrets in Ireland, Buzzards were rare and Continental Cormorants we new nothing about. Even Reed Warblers had not colonised the Slaney at that point.  Now Continental Cormorants seem to be an everyday occurrence.  Here are a selection of shots from a few visits during March of this year.

 

 Adult Cormorant showing charachteristics of Phalacrocorax carbo sinensis John N Murphy

 

 Immature Cormorant showing characteristics Continental Cormorant of Phalacrocorax carbo sinensis  John N Murphy

Two adult Great Cormorants Phalacrocorax Carbo John N Murphy

 Adult Grey Herons John N Murphy

Grey Heron with Little Egrets and Little Egrets John N Murphy

Adult male Grey Wagtail John N Murphy

 Long-tailed Tit John N Murphy

 Indian Goose an introduced species to the Slaney John N Murphy