Work commitments took me to Dublin today so I brought my camera and before I headed home I took a detour out to Bull Island in the hope of finding the Snow Bunting that have been present the last week or so. Conditions were poor and I was having difficulty locating them (based on where they had been reported before). I made my way right out to the tip of the Bull Wall, then, with the wind and rain at my back retraced my steps checking the beach and rocks as I went. I eventually found them and positioned myself low on the rocks as they made their way along the beach towards me. As luck would have it the boulder in front of my position had a small dip in it which had filled with rain water and the birds proceeded to use it to drink from, coming as close as three feet away at times. A very relaxed Turnstone also stopped to pose for a photo. I have been looking for Snow Bunting for my life list for a long time, never managing to spot them in Dun Laoghaire or Howth so seeing them (and so close) was something special.
Hopping back on the train I thought i'd try find the Azorean Yellow-legged and Ring-billed Gulls in Wexford harbour if I got back in time and the daylight held out that long. I got back with about an hour to spare and on the advice of Jimmy Murphy I headed across Wexford Bridge towards the Ferrybank. When I got there Killian Mullarney was already there and he had noted both birds but they were still quite mobile. It wasn't long before I picked up the Yellow-legged, recognising it from previous pictures, as it floated around a fishing boat which was casting off waste. Killian had left and it was getting dull and dusky but eventually the Ring-billed flew in to roost on the rocky spit, circling with the other gulls before it landed almost directly behind the now settled Yellow-legged.
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