UK trip

Ventured over to the UK, Oxford, this week to visit my good friend Keith and to try add some new birds, unusual or absent in Ireland, to my list. I arrived on Sunday and with Keith as my very accommodating guide and chauffeur we headed for RSPB Otmoor. On the way the tone was set for most of our road trips with Buzzard and Red Kite too numerous to keep track of as they soared above and beside the roads. No sooner had we arrived at Otmoor when I got my first ever views of a Woodpecker (Great-spotted), a stunning female which, with a little patience, gave excellent views. Other species of note were Pochard, which I hadn't seen for two years, Canadian Geese and Carrion Crow as well as a distant Hen-harrier.

 

An early morning walk with Keith and his dog gave my second lifer of the trip and my second woodpecker in two days, this time Green, as we tracked down a pair of calling birds to a small stand of trees. Views were mostly fleeting and alas no pictures but I did get a good look as one flew into one of the trees above me, regarded me briefly before flying off noisily.

Day two was planned for the Forest of Dean. En Route I saw a male Great-spotted Woodpecker as well as two Muntjac deer foraging beside the road. On arrival we headed for the view point above the forest where, after only two minutes, we were extremely lucky to see two Goshawk displaying in the distance. There were also several Buzzard present, a male Sparrowhawk, Siskin and Jay and, just as we were about to leave, a pair of Crossbill flew in and settled on the pines near us. A further drive for the Red-flanked Bluetail, a bird that had been seen nearly every day for almost three months, proved fruitless. DIPPED! It wasn't all bad though as I picked up a pair of Red-legged Partridge feeding on the road by a stubble field, more Buzzard and a lovely Male Kestrel.

 

Keith was working on day three so I tagged along as most of his work is in a forest and I wanted to try for a snap of a Nuthatch. I saw my first ever Marsh Tit as we walked through the wood but only managed to get a pic of one on a feeding station. Over the course of the day we heard a distant Tawny owl, saw several more Great-spotted Woodpecker and there were several very flighty Jay present. 'March' Hare ran through the wood within ten feet of us, oblivious to our presence and two Roe Deer crossed our path in the distance. Leaving the wood we came across a handful of wary Redwing as well as a Buzzard, scoping the ground for grey squirrel.

 

 

Our last stop was Portmeadow, a river and flood plain noted for its gulls. On the day all the gulls were too distant but we did see Greylag geese, Carrion crow and a pair of Fieldfare.

 

 

So that was that, I had a great trip. Six lifers, in no particular order, Goshawk, Great-spotted woodpecker, Green Woodpecker, Crossbill, Red-legged Partridge and Marsh Tit (8 if you want to count Irish Coal Tit and Jay as sub-species!). Mountain Hare (as opposed to Irish), Mantjac and Roe Deer

 

 

 

Catch up!

I've been having problems with my wifi recently (whether I can blame the recent bad weather and storms or not I'm not sure) so I haven't been blogging. I think I'm more or less back on track now so here's a quick update of my last couple of outings. Hope you like!
Storms washed up a common dolphin on blackhall strand so I went down to take a look (and a few snaps), looks like it took a battering off the rocks, poor thing. I also got a fleeting glimpse of a Glaucous Gull while I was down there.

 

Just as I was leaving word came through that a Ross's Gull had been found at Lady's Island. Not being one to miss an opportunity I made may down where I met up with Richard Zamora. The gull had been present on the lake but wasn't there when I arrived, however after a few minutes it returned and gave cracking views as it loafed and landed, feeding along the shore oblivious to us and our attempts to get a decent pic. I was delighted I made it down as, unlike the Dublin and Kinsale birds, the Wexford bird only stayed one day!

 

Dun Laoghaire was my next port of call (pardon the pun!) when I had some time to kill after taking care of some work stuff. A Red-necked Grebe had been present in the harbour for a few days and the opportunity was too good to miss. After searching along the east pier (it's previously favoured location) and having no joy I decided to move around to the centre of the harbour and the marina area. I found the grebe here and got a couple of quick shots but it was very mobile, between the marina wall and the west pier before, moving towards the bandstand area - where I had been :-[ I made my way back around and got another couple (of more distant) shots and a nice summer plumaged Med. Gull (three present). A few Gannet and Guillemot inside the harbour wall, summer and winter plumaged Black Guillemot and a Purple Sandpiper on the seaward side of the east pier were the best of the rest.

 

Last but not least was a couple of Chough from Bannow today. Super birds that I hope settle and nest in the area.

 

The fantastic Ross's Gull and the Red-necked Grebe were both lifers for me so lets hope I can keep adding to that list!

 

Thanks for paying a visit.