Seeing the opportunity for a sunny day out I recently took yet another trip down to Ballycotton to try and take a good look at all the sandy bits. What I and my measly camera found mostly consisted of miniature dots sitting on sandbanks. Primarily wigeon shaped ones. Still a very pleasant walk!
So shy that this is probrably my best wigeon shot to date, bleh!
The shoreline by the beach car park had this small cluster of Brent geese. A first for me! Yes I know..., I haven’t been at this as long as most folks.
The hedgerows where full of songbirds though, thousands of house sparrows, dunnocks, large numbers of rook, linnets, goldfinch and many more. The worst moment of my day was coming face to face with 4 yellowhammers sitting in full view less than a meter away. Needless to say they were gone before I could get the stunned expression off my face. Ah well.
Goldfinch
Linnet (with oddly light legs)
A young rook
The moment that ultimately made my day was the sight of this very approachable stonechat which gave me some excellent views. It’s not the stunning summer plumage that is most associated with the stonechat but this was definitely the closest I’ve managed to get to one.
It being late October (at the time), few butterflies remained on the cliff walk. In fact the only thing I saw was admirals.
I was surprised to find a dragonfly on the cliffs as well. It is most likely a female red veined darter (see facebook debate) on account of the bluish tint to its wings. A new species for me and likely the last I’m going to see this year!
Here’s a great cormorant and a young(ish) shag, which just so happen to be Ireland’s only 2 species of cormorant. The great cormorant is more widespread and can be found around Cork city. The shag in contrast sticks to the coast and can therefore not be found as much on the river Lee. The one you see below is probably not very representative of the species because adults in breeding plumage are jet black with a tufted crest. Anyway the shag has a more delicate frame (ref, the thinner bill).
Great cormorant
Impressivly this fellow was balancing on this beam in gale force winds last week. The hurricane blowoff apparently didn't bother him much.
Shag
.
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Here for effect is a Shannie (a type of blennie fish) which I found under a rock, it may look like I took a fish out of water but this little guy can easily spend a whole low tide period under a rock with no actual water. It was probably much happier after I released it into a rockpool ;-)
The past week or so has turned up very little in the form of city birds. Don’t get me wrong, they haven’t all fallen from the skies or anything, it’s just that generally there is nothing out of the ordinary going on. There are still a couple of flycatchers around and my ever present friends the blackbirds and robins are still busy distracting me but there is nothing out of the ordinary. I had hoped to get some shots of Blackcaps, Chiffchaffs, willow warblers, barn swallows, sand martins, grey wagtails and various other small and brown birds but have found pretty much nothing.
(some dodgy shots of the old familiars)
A drying cormorant
Grey wagtail taking a walk on a pipe
A hooded crow still being harrased by its child
Eventually I decided to spend a day down in Blarney looking to photograph the reed buntings and blackcaps that live alongside the small lake there. Again, nothing but glimpses and silhouette shots. In the end I decided to focus my energies on chasing some of the local butterflies, damselflies and dragonflies with some interesting results. I must say that the disappointment of not finding many birds was quickly offset by the pleasure of observing these lovely insects. The four spotted chaser in particular was a pleasure to watch, it’s a rather massive insect that flits across the lake surface with lightning speed whilst grabbing smaller insects with great precision. The much smaller damselflies too are deadly hunters in their own right as the picture of the common blue damselfly on the right proves!
So without further ado I present some of the members of the rather large Odonata family. The damselflies in particular are rather hard to tell apart and there is a good chance I misidentified one or two of them. A thanks to Mothman at boards.ie for helping to ID them.
Most likely a female freshly emerged Ruddy Darter (Sympetrum sanguineum)
The mentioned four spotted chaser (Libellula quadrimaculata), the pic doesn't do him justice but its so fast that I was lucky to get this shot!
A Rufescens form Blue tailed damselfly (Ischnura elegans)
A regular blue tailed damselfly (Ischnura elegans)
Azure damselfly (Coenagrion puella)
Common blue damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum)
Not too sure what this is (I forgot to get it ID'd) if anyone knows please do let me know
Not a bad haul right! It definitely made my day; still, tomorrow it would be nice to find something with feathers. Later.
I guess you could call this part 2 of my last post, yesterday I looked at the most common songbirds that Cork city has to offer. Today I’ll do the birds I see every day that aren’t song birds, namely the wildfowl, cormorants and herons of Cork city. Arguably these entertaining birds have adapted better to city life then most Irish animals, this is especially true in Cork city which is constructed around two large canals and hence offers plenty of water.
First up are the wildfowl; a family that includes swans, geese and ducks, these photogenic and often tame birds are a familiar sight to nearly every European. Mallards and Swans have become such a common occurrence in Ireland and Britain that they have even become a part of the culture itself. Mallards are probably the easiest birds to photograph in the whole city, both canals, the Atlantic pond and the Lough all have an abundance of these birds and they are more than willing to be fed. They are also very entertaining to watch raising their chicks which can be easily approached this time of year (May).
Alongside the mallard can often be found tufted ducks, these beautiful birds are also very tame and can be quite entertaining to watch diving periodically for food.
Mute swans can also be found around the city, they can usually be seen in groups of between five and twenty. These birds are easy to photograph because of their size and are also more than willing to be fed.
Please note feeding these animals with bread in bodies of still water is ill advised, bread in the water can cause dangerous outbreaks of fungus that is bad for local wildlife (see UCC video below). Instead feed these animals’ bird feed or vegetables.
In Winter Pochards and Shovelers join the year round ducks in Cork Lough. They are more cautious then their regular counterparts but in cold weather can be tempted to the edges of the water. Shovelers are especially entertaining to watch as pairs can often be seen doing an elaborate bonding dance.
(Pochard on top, Shoveler on bottom)
Also common are grey herons and their smaller and more cautious relative, the little egret. Both these birds can be found along nearly every river bank and have over time become a familiar sight. Herons are an imposing sight with their almost 2 meter wingspan and impressive height. Though more cautious then wildfowl they can at times be lured over by food. At the Lough and in Fota Wildlife Park they regularly walk around by the water’s edge in search of food. They nest high up in trees in massive platformed nests and can easily be seen tending to their chicks. The little egret is harder to photograph as it tends to fly away but perseverance is worthwhile on this species as its startlingly white plumage makes it very photogenic.
(Grey heron on the left, little egret on the right)
A particularly interesting species that can be seen in the city is the great cormorant. These large black birds have become very common along the river Lee. They are distantly related to pelicans and unlike most water birds don’t have waterproof feathers, consequently they can regularly be seen sitting on branches with wings spread out to dry off. When in the water they dive for fish in the river. The best place to view them is the river walk near Sundays well where dozens regularly roost in the trees by the skate park.
(Photo at top is of Grey heron, I have dubbed this shot ‘Heron having a bad day’)
