Some pictures I took recently

OpenYourEyes

Black-headed Gull in breeding plumage:
Black-headed Gull (breeding plumage) by Brian, on Flickr

Black-headed Gull (breeding plumage) by Brian, on Flickr


First-winter Black-headed Gull; ringed in Hampshire (England) last summer and seen again for the first time in Galway in March:
Black-headed Gull (ringed) by Brian, on Flickr

keps

Finally managed to get a photo of this cormorant with benign light and no distracting background!

A bigger version remains on flickr so if you click on the photo and then use the + prompt you will get a better idea of its amazing feather arrangement




cormorant

keps

OpenYourEyes wrote: »

First-winter Black-headed Gull; ringed in Hampshire (England) last summer and seen again for the first time in Galway in March:

Brilliant that your pics are so good that it is possible to pick up on the ring numbers- just great in a lot of respects.

Nightforce 65X55

keps

Well camouflaged:)




goldcrest

Nightforce 65X55

Hotei

I've been hearing Skylarks singing their little hearts out here for the past two weeks. It's always a pleasure to hear them.

emo72

Hotei wrote: »

I've been hearing Skylarks singing their little hearts out here for the past two weeks. It's always a pleasure to hear them.

are they rareish? never seen one

Hotei

emo72 wrote: »

are they rareish? never seen one

They're certainly not rare where I'm from anyway, and would imagine there are healthy populations elsewhere too. They are ground nesting birds and you will see and hear them in areas with plenty of grassland, so you're unlikely to see many in urban areas.

emo72

they look like thrushes. keps any down the demesne?

Nightforce 65X55

These little birds are hard to track in flight especially with a long lens and manual focus but these were the best shots today , I might do better tomorrow ... by the way , they only sing in Flight as far as I know....

Zoo4m8

emo72 wrote: »

are they rareish? never seen one

They are not widespread like they used to be, they like 'old' grassland with tufts to nest in but with the ever increasing pressure on margins in farming grassland is mostly now managed as efficiently as possible which means tighter grazing and in summer grassland will be 'topped' to remove rank or unpalatable growth so no tufts...
This is why there has been a paralell decline in Meadow Pipits as well..
The only time I see Skylarks now round here ( apart from one particular area) are those that overwinter in a large stubble field that has grown grain for years.
And as Nightforce says they sing in flight flying ever higher as they do , sometimes so high they can be difficult to see and swooping to the ground when they finish..I know I can watch them for ages!

keps

emo72 wrote: »

they look like thrushes. keps any down the demesne?

not that I am aware of- it appears from the above they prefer farmland/grassland .

keps

Hooded Crow & Buzzard


side by side

TopTec

Both Pipits and Skylarks are very common on the mountain bog I have a bank on in North Mayo. Quite tricky to spot when they are 100m off the ground but great to watch on a summers day.

When they land it is always several yards away from their nests and they then run into the nest so they don't give the location away to predators.

TT

keps

A nice little bird I watched for a while today. It used to take a brief flight low over the water from its perch -presumably cacthing some insect - and then fly back to the tree .


Not too sure what it is

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

More than likely a Willow Warbler.

keps

Jazlyn Incalculable Yo-yo wrote: »

More than likely a Willow Warbler.

Thanks - a first for me!

splish

Bluebell Hyacinthoides non-scripta from local wood today.

Bluebell Hyacinthoides non-scripta by Ciarán Byrne, on Flickr

Bluebell Hyacinthoides non-scripta by Ciarán Byrne, on Flickr

Capercaillie

Some pictures from the corncrake farm:


A weekend of work at the farm. Nearly finished my new nettle beds. 0.6 acres of nettle planted now with 19 loads of farm yard dung (14,000 Kg per load), 27 loads of spent mushroom compost (14,000 Kg per load) and 5 van loads of washed nettle rhizomes. Only one patch left to do. Mix compost/dung in equal quantities, then add nettle rhizomes on top. Cover nettle rhizomes with compost using digger, and anything missed with digger is covered with compost by hand. Had my NPWS ranger out to see how my work was progressing. Managing intensively for corncrake so he wanted to check was any other wildlife affected. I was going to plant reed canary grass (native) in my fen. Since good plant biodiversity in the fen he recommended not doing it because it could take over the fen. Plenty of marsh plants which are benefit to twite so will leave the fen alone. No fertiliser to fen either as that would decrease the plant biodiversity. Management of fen is to keep mowed at end of season to prevent rank growth formation. Got 4x4 tractor in to mow in September even though it was very wet. My agricultural consultant was worried that the Iris I planted winter 2014/2015 might not establish, due to area not being wet enough. This year I dug a small culvert from the road to my iris field. When it rains the water generally flows down to the sea, now with culvert if flows into iris field. The only farmer in area who actively floods land! Giant rhubarb (highly invasive) growing in the area of farm so treated it with salt ( a trick from another NPWS corncrake farmer). Ploughing my twite cover crop in two weeks time. Getting contractor to power harrow it and then I will broadcast seed with my seed-fiddle, then roll to produce a nicer firm bed. Last job was to clean rank growth from behind my fence by the sea. Good amount of hogweed growing, which are of use as an early cover bed by crexs. 90m3 area cleared, and a mountain of rubbish cleared that the sea washes up into the area. Brought back home with rubbish and most of it recycled. Praying for good weather and Southerly winds to bring my corncrake back safely. As my neigbour says " The Lady corncrake needs sun on her back and a good nettle bed to rest her head" At least I have provided decent nettle beds for her, unfortunately I cannot control the weather!

Myksyk

The Beautiful Blue Tit ... from every angle!!

keps

Jazlyn Incalculable Yo-yo wrote: »

More than likely a Willow Warbler.

Could it be a chiffchaff?

keps

@ Capercallie-

so thankful for what you are doing.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

keps wrote: »

Could it be a chiffchaff?

Oh it certainly could. My initial reaction was Chaff Chaff, as they arrive earlier, but the Willow Warbler has a yellowish supercilious, while that of the Chaff Chaff is paler - the photo seemed yellowish. Chaff Chaff legs are black and Willow Warbler's are brown. I thought these looked brown.
They are hard to tell apart unless you hear their song or have one in hand to look at the primary projection.

keps

Thanks indeed Srameen- I just noticed that nobody 'seconded' your opinion or offered an opposing view-so just wondered.

Then again maybe nobody looked.

Is a Chaff Chaff the same as a Chiffchaff?

Nightforce 65X55

[IMG][/img]Sparrowhawk in the Rain by Rod Wilson, on Flickr

[IMG][/img]Sparrowhawk 3 by Rod Wilson, on Flickr

[IMG][/img]Sparrowhawk 2 by Rod Wilson, on Flickr

[IMG][/img]Kingfisher Female 1 by Rod Wilson, on Flickr

[IMG][/img]Buzzard in Flight 2 by Rod Wilson, on Flickr

[IMG][/img]Buzzard in Flight 1 by Rod Wilson, on Flickr

savagethegoat

surprise visitors to the swampy far side of the field behind my house.... not the best of pictures...

keps

mistle thrush


EDIT: Amended bird name

DellyBelly

No that's a Mistle Thrush

keps

DellyBelly wrote: »

No that's a Mistle Thrush

oh God - wrong again!

I've amended title - thanks