Seventh Carlingford Birding Weekend

Seventh Carlingford Birding Weekend
27th - 29th May 2011

Carlingford is not only a spectacular medieval village with great cuisine, scenery and history, it is also a great location for birdwatching. Carlingford Lough, Dundalk Bay, the Cooley mountains, and hinterland all contain superb birding habitats. Following the successful birding weekend in May 2010 we have organised another birding weekend for the weekend of 27th May to 29th May 2011.

Schedule
Friday 27th May
19:30 - 20:30 Talk and slide show with Eric Dempsey Four Seasons Hotel

Saturday 28th May
7am- Bus to Mullaghattin woodland from 7:30 am to 10 am
Seabirds along Giles quay and Balaggan point 11 - 12:30 pm
1pm Lunch
3pmCarlingford area walk (optional)
7pm Group Dinner
8:30 pmBack to Mullaghattin woodland at until dusk (about 10:30) to be back to Carlingford before closing time!!

Sunday May 29th
10am - 12:30pm - Either back to woodland area, mountain area or shore depending on what we have missed or what rarity may have turned up in the general area.
The weekend will be guided by Eric Dempsey (professional guide, author, photographer, broadcaster) who some may know from Mooney Goes Wild. While nothing is guaranteed we would hope to see buzzard, woodcock, cuckoo, grasshopper warbler, raven, peregrine as well as a range of typical countryside birds and seabirds such as auks, shearwaters, fulmars and terns.

In terms of accommodation and cost:
Guide, transport, talk etc - 50 Euros per person assuming 20 participants
Group dinner at Four Seasons Hotel - 25 Euros per person
Accommodation – several hotels, guesthouses and B&Bs available, details on http://www.carlingford.ie/index.php/accommodation

To book please email bmartin@regintel.com

Moths, Dawn Chorus, Woodcock and Seabirds.

Louth entomologist Don Hodgers will give an illustrated talk on Louth and Irish Moths on Monday 4th April 2011 at 8pm at the Spirit Store, Dundalk Docks, Dundalk. The talk will focus on several moth discoveries in 2010, as well as moth ecology and conservation. This is our last talk of the season given the lengthening of the evenings. Our next talk will be in September. However we will run several outdoor events during the Summer starting with our Dawn Chorus outing on 15th May in the grounds of the Ballymascanlon Hotel just north of Dundalk (directions here). Towards the end of May we will run the Seventh Carlingford Birding Weekend (exact weekend to be confirmed) - please email bmartin@regintel.com if interested. Our last birding weekend produced woodcock, grasshopper warbler, cuckoo and others. During June and July we will run at least one pelagic boat trip onto Dundalk Bay. Previous outings have produced bonxie, pomerine skua, great shearwater as well as the usual range of seabirds that occupy the bay.