Introduction to Birdwatching

Breffni Martin will give an illustrated talk entitled "Introduction to Birdwatching" at 8pm in the community centre in Blackrock tomorrow Wednesday 26th August 09 as part of the - details on the Blackrock web site. This will be followed by an outing to Lurgangreen the following evening weather permitting.

A further outing will be to Clogherhead (meeting at Port Oriel at 12 noon) for sea watching.

These events are in support of Heritage Week.

New Panels at Dundalk Docks

In collaboration with the Heritage Council and Louth County Council, we placed two new bird panels on the Tain Bridge at Dundalk Docks. The panels look both upstream and downstream and show all of the birds typically seen in the area. The signs are here.

Events 2009/2010

2009

Dundalk - Spirit Store - 8pm

August - we are in the process of arranging a pelagic boat trip to view seabirds in the Irish sea - anybody interested please contact myself at bmartin@regintel.com.

August 30th - Clogherhead 12 noon: walk along the headland and seawatching (targets: arctic skua, manx shearwater and storm-petrel, as well as auks, divers, terns and gulls)

September 7th - Niall Hatch from Birdwatch Ireland - Introduction to Birdwatching (especially garden birds)

October 5th - Damian Clarke from the Golden Eagle Trust - What is happening with our reintroduced eagles?

November 2nd - John Lusby UCC - Barn Owls in Ireland and the discovery of the Greater White-toothed Shrew

December 7th - Eric Dempsey - Raptors of Ireland


Drogheda

Details and venue to be announced later:

Mid-September - Breffni Martin - Introduction to waders and shorebirds

Mid-October - Sandra McKeever - Little Terns at Baltray 2009



2010

Dundalk - Spirit Store - 8pm

January 4th - Brendan McSherry, Heritage Officer, Louth County Council - Geology of County Louth

February 1st- Maurice Eakin, National Parks and Wildlife Service - Flora of County Louth

March 1st - Billy Clarke - Birds of New Zealand

April 5th - Don hodgers - Louth Entomology Update


On the occasion of the first talk in September 2009, details of birdwatching outings will be announced. We will also provide details of local bird and wildlife news at the start of each talk.

New Birdwatching Facility at Carlingford

A new birdwatching facility was installed at Carlingford along the shore - the work was completed last week. The facility consists of a 10x telescope, an interpretative panel and a park bench. Two parking spaces are provided and the whole is mounted on a path that runs along the shore at Carlingford. The facility is the result of a collaboration between Greenore Port, Louth County Council, the Heritage Council and Birdwatch Ireland North Louth Branch.

The facility gives views over the mudflats and islands on the bay. It also affords views of the lough and the Mournes beyond. While the birdlife is fairly sparse over the summer months, with terns that nest on Green Island across the bay predominating. However in winter the bay is filled with over 3000 waders and wildfowl covering 30+ species. In particular at high tide the islands, which serve as high tide roosts for the birds, should provide close up viewing opportunities. The telescope is of robust design and should enable children as well as adults to use it.

Thanks to Greenore Port, The Heritage Council and Louth County Council for their support for the facility.

Shelduck Ducklings

Shelducks nest in holes, either disused rabbit holes or holes they excavate themselves. The holes may be near the shore or half way up a mountain, generally well hidden under bramble or gorse. About this time of the year the ducklings hatch and the mother duck brings them to the shore, often pellmell down a small mountain stream, often at night, until they get to the shore. Unfortunately the path to the shore is often obstructed by new housing developments, roads, piped streams, weirs etc and as a result the ducklings often get stuck and separated from their parent. If this happens with shelduck ducklings, the first thing is to try to get the ducklings back to mother, and try to get them down to the shore. However if mother is gone, collect ducklings and bring them to the nearest part of the shore where shelducks gather and where there is wet mud and cover, and leave them. The ducklings will call and call and if mother gets within 100 yards or them she will come to the call. Shelducks are also known to adopt orphaned ducklings, indeed in late summer most of the adult birds leave their young to moult their flight feathers. During this month long phase in the shelduck lifecycle, the young birds are taken care of by "aunts" in huge nurseries of up to 100 ducklings.

Weir at Jenkinstown

Many shelducks nest in the Cooley mountains near Rockmarshal and elsewhere. Yesterday Owen McCann called about lost ducklings in the Jenkinstown area - they had become trapped in the same weir as last year and mother had departed over the fields with four of her11 ducklings in toe, and a dozen crows and magpies swooping. Anyway to cut a long story short we rescued the ducklings with a net and brought them down to the shore at Rockmarshal and left them by the shore inside an old pipe that was lying around. Checking back a couple of hours later I was pleased to see that they had been indeed recovered by what I assume to be their parents. I imagine that the crows got the four who had the sense to avoid the weir. Shelducks like other ducks are prolific, producing up to 15 ducklings a year. It is part of shelduck ecology that the vast majority of these do not make it to adulthood (otherwise we would be up to our necks in ducks!) but where they get stuck as a result of human activity, it is worth attempting a rescue.

Ducklings reunited with parents

Shelduck ducklings are black and white with grey legs, quite unlike the brown and yellow mallard ducklings.

Evening Chorus Rathescar Lakeside Walk and Wildlife Reserve

Thanks to the 20 odd people who showed up at Rathescar on Sunday evening.

Looping around the outisde of the walk we had the following singing males:

song thrush (6)

blackbird (4)

mistle thrush (1 pair)

robin (4)

long tailed tit (1 family group)

blue tit (1)

great tit (1)

willow warbler (1)

chiffchaff (2)

coot (at least 6)

moorehen (at least 4)

mallard (only 2 females showing)

little grebe (at least 1 pair)

chaffinch (8)

greenfinch (1)

wood piegon (3)

pheasant (2)

wren (9)

magpie (1)

and also distant rookerie but curiously no rooks in Rathescar itself!

A cuckoo was heard just before we arrived and called once or twice distantly. The woodland consists mainly of beech with some very fine oak. Willow dominates around the lake with dense stands of dogwood. There is a good deal of laurel and some rhododendron. The woodland floor is dominated by ivy. The canopy is generally closed. It is interesting to note that the more diverse wood and garden around Listoke house held about as many species and numbers despite its much smaller size. Nevertheless Rathescar is a beautiful place to go for a walk at any time of the day or year.

Dawn Chorus and Evening Chorus 2009

Thanks to everybody for showing up at 5am last Sunday at Listoke House for the North Louth Birdwatch Ireland Dawn Chorus outing. About 35 people showed up at the beautiful walled Edwardian gardens, with their exquisite herbaceous border, lush undergrowth and mature trees, they making a superb habitat for birds. The highlight was no less than three male blackcaps singing in the main garden. Others were robin, blackbird, song thrush, wren, chaffinch, greenfinch, goldfinch, goldcrest and more. We finally broke up at 7am after coffee and tea generously served by our hostess.

A special thanks to Patricia and Patrick Barrow for facilitating the event.

Following requests from attendees, we will be running a second event at 8pm at Rathescar Lakeside Walk and Wildlife Reserve. Directions here. Meet at the car parking area. For further information please ring Breffni 087 9145363.

Rathescar Lakeside Walk and Wildlife Reserve