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OpenYourEyes · 09-01-2015 11:54pm

Woodville56 wrote: »

Noticed a large flock of swans today spread across flooded fields where the M6 crosses the River Suck at Ballinasloe - not sure which species, it was blowing a gale so didn't stop to scope them.

Sounds very probable they were Whooper Swans too. If its the area I'm thinking of, Greenland White-fronted Geese used to use it years ago too!

Woodville56 · 10-01-2015 12:44am

OpenYourEyes wrote: »

Sounds very probable they were Whooper Swans too. If its the area I'm thinking of, Greenland White-fronted Geese used to use it years ago too!

It was on left side of the motorway heading towards Galway, just past the bridge over the river, in the flooded fields.

Capercaille · 10-01-2015 12:48am

Woodville56 wrote: »

It was on left side of the motorway heading towards Galway, just past the bridge over the river, in the flooded fields.

With the demise of our wintering Bewick Swans. it would be either whooper or mute swan.

OpenYourEyes · 10-01-2015 2:33am

Yeah, I think that area is known as Poolboy - used to have GWFG, not sure what else, but most places that have/had GWFG would have Whoopers too!

OpenYourEyes · 10-01-2015 7:39pm

I was at a turlough in Roscommon today that I visit regularly every winter, and was just saying to my Dad "It's strange we havn't seen any Greenland White-fronts here this winter" - as I finished my sentence I panned left with my binoculars and spotted 131 Greenland White-fronts!

Capercaille · 10-01-2015 7:45pm

OpenYourEyes wrote: »

I was at a turlough in Roscommon today that I visit regularly every winter, and was just saying to my Dad "It's strange we havn't seen any Greenland White-fronts here this winter" - as I finished my sentence I panned left with my binoculars and spotted 131 Greenland White-fronts!

How are the GWFG numbers this year? Countrywide and on the Slobs?

OpenYourEyes · 10-01-2015 7:56pm

Capercaille wrote: »

How are the GWFG numbers this year? Countrywide and on the Slobs?

The most important count on the slobs is the Spring count - so we should hear over the next few weeks how things are doing there.

They won't really have a good picture of the other flocks until the autumn when all the records etc come in, but the expectation is that the smaller flocks will keep getting smaller, and flocks like Wexford, Lough Swilly, Little Brosna, the Suck and the Midland Lakes should stay largely the same.

I didn't get a chance to age the flock I saw so I didn't manage to get an idea of how breeding success might have been!

Anyone interested who mightn't have seen it, read the synopsis of the November conference about halfway down this page: http://www.wexfordwildfowlreserve.ie/

whyulittle · 11-01-2015 3:11pm

A handy reference for tagged Birds of Prey.

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=598191803645159&id=345679678896374

Rosahane · 12-01-2015 12:21pm

For the first time in weeks I saw the buzzards in Castletown this morning.
Unfortunately I was at the other side of the park and hadn't the binos with me.

A lot of calling from a group of three together and a singleton which approached the others, wheeled away a few times and then had a bit of an aerial tussle with one of the group before they all went out of sight.

I think a pair successfully reared two chicks there this year. Was what I saw mating behaviour or chasing the chicks out of the territory?

whyulittle · 15-01-2015 8:02pm

http://www.irishbirding.com/birds/web/Display/sighting/75002/Birding_Opportunity.html

I wouldn't have thought there could be any confusion between a Hen Harrier and an Eagle Owl! A Long-eared Owl or an escapee maybe?

OpenYourEyes · 15-01-2015 10:41pm

Escapee is probably most likely, but wih the winds we've had over the last week I wouldn't be surprised at anything turning up anywhere for the next few days!!

Birdnuts · 15-01-2015 11:28pm

OpenYourEyes wrote: »

Escapee is probably most likely, but wih the winds we've had over the last week I wouldn't be surprised at anything turning up anywhere for the next few days!!

I spoke to one of Irelands leading raptor experts a few years ago on the subjects of Eagle owls and he reckoned that they were a native bird that went the way of the Crane etc. He says there is compelling evidence from early monastic texts describing the calls of young eagle owls coming from the vast bogs and forests of the Irish midlands back in the 8th centuary.

whyulittle · 17-01-2015 8:10pm

Wasn't me up in the plane unfortunately, but pretty cool pic of Shannon in flood south of Athlone.

https://twitter.com/paul_deegan/status/556511270225317888

Bottom left corner shows the Big Meadow under water, that's where the Corncrake was calling in summer 2013. Didn't hear if one was back last summer.

Capercaille · 17-01-2015 8:46pm

whyulittle wrote: »

Wasn't me up in the plane unfortunately, but pretty cool pic of Shannon in flood south of Athlone.

https://twitter.com/paul_deegan/status/556511270225317888

Bottom left corner shows the Big Meadow under water, that's where the Corncrake was calling in summer 2013. Didn't hear if one was back last summer.

Was just going to ask is Big Meadow in the picture? It saddens me what has happened to the once vibrant Callows Corncrake population:(:(:(

whyulittle · 17-01-2015 10:12pm

Yeah most of the bottom left of the pic would be the Big Meadow. Pretty much starts where the buildings end, the full width between the canal and the river, and then starts to taper away as it meets the end of the canal out of pic.

thyme · 21-01-2015 11:17pm

No point in bringing up a year old thread, doesn't seem that long.

Coillte are finally moving in next week to start on the forest, after nearly three months of people coming and going, and I got talking to them all to make sure they all knew about the red squirrels that are in the forest.

The last two people I was talking to seemed very interested and took note of what I said, but at the moment they said there just going to extend the roadway (500/600 meters) to get to the young part to get it thinned.

So hopefully the older part will stand for little while longer, but I doubt it.

Capercaille · 23-01-2015 11:43pm

In inishbofin (donegal) the island was designated a SPA. Due to agricultural restrictions the locals were not happy. Several farmers ploughed up land (against regulations) in an effort to destroy corncrake habitat. The opposite happened and barley/oats that had been sown and harvested years ago grew. This provided great early cover for corncrake this year and numbers have exploded. Going to trial sowing some barley this spring. In years past a lot of small farmers in the west sowed a few crops and this apparently was good for corncrake. People only discovering now that it might be of benefit to corncrake.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 31-01-2015 12:11pm

Torn this week: 6 Bullfinch in the garden every day - great! But they are eating the flower buds of my Prunus trees, as Bullfinches are wont to do. I love to see them but would love some spring flowers on my trees. Such is Nature!

Rosahane · 31-01-2015 6:40pm

Kayla Moldy Supernova wrote: »

Torn this week: 6 Bullfinch in the garden every day - great! But they are eating the flower buds of my Prunus trees, as Bullfinches are wont to do. I love to see them but would love some spring flowers on my trees. Such is Nature!

Same here. Usually a pair, a male and female. Although they once brought another three of their male cousins.
I don't mind because the tree is getting too big anyway and I need to prune it.

I also have two robins which tolerate each other, been to the extent of being together on the bird table. This is the first time I have seen two robins without a battle breaking out!

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 31-01-2015 6:54pm

Rosahane wrote: »

Same here. Usually a pair, a male and female. Although they once brought another three of their male cousins.
I don't mind because the tree is getting too big anyway and I need to prune it.

I also have two robins which tolerate each other, been to the extent of being together on the bird table. This is the first time I have seen two robins without a battle breaking out!

Detante set in here when the weather turned cold. All 3 of the garden's robins now share the feeding areas and have abandoned their individual territories.

Woodville56 · 31-01-2015 10:43pm

Kayla Moldy Supernova wrote: »

Detante set in here when the weather turned cold. All 3 of the garden's robins now share the feeding areas and have abandoned their individual territories.

Interesting observation Kayla Moldy Supernova - have been noticing same increased tolerance among Blackbirds frequenting the garden in addition to a truce among the garden Robins. Nice to see a "live and let live" spirit breaking out in the face of adverse weather. Unfortunately, the downside of the cold weather feeding frenzy in the garden has been regular raids by a female sparrow hawk - it's all about the survival game !

gzoladz · 01-02-2015 6:08pm

Loads (well loads... a good few) of goldcrests this weekend in different locations: Herbert Park, Booterstown marsh and in trees around Herbert.

I know they are not unusual, but I have observed more than average.

I will upload photos, but once I decided to get Photoshop for Android and learned using it crashes on me every 2 minutes ...

Woodville56 · 02-02-2015 8:43pm

Signs of Spring awakenings in the air today - watched a pair of raucous Ravens in their tumbling acrobatic display flight against a clear blue sky - a joy to see ! After the Ravens had moved on, next up 3 Buzzards circling and "mewing" over the same woodland and fields. It's interesting to see both species coexisting side by side on the same patch, given their similar food preferences - an abundance of rabbits in the area probably means there's enough for everyone !

whyulittle · 02-02-2015 8:59pm

I saw the pair of Ravens here this evening as well, one of them bringing material up to the nest.

trebor28 · 04-02-2015 9:20pm

Saw some rooks today too, doing a bit of "pruning".

On another note, i travelled from Nenagh to Roscrea today for the first time since before christmas.

A year ago i would see quite a few Kestrels in a single journey, 6 was my highest count.

Today i saw no Kestrels but 4 Buzzards instead.

Zoo4m8 · 04-02-2015 9:26pm

With the beautiful weather I decided it was high time that ploughing (stubble fields) for spring crops was started. A job I like not least for watching the gulls that follow the plough while hoping to see some less common ones.
Last year we had a Mediterranean Gull and a Little Gull plus a snow white gull a little smaller than the usual Black Heads, from what I could see just like an Ivory Gull but I know that pretty much was not possible..bit of a mystery..
So this morning a small band of Black Heads soon arrived after I started but by this afternoon word had quickly spread and there was a large flock competing for every worm. Mostly all Black Heads but amongst them a small group of Common Gulls, about six or seven, more than I recall seeing in recent times, so looking forward to see what the coming weeks throw up.

Half-cocked · 05-02-2015 10:00am

A song thrush has taken up residence in our garden, incredible range of calls. We get serenaded dawn and dusk.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 05-02-2015 4:44pm

3 goldcrest using the bird bath at the same time this afternoon. I always enjoy these cheery little birds and it was marvellous watching them in the bath. I never had them using the bath before although they regularly visit the garden.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 05-02-2015 4:46pm

trebor28 wrote: »

Saw some rooks today too, doing a bit of "pruning".

On another note, i travelled from Nenagh to Roscrea today for the first time since before christmas.

A year ago i would see quite a few Kestrels in a single journey, 6 was my highest count.

Today i saw no Kestrels but 4 Buzzards instead.

I know that no research has yet confirmed it but I have to say that any areas I know that were reliable for kestels and had buzzards move into the area are now devoid of kestrels.

Woodville56 · 05-02-2015 6:54pm

Buzzards seen ( and heard) on an almost daily basis here in the north midlands , I've only seen 1 kestrel in 2015 so far !

OpenYourEyes · 05-02-2015 11:02pm

Not really suitable for the 'Nature in the News' thread, but here's a pretty cool video of a Mountain Biker being chased by a Peregrine Falcon! It's a trained Peregrine, obviously, and I'm not sure it's the fairest test of its abilities in terms of playing up to its hunting strategy, but the Falcon is very impressive nonetheless!

http://www.sciencedump.com/content/watch-peregrine-falcon-chase-down-pro-mountain-biker

Birdnuts · 06-02-2015 1:30am

Kayla Moldy Supernova wrote: »

I know that no research has yet confirmed it but I have to say that any areas I know that were reliable for kestels and had buzzards move into the area are now devoid of kestrels.

Probably just a natural re-order of things. Kestrels had the skies to themselves for a long time with the extinction of other raptors. I guess they get knocked down the pecking order when bigger raptors move back in. Around Blessington Kestrels went very scarce for a few years up to around 2010, seen a few more since and one pair reared 3 young last year in a local quarry. Actually only a few hundred yards from the resident buzzard nest!!

OpenYourEyes · 06-02-2015 1:56am

The RSPB are seemingly researching Kestrel declines at the moment (http://www.rspb.org.uk/whatwedo/projects/details.aspx?id=313411), and I'm very eager to hear how they get on!

There are a number of hypotheses why this decline has taken place, but so far none of them have been tested formally. In this project, we test whether the decline is caused by any of the following factors:

1. Habitat change

2. Lack of prey (small birds and voles)

3. Increased nest site competition from jackdaws and barn owls

4. Increased predation from buzzards, ravens and goshawks

5. Increased use of rodenticides ("rat poison")

6. Negative impacts of a wetter climate (climate change)

Buzzard predation of Kestrels has been recorded, but if Buzzards are having an impact I'm sure its due to competitive exclusion rather than predation - though I'd be much less surprised at the idea of Ravens predating Kestrel nests.

That being said, the list of issues the RSPB are looking at highlights the complexity of the issue. Given that Kestrels are essentially considered a farmland bird, and every other farmland bird is doing pretty poorly, I think thats where the most finger-pointing needs to be done - habitat loss, loss of prey and rodenticide problems. While I'm sure Buzzards are impacting Kestrel populations, I think theres a certain amount of correlation/causation confusion/bias about it in terms of ranking its importance.

Compared to a talk at the IRSG conference last week where a sizeable Goshawk population in an area of Scotland was predating Owls, Sparrowhawks and Falcons, causing direct declines as well as indirectly affecting the nesting and hunting behaviour of those species. Kestrels were actually the 6th most common prey species in the Goshawk diet there!

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 06-02-2015 9:12am

Oh I'm most certain its competition as opposed to predation. In all my years in close study of buzzards I never saw them take a kestrel

Capercaille · 06-02-2015 3:32pm

Kayla Moldy Supernova wrote: »

Oh I'm most certain its competition as opposed to predation. In all my years in close study of buzzards I never saw them take a kestrel

How are kestrels doing in areas where Buzzards are still uncommon? Kerry, West Cork etc. If they are declining there then I would not think the buzzards are the major problem. As with most declines in species the problems are often multi-factorial.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 06-02-2015 3:43pm

Capercaille wrote: »

How are kestrels doing in areas where Buzzards are still uncommon? Kerry, West Cork etc. If they are declining there then I wouls not think the buzzards are the major problem. As with most declines in species the problems are often multi-factorial.

Agreed. I can only observe around my area. Kestrel numbers seem fine in non Buzzard areas but not so in Buzzard areas. I think competition for scarce prey is the cause but the cause of scarce prey is a bigger issue.

Capercaille · 06-02-2015 4:40pm

OpenYourEyes wrote: »

The RSPB are seemingly researching Kestrel declines at the moment (http://www.rspb.org.uk/whatwedo/projects/details.aspx?id=313411), and I'm very eager to hear how they get on!

Increased use of rodenticides ("rat poison")

Buzzard predation of Kestrels has been recorded, but if Buzzards are having an impact I'm sure its due to competitive exclusion rather than predation - though I'd be much less surprised at the idea of Ravens predating Kestrel nests.

That being said, the list of issues the RSPB are looking at highlights the complexity of the issue. Given that Kestrels are essentially considered a farmland bird, and every other farmland bird is doing pretty poorly, I think thats where the most finger-pointing needs to be done - habitat loss, loss of prey and rodenticide problems. While I'm sure Buzzards are impacting Kestrel populations, I think theres a certain amount of correlation/causation confusion/bias about it in terms of ranking its importance.

Compared to a talk at the IRSG conference last week where a sizeable Goshawk population in an area of Scotland was predating Owls, Sparrowhawks and Falcons, causing direct declines as well as indirectly affecting the nesting and hunting behaviour of those species. Kestrels were actually the 6th most common prey species in the Goshawk diet there!

As regards rodenticide poisoning I wonder do Irish Kestrel suffer to a greater extent than UK/European birds. The UK have a much greater amount of prey species more vole/shrew species. These vole/shrew species would not be affected by rodenticide poison that much(I think), therefore kestrels eating these species would be exposed to less secondary poisoning. Irish kestrels on the other hand would have a greater percentage of species like rats/house mice in their diet and as such would be exposed to more rodenticide.
A research project in there I would think???

OpenYourEyes · 06-02-2015 5:02pm

Capercaille wrote: »

As regards rodenticide poisoning I wonder do Irish Kestrel suffer to a greater extent than UK/European birds. The UK have a much greater amount of prey species more vole/shrew species. These vole/shrew species would not be affected by rodenticide poison that much(I think), therefore kestrels eating these species would be exposed to less secondary poisoning. Irish kestrels on the other hand would have a greater percentage of species like rats/house mice in their diet and as such would be exposed to more rodenticide.
A research project in there I would think???

The research has been done (or maybe is still ongoing) - I just don't think it has been published (yet?)! I think they looked at Barn Owls and Kestrels, and I *think* it was Barn owls that had higher levels of rodenticide than in the UK, and Kestrels had similar levels. I'll see if I can dig out some hastily scribbled notes from a raptor conference a few years back........

Zoo4m8 · 07-02-2015 8:32am

When I stepped out of the house at 6.35 this morning there was a Woodpigeon, two robins and a Song Thrush all singing happily...in complete darkness.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 07-02-2015 4:19pm

First bat of the year flying around the garden for the past 20 minutes. The surrounding fields were spread with slurry this morning and the feeding is good. Early in the year and in the day but he's certainly reaping his reward.

Half-cocked · 07-02-2015 4:32pm

^^^^

Time to dust off the bat detector again!

Half-cocked · 07-02-2015 4:33pm

I've got two Goldcrests coming to the fat ball feeders, not actually feeding on them but picking up crumbs below. Never had Goldcrests at feeders before, I usually see them up in the trees at the bottom of the garden.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 07-02-2015 4:34pm

The dangers of daytime flight. A sparrowhawk has just made several swoops at the bat. Failed each time but a hasty retreat by the bat off into the distance.

OpenYourEyes · 09-02-2015 4:30pm

Aldi are getting birdfood in again on Thursday: https://www.aldi.ie/en/specialbuys/thurs-12-feb/

I tend to stock up on the fatballs and big bags of seed, both have proven popular over the last two winters!

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 09-02-2015 10:14pm

I had the regularly early spring comment from a neighbour this morning, that the cuckoo was back again.

Every year somebody does it.

It was of course a wood pigeon.

gzoladz · 10-02-2015 8:53am

OpenYourEyes wrote: »

Aldi are getting birdfood in again on Thursday: https://www.aldi.ie/en/specialbuys/thurs-12-feb/

I tend to stock up on the fatballs and big bags of seed, both have proven popular over the last two winters!

For those woth childen, they also have nest boxes and feeders to assemble and color. They make a nice activity, I may get one of those.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 10-02-2015 4:18pm

Another sign of spring. A male chaffinch has spent the morning chasing off the rival in the shed window. Wait till one starts on the wing mirrors of the car.

Woodville56 · 10-02-2015 5:20pm

More signs of Spring in the midlands this morning while doing IWeBS count - a flock of displaying male Goldeneye and noisy Little Grebe calling from every reedbed! A chilly 2c though, so not feeling Spring like at all !

Cork boy 55 · 10-02-2015 9:05pm

Werner Herzog on the jungle and nature
"It is the harmony of overwhelming and collective murder."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTVlifTAdlM

splish · 15-02-2015 4:57pm

I saw my first frogspawn of the year and some Coltsfoot in flower today. Starting to look and feel a bit more like spring.

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