Some pictures I took recently

trebor28

yeah looks like a Little Egret WUL

whyulittle

Would have walked back up had I realised what it was. Irish Birding only has a single record each for 2010 and 2009 at other nearby wetlands.

snipey

thought ye'd like these

littlebug

plotting and planning but going nowhere just yet.

raveni

Common blue male butterfly


Grasshopper




Dragonfly

V Bull

A Raven..I hope..there were 5 of them flying around Sally Gap in Wicklow this afternoon..Big fella's..

ppink

One cool dude:


IMG_7890 by ppink2011, on Flickr

It was a tufted duck!! I never realised they dive for so long, I could see him swimming underwater.


IMG_7868 by ppink2011, on Flickr

Caught dribbling


IMG_7861 by ppink2011, on Flickr

whyulittle

Got so lucky yesterday!

On my way out I came across this bunch of Partridge on the side of the road.



Watched them for a few minutes and get back into the car to leave, when two Hen Harriers appeared out of nowhere!





Chaos ensued as Partridge went every direction, some into cover and some out of cover. One of the Harriers did come up with something in its grasp as far as I could see.

E39MSport

one for MM - this giant would cover most of the palm of your hand. Looked injured.










This cheeky chap below gave no heed whatsoever to people except apparently to follow people that were rising flies as they passed. Remarkable and very surprising. I saw several individuals in varying locations behaving similarly. Either that or they are fiercely territorial This bird came and rested within inches of me.




I'm unashamedly off to find out what most of them are. Think we have some cormorants, flycatching tit lookalike, lilly perhaps ...

Rainbowsend

Nice set, the little bird is a Fantail and they follow people/animals very closely to catch any flies that are disturbed, they come really close and vary in colour, lovely little birds, the other is a Cormorant and the flower a Calla Lily, dont know what the moth is though.

littlebug

littlebug

the woods were full of mushrooms today.

whyulittle

Reed Bunting holding on in the wind.




Kestrel after coming up with some prey.




Ah the Buzzards. If the Harriers were even 1/4 as obliging, I'd be happy!




And this is what they get for it!

E39MSport

kingfisher (spend a lot of time on power lines with no water about !)




















skylark - difficult to see




Trying to get a decent shot of a Harrier and Peregrine.

ppink

E39MSport those are some fab pics. Are you on holiday out there. I am very jealous:pac:
Whats that bird with the lovely blue colour, with the chick?
It is great to see that parott?? not in a cage too

Rainbowsend

ppink wrote: »

Whats that bird with the lovely blue colour, with the chick?

Thats a Pukeko very similar to our Moorhen but a little bigger

E39MSport

Yes, on holiday for a few weeks.

Those pics were taken at Tawharanui national park near Matakana.
http://www.arc.govt.nz/parks/our-parks/parks-in-the-region/tawharanui/

If you're ever on the North Island definitely get there. It's a hidden gem and free of people at this time of year.

A reasonably large peninsula enclosed by a predator fence allows wildlife to flourish with little fear like I have never seen.

NZ do things like this very well indeed imo. We have so much potential in Ireland.

Its amazing to see so many plants and and fauna that we have in common. Gorse is starting to blossom here ...

More to follow

V Bull

Some photos from the Bull Island..









From Clogherhead..



What's this little guy anyone?..

Clearpreso

Hi Guys,

Here are some of my recent snaps.
-

Crow I guess


Allll of the crows


Blue tit


Heron of some description




Saw this chap bombing past me on the Greystones/Bray cliff walk, he wouldn't slow down or come closer, thus the reason for the poor image :-(

stevensi

V Bull wrote: »

Some photos from the Bull Island..










What's this little guy anyone?..



That's a stonechat!

swifts need our help!

Clearpreso your crow is a Rook and the flock is Rooks and Jackdaws - both members of the Corvid/crow family

Clearpreso

swifts need our help! wrote: »

Clearpreso your crow is a Rook and the flock is Rooks and Jackdaws - both members of the Corvid/crow family

Thanks!

magicbastarder

can anyone identify these?
the second shot i think is a gall; not shown in the pic is what looks like the stump of a stalk, and there were plenty of oak around.
the third is what is holding the twig on; we saw it several times, it looked like a stiff, sticky black substance which 'glued' them together; imagine a black caulk material...

Blonks

Took this pic last week on holidays in Spain, its a Hoopee - a rare migrant to Ireland

horse10

goldfinches

whyulittle

Marsh Harrier in amongst a small flock of Lapwing




One of four Hen Harriers about today

V Bull

I was in wul's back yard today , lots of goldfinches, linnets, lapwings and large mixed flocks of swallows and martins about..

A lone Whooper Swan..is it a bit early for these guys, I've only ever seen them in winter..


Is this a male Hen Harrier..




Not quite sure..bars going across chest!!




The Partridge Family, Grey that is..

mgwhelan

Male HH alright and i say the other one is a sparrow hawk.

whyulittle

Yes, Sparrowhawk. Not a Cuckoo. *cough*

Whopper has been out in the Wetlands for a good while.

trebor28

V Bull, presume you mean Lough Boora?