more bull

After yesterday's patch-ticking excitement, I bumped into 2 more bullfinchs in Dirk Bay this afternoon!  A goldcrest at Shite Lane was new for the year (66).

Galley tick ya bas!

A Galley tick this morning in the form of a bullfinch hopping about in a tree in the garden - first patch tick of the year (alhough I did think I had one 3 years ago but was lifting a heavy bath out of the house at the time and it wasn't a good time to let go!)  A great addition to the patch year list (65)!

nice day for it

The dry weather continued allowing me to do the second bird atlas visit to the patch tetrad - gleaning wood pigeon, chiffchaff, pheasant and grey wagtail for the year in the process (64).

a break in the weather

The first dry day for some time so I skived off this afternoon and was rewarded with mute swan, razorbill and merlin for the year around Galley (60), while also noting a flock of 50 chaffinches and the wintering whimbrel in Dirk Bay.

all wet'n'orrible

A miserable wet day today but managed to glean 4 red-throated divers off Galley Head and a kestrel on the way back. All this plus a chaffinch from last week moves the patch year list to 57.

and the winner is.....

Yes indeedy, winner of the 2007 patch list challenge and also winner of 2007 best patch find goes to Lord Hoffy of Lough Beg with a final score of 100 % and netting 67 % of the votes (all 9 of 'em) with his Squacco Heron, the second record for Northern Ireland.  Top prizes are already in the post (ish)!

 

The scores so far for 2008 can be viewed over on the right.

more year ticks

Teal, turnstone, ringed plover and skylark were all new for the year today (54), despite some pretty awful weather.

50 up

A few more year ticks gleaned today, with greenshank, reed bunting and dunnock all falling (50).

winter thrushes

Both redwing and fieldfare on the patch today, plus a handful of other regular year ticks (47).  Up to 7 cattle egrets in fields south of Clonakilty this lunchtime, not enjoying the wind and rain!

Happy New Year (list)

Nothing too unusual around the patch today, with the wintering whimbrel in Dirk Bay the only 'noteworthy' year tick (42).  Five cattle egrets were still present in cattle fields south of Clonakilty this afternoon.