5,000 up at last!

A brief morning seawatch revealed 9 puffins west for the year (87), while c50 manx shearwaters were also knocking about. A summer plumage black guillemot was in Dirk Bay, and a willow warbler was pretending to be a new migrant there.

 

Big news of the day was that the 5,000th visitor to the blog happened at 9.44.56 pm tonight , from Redditch in Worcestershire, apparently - it's only taken almost a year to reach that total (and thats page views not hits, apparently, or something). Congratulations - come back again soon!

legs

Feck all doing at Galley today but the lesser yellowlegs was still at Rosscarbery this afternoon, coming into summer plumage - nice!

clearout

Much quieter at Galley this morning, with just 2 blackcaps, 4 wheatears, 1 whitethroat, 2 willow warblers and 3 chiffchaffs seen. A new grasshopper warbler was reeling at Long Strand this afternoon.

migs at last

Missed all the weekend action, but there were still a fair few migrants knocking about Galley this morning. Four blackcaps, 3 whitethroats and a sedge warbler were all new for the year (86), while other migrants included 35 willow warblers, 12 chiffchaffs, 25 wheatears, 9 whimbrel, a reeling grasshopper warbler and a collared dove.

 

Headed to Cape mid-morning to try for the great spotted woodpecker (1st for Cork, in living memory anyway), but no luck. Did connect with 2 hoopoes and a cracking male redstart though, plus plenty of willow warblers, chiffchaffs, blackcaps and a grasshopper warbler.

take it away, gropper!

Scouting for hoopoes this morning, I flushed a migrant grasshopper warbler skulking around a wall - memories of shetland came flooding back!  A good bird for Galley though, and one I missed last year. Also had 2 wheatears, 1 chiffchaff, 4 shelduck over and a house martin, which was also new for the year (83).

sarnie

A sandwich tern over the lake this morning was new for the patch year list (81).

a trickle

A singing willow warbler near shite lane this morning was new for the year (79), and 5 great northern divers were off Long Strand.  This evening Kilkeran Lake was awash with hirundines, well ok there was about 20 sand martins and 3 swallows (80).

ooo migrants

A sand martin over the lake this evening was new for the year (78).

spring seawatch

Sat in the sun at Galley for 20 minutes this morning and had 1 manx shearwater and 2 common scoters heading east (77). There were still at least 11 red-throated divers in Dirk Bay too.

a couple more

Still no migs to speak of, but  2 shelduck on Kilkeran Lake this morning and a black guillemot in Dirk Bay this afternoon were both new for the patch year list (75).  Also in Dirk were 12 red-throated divers and 2 iceland gulls (ad & 1st-w), with another or the same 1st-w on the lake this evening.

very tystie

Spurred on by all yesterday's migrants, I tried again this morning and had the same wheatear on the top lane, singing. The iceland gull and 5 sand martins were at Kilkeran Lake this afternoon, while another iceland gull and the lesser yellowlegs were still at Rosscarbery.  News late this afternoon of 2 tysties by the slipway in Dirk Bay, which can be tricky for the patch. Hope they hang around...

ear we go!

A fine male wheatear this morning on the top lane was officially my first spring migrant on the patch this year (about feckin' time!) - 73.  Not much else doing though.