ross's for cork

After six hours standing around scanning Kinsale Harbour over 2 days last week, news that the ross's gull was back yesterday was a tad galling, if not entirely unexpected. As it turned out, I wasn't free yesterday but decided to give it a lash again today, although I only had a couple of hours.

There was no sign at Kinsale Marsh or on the estuary  - not a great start, but then this bird has totally failed to show any kind of a pattern so far, apart from being elusive! So it was back to my favoured spot near the Trident Hotel, where I'd spent nearly all my time last week (apart from a wee detour here - it was Kev's idea!)

Today, there was a small flock of mostly large gulls loafing on the far bank, with a small white thing beside them. I returned to the car for the scope to grill the small white thing, just in case. It was a plastic bag. Arse! But then, I just scoped a wee bit further along the bank anyway and Bingo - a small pink thing! Ker-ching! Score! Boom! etc. Momentary panic - do I reach for the camera? or phone? or just grill it in case it evaporates? I kept an eye on it while I put the news out on @corkbirdnews (everyone's favourite free news service for rare birds in Cork!), and then rattled off a few shite shots. And then it flew! Amayzing little thing in flight - really pink underneath and the tail was pink too! Fabulous!

What a cracker!

It zipped around in front of the hotel for a bit so I moved closer, before it flew right past me and landed on the water just in front of the very spot I'd been stood at last week - I ran back for some more hasty snaps...

Ka-blam!

It then flew back to the pier and hotel and at this stage some other birders were arriving and got on it. It continued to perform for a while before flying out to land on the water mid-channel and drifting off into the distance, round a small headland and away! After the runaround last week, I was delighted to have connected so well with the arctic tease!

Sadly, we noticed a bit of oil on the bird's belly, but it looks fairly light and hopefully won't affect it too much. Hope it stays around for a while and becomes a wee bit more regular in its behaviour!

patch gold and more gull action

The storm had abated a bit this morning and although there were still some vicious showers around, I decided to play a hunch in the hope of a good patch year tick. Last April I finally managed to get purple sandpiper properly on patch, during a fairly stormy few days - see here. My theory was that in rough weather, the rocks at Owenahincha where purps normally spend the winter are too exposed and waterlogged. Birds are therefore forced to try elsewhere, meaning the rocks at Long Strand. I picked my way through the foam and rocks this morning and sure enough, there were two purple sandpipers.

multiply this by two

Ker-ching! Theory proved! Or maybe just luck, but either way, great to get them on-patch again for 2014.

Had a look at Rosscarbery at lunchtime and dug out 3 glaucous gulls loafing on the sand (1st winter, 2 winter & adult), plus what I'm pretty sure was the Long Strand kumlien's gull from the other day. Sadly it flew off inland while I was wrestling with the scope and tripod to grill it.

A trip to Cork City this pm was enlivened by a quick detour to Ballycotton for a pop at the long-staying first winter laughing gull. A blank at first, with just a first winter glaucous gull and what appeared to be a fairly pale first winter kumlien's gull - see below. The primaries on this bird appeared better marked on one side than the other, which seems strange, but, although quite pale on the primaries, I think it is a kumlien's...

Luckily for me, the main attraction showed up then and after wolfing several large slices of bread (fewer, small pieces may be a better option?) it sat about at close range - cracker!

white-wingers

Noticed a lot more large gulls hanging around at Long Strand this morning so went down for a closer look. Hadn't been there long before a huge adult glaucous gull came in and started throwing its weight about. Didn't get any close shots of it but then encountered what was almost certainly the same bird chewing on a long-dead seal (?) on Owenahincha beach this lunchtime.

Ravenous beast

mmmm Lunch

More exciting was a first winter kumlien's gull which was mixing it with the herring gulls at Long Strand this morning. Sadly, it too didn't come that close but got a couple of snaps on a fly-by.

kumlien's ahoy

Sadly, they'll all be blown away in tomorrow gales!

The BFG

One week into the new year, and I feel like I've hardly been out! The weather hasn't really been up to much, and what with the Great Island Bird Race last saturday (we came second - again!!), I've somehow been off-patch whenever the weather has been good.

Did manage to notice this fella through the salt-encrusted windows this morning tho (55).

BFG - big fat glauc

courtmac & timoleague

Took a wee spin to Courtmacsherry this morning to have a sconce at this

Surf Scoter, Courtmacsherry

Unfortunately it was a bit more distant than it had been yesterday, so the shots were correspondingly even poorer than they might have been! Only discovered on checking this evening that my last surf scoter was 10 years ago to the very day, at the same site! Spooky!

On the way home I stopped to check the gulls at Timoleague and found 2 adult yellow-legged gulls in amongst the lessers - here they are in situ...

2 adult YLG with LBBs

and in more detail

Jeepers, I feel like Gavin Haig

C'mon Gav, talk us thru this fella!

Still find these fellas tricky & don't feel confident about them at all. Reckon it must be down to my deprived Scottish upbringing! Kind of getting the hang of adults tho - just need to find one on patch now!

kumlien's

The wind continued this week, however the lake kept drawing things in in search of shelter. Highlight was a 1st w kumlien's gull on tues lunchtime which I'd seen coast pass the house a couple of days previously but didn't nail. Good that it reappeared anyway! First one I've seen on patch! The two house martins at the other end of the lake were new for the year, while a shag on the lake was also my first there, which was nice! Up to 15 arctic terns hawking over the lake despite the gale was also good to see.

Sedge warblers arrived on friday after the wind finally dropped, with at least 2 singing from the lakeside reeds.

Had a 2 hour hoof around Galley this am, but couldn't do better than a wheatear and a chiffchaff - pretty poor considering hordes of migrants seem to be hitting elsewhere! However, today was the first day of any real whimbrel movement, and I was pleased to pick out 3 bar-tailed godwits in one flock, including a nice summer plumaged one - tricky enuff for the year list, which now stands on a whopping 98, and I still need sand martin!

patch tickage baby yeah!

Well, the inevitable finally happened! A calm and dry morning first thing so I hurried back down to the scoter-scanning-spot to try my luck at bagging the lingering velvet scoter off Cloghna Head (approximately 1.5 miles off-patch). The scoter flock was still there, diving just off the rocks at the base of the head, seemingly unperturbed by the still fairly huge swell. It was quite easy to pick out the female common scoters, despite the salt spray, but seeing any kind of detail of the head pattern on the other birds as they bobbed up and down was pretty impossible.  However, my luck was in, as after only a few minutes, the velvet scoter flapped its wings briefly, and the white wing feathers shone out! Patch tick! Whoop! 30 minutes later, I clocked it again from the lay-by on Cloghna Head, on the way home from the school run - confirmation that the velvet hadn't morphed into a white-winged scoter overnight!

As the morning remained calm and dry, I had a quick scout around for migs, but couldn't do better than a solitary chiffchaff - the migrant floodgates are still to open hereabouts!

Final score of the day came in the form of a flyby 1st winter iceland gull from the dinner table this evening - April does seem to be the most regular month for these guys - another valuable year tick, bringing up the 90 with only a handful of migrants so far! Plenty still to get!

bonus glauc

Dodged out between deluges of rain to scope the lake for storm-flung vagrants and was quite surprised to see a soggy looking glaucous gull having a bath (75). On closer inspection, it may have been oiled on the breast I think, as it looks dirty on the awesome record shot!

Soggy glauc - bonus!

White-wingers are never guaranteed at Galley - I'd expect to get one or other in a year, but getting both is trickier. Will probably have to wait till later in the winter for an Iceland moving through - fingers crossed!

glauc

Another strike at Red Strand this morning, with a 1st w glaucous gull visible from Dirk (68), with a 1st w iceland gull and 2 med gulls there too. Had my first go at digiscoping too, despite the bad light and strong north-westerly (photographers always blame the weather!) Not great but the camera seems to work pretty well with the scope! More practice required. Behold, a heavily cropped med – could be a lot of this sort of thing over the next while!

ivory gull - baltimore

A welcome phone call late morning about a 1st w ivory gull flying around Baltimore harbour was followed by excellent views of it a short while later. What a cracking bird! I've only seen one other, in Fraserburgh in October 1997, so its been a while! Keep up the good work, Julian!

Photo: C Cronin

Back on the patch, the white gull theme continued with a 1st w iceland gull on the lake for a while early afternoon. Happy days!