Was out on the northside of Dublin early this morning so ended up continuing out to Rogerstown. It has been a few weeks since I have done any field sketching so was eager to get going again. There were plenty of birds around and the weather was great, unfortunately the birds weren't co-operating and everytime I took out the sketch book everything within sight dove for cover! Eventually I changed tactics and sat over looking a promising sun drenched hedgerow and enjoyed great views of a family of blackbirds basking in the sunshine. Plenty of finches, warblers and stock doves about, but disappointed to only get a brief view of one of 2 short eared owls there this morning. Checked swords estuary on the way home but very little about.

 

Spent quite a bit of time sketching the blackbirds, the orange tip butterflies were a nice distraction when the birds moved into cover. Great to see swallows back in big numbers again.