Was up on Aranmore off the west coast of Donegal today for a bit of scouting. Wasn't particularly optimistic about the prospects before we set off, and rain all the way didn't do much to raise the hopes.
I have planned to head north for 5 days starting saturday and was torn between Tory and Aranmore so todays trip was a well timed excuse. After a short look for the snowy owl, we set off in search of migs and it couldn't have got off to a better start. I had barely stepped out of the car, raised my bins and there was a yellow browed warbler! Over the next hour or 2, I had it or another 2 as I worked my way down a valley to the shoreline. Peter and Ger had another in and around the harbour.
A distant flock of starlings circling over the fields caught my eye and I thought it would be great to find a rosy, so raised my bins and immediately found a milky tea shaped dot amongst the 2-300 black dots! After a few mins running around I found it sitting on some wires before it flew in and landed beside me with the main flock. Peter and Ger got lost on the way upto me and while searching for them, the whole flock somehow disappeared! We went back to the harbour and searched for some interesting redpolls Ger had found but failed to relocate most of the flock before trying again for the starlings. As we approached the area I had it in, a few starlings rose up onto the wires, soon enough, the whole flock were there and the rosy in the middle. A second new bird for Ger and only a second rosy for Peter.
We got back to searching the seemingly endless gardens, some fantastic habitat and no doubt we missed plenty. Only one question, Tory or Aranmore for next week....
I have planned to head north for 5 days starting saturday and was torn between Tory and Aranmore so todays trip was a well timed excuse. After a short look for the snowy owl, we set off in search of migs and it couldn't have got off to a better start. I had barely stepped out of the car, raised my bins and there was a yellow browed warbler! Over the next hour or 2, I had it or another 2 as I worked my way down a valley to the shoreline. Peter and Ger had another in and around the harbour.
A distant flock of starlings circling over the fields caught my eye and I thought it would be great to find a rosy, so raised my bins and immediately found a milky tea shaped dot amongst the 2-300 black dots! After a few mins running around I found it sitting on some wires before it flew in and landed beside me with the main flock. Peter and Ger got lost on the way upto me and while searching for them, the whole flock somehow disappeared! We went back to the harbour and searched for some interesting redpolls Ger had found but failed to relocate most of the flock before trying again for the starlings. As we approached the area I had it in, a few starlings rose up onto the wires, soon enough, the whole flock were there and the rosy in the middle. A second new bird for Ger and only a second rosy for Peter.
We got back to searching the seemingly endless gardens, some fantastic habitat and no doubt we missed plenty. Only one question, Tory or Aranmore for next week....
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