College project

 I have finally got a bit of time to work on one of my final projects for the year where I am able to write my own brief. I decided to illustrate identification plates for the 4 small harriers to be found in Ireland, Hen, Northern, Pallid and Montague's. I am aiming to produce a large piece on each species covering all plumages and another showing just the juveniles. If I have enough time I am also hoping to finish plates for pipits I started during the summer and have not had time to work on during terms.

These are some of my initial roughs for the juveniles, hen on top, northern below. I don't think they work to clearly and need a little tweaking, extending the 'hands' to show the primary pattern more clearly. The upperwing also needs to be shown in a  simpler pose.

Ring-billed returns

Last winters ring-billed gull re-appeared on the canal last week but has been very un-predictable in its appearances. I have seen it a few times going to and from college but never when I have had time to stop. Spent the morning there throwing out bread and it continued to ellude the camera or sketch book.
I have been checking an area of wasteground on my way to college all winter which attracts a good number of large gulls most days. There has been atleast 3 great black backs most of the winter but in the last week, numbers have built up. This 3rd winter herring gull caught my eye as a caspian candidate on jizz, but plumage didn't back it up. I would like to get a good oppurtunity to study caspians and their structure.

 The long, parrellel edged bill, streaked nape, long wings and legs and quite an upright stance, especially as it walked helped it stand out. Have a lot to learn about gulls.

 A few studies of herring gulls from during the week. It is a handy place to sit and sketch birds, though the surrounding fence makes it a bit frustrating as any little movement by the gulls means I have have to adjust position.

 This sub adult argentatus was on the wasteground on 25, it was a real monster of a bird, larger, heavier and darker backed than the surrounding birds with huge white primary tips.

 While sketching the gulls during the week a flock of more than 70 waxwings landed in beside me, unfortunately they didn't hang around for long. I had 20 the previous day near college but they were the first in over almost a month. This flock contained a lot of adults compared with the mostly juv flocks before christmas. Wonder if the current wave is a fresh arrival following the cold weather further east.

This cattle egret was sketched earlier in the month in Donegal near Inch lake, finally got around to scanning it.

Something to look forward to.

 I spent most of Christmas working and saving and booked flights today for Shanghai in early May, the number one target is spoon billed sandpiper. By May they should be coming into summer plumage, if there are any...

 I drew a few sketches of birds from videos on youtube, trying out some water colour pencils. A few birds are seen annually in spring on the mudflats of Rudong near Shanghai, and fingers crossed, a few will linger into May this year.

 Field sketching has been limited over recent weeks because of work and college projects, these are a few sketches from Dublin zoo over christmas. The red pandas seem to love the cold weather, and frosty mornings seem to see them most active. 

New Year dipping!

To make up for not getting out much over the christmas break, I headed up north with friends today to try for the bittern that had been present for the last week or so at Inch Island.
With several other birders around and news that it hadn't been seen at all yesterday despite dawn to dusk searching, we set off for the nearby cattle egret. Almost as soon as we arrived, the farmer showed up and led us to his cow shed where the bird was feeding. Over the next hour or so it flew back and forth from the cow sheds to the pig field. Only got a few photos and sketches of the bird due to its flighty nature and strong wind, the best is above.
We moved to Blanket Nook and had a few Slavonian grebes off the sea wall, but little on the lake. The weather turned and heavy rain fell for most of the afternoon. We moved to Inch again and 22 pink footed geese showed in the distance through the driving rain in the fields around the pump. Found the Smew at Inch after a long search, but it quickly disappeared again. Trying a few different vantage points we picked up 2 wintering male ruff, and eventually the smew showed again but distantly. The rain intensified and we didn't bother trying for the bittern again. A good day out despite missing my main target.

Pink footed and greylag geese at Inch

Christmas break?

 Have had little time in the field since I finished college for christmas. After a failed search for some waxwings, I sat down to check the gulls. No sign of anything strange so I spent some time sketching the black-heads as they were fed by the locals. Have had med and glaucous gulls here in the past and an adult ring-billed gull last march so I always check when I am passing.
In a small patch of scrub I found a chiffchaff, it looked and sounded good for a siberian, but just wouldn't give itself up. It was still there the following afternoon, but not seen on subsequent checks. Fingers crossed it will turn up again.

 Black-headed gulls, Goldenbridge luas stop, Drimnagh.

 Upland Sandpiper study.

Dropped into the Natural History museum for a look around after finishing the christmas shopping. Despite having a few projects due by the end of January, I am already looking forward to the next one where I get to make up the brief. Have a few ideas, waders in flight or harrier id plates being the two favoured options at the moment.

Some more recent work

 It has been a while since I have posted on the blog. At the first chance I got in a while I went down to Tacumshin in Wexford to try and catch up with the northern harrier and hopefully a few other birds also  around. In the end I stayed between Lingstown and the forgotten corner all day, over 20 reedlings fed along the road although mostly low down and would have been very difficult to pick up if not for their constant calls. I also had five flying south high over head while walking across the patches, they stalled and circled for a minute before dropping towards the forgotten corner. It was bizarre to see them so far from reeds!

 The flock was made up mostly of males, but it was one lone female that gave the best views as she sat for a few minutes just visible above the densest reeds.

 An adult female hen harrier sitting on the shore of the main lake made a nice subject.

 

The northern harrier finally appeared late on in the afternoon but quatered the reeds for almost an hour. I worked these sketches up from a lot of quick roughs done while watching it.

 

 I have tried to scrutinise every stonechat I come across, from a distance this female looked ok for siberian with a seemingly pale throat. It took a while before I got close enough to it to make out some dark feather bases to the throat and a spotted rump.

 A flock of over 100 waxwings were feeding on berries along the walls of James' hospital last week very close to my front door. I had a good bit of work to get through for college but it was too good to ignore and I spent most of the afternoon enjoying the close views.

 Collared dove, I sketched this in my parents house as it sheltered under a rowan tree from a heavy shower.

As part of college we had to produce a range of christmas products for a christmas fair. I made a series of cards and present tags using prints of original illustrations. Was delighted that they sold well and I may have to make a few more for another sale next monday.

1 of the many waxwings distracting me from college work last week!

Finished project

I finally got to finish this project last night after a few weeks having to work on others. The pallas' warbler was one of my favourites to work on, one of my favourite species, I got to work on several roughs before I settled on the final layout. It has been a long time since I sketched pallas', hopefully it won't be the last this autumn.

 Snow buntings, some recent sketches from Tory Island and last winters flock at greystones were used for this.

 Waxwings, I havn't seen a waxwing in two years, but this autumn has seen big numbers arrive into Britain, hopefully it won't be long before they make their way further west.

 Puffins, it was great to be able to use the many sketches and photographs from Tory Island last spring. The birds are full of character, and even when they are just sitting around, they look like they are about to do something stupid!

 Bearded tits, the small population that has established itself in the south east has spread quite a bit in the last few months. Always a welcome sight, I hope to get out and see them again soon now that the first round of projects for college is almost over.