29 May 24 - Spring Birding On The Mullet

This was day two of the Yellow-crowned Night Heron twitch. After successfully seeing the Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Pete Aley & I ended up at The Mullet by the end of the first day. I dropped Pete at his hotel & headed to Cross Lough to kip in the car. I was up early the following morning to have a look around the Lough in the hope of seeing the Black Duck. Unfortunately, I couldn't find it. But there was a distant over-summering Whooper Swan, several Wheatears & some Northern Marsh Orchids.

Meadow Pipit

Northern Marsh Orchid: There were a few near the edge of the Lough, but I didn't stop to photograph any this time (8 Jun 22)

Looking at the Southern end of Cross Lough from the road

There are a few interesting small roads around Cross Lough

There are also some interesting fields

One of many patches of Yellow Flag Iris

After picking Pete up from his hotel, we went & had another look for the Elegant Tern in the Tern colony on Inis Doire Island, which was close to Pete's hotel. We gave up looking after a half hour without any success. Next we headed off to Annagh Marsh on The Mullet. This turned out to be a very large field about a quarter of a mile long with a predator proof electric fence around it. We had been told by some of the Irish Birders on the previous afternoon, it was worth a look, when we said we were thinking of visiting The Mullet. It was an impressive site, with damp meadows and plenty of Sedge-fringed pools. It was clearly a good place for breeding Waders with Lapwing, Snipe and Redshank all present and breeding there. It was a good example of what can be achieved if breeding Waders can be protected from Mammalian predators.

Annagh Marsh: The field is surrounded by this predator proof fence with electric strands

Annagh Marsh: Looking over the predator proof fence

Lapwing: We saw a few youngsters, but they were too far away for photos

Snipe: This Snipe perched on the post next to the road and gave lovely views

There are Corncrakes on The Mullet: But we didn't see or hear any. But it's another similarity with the Outer Hebrides

We did also see some nice Irish Hares on The Mullet, but I will cover them in the next Blog Post.

8 Jun 22 - Birding On The Irish Mullet

After seeing the Least Tern, I had decided to return for a second attempt to get good views of the American Black Duck at Cross Lough on The Mullet on the North West Irish coast. The weather was predicted to get wet & windy as a front moved through on my first evening in Ireland and it was probably better as an option, than to look for Cryptic Wood White. Having had no success in the last hour of light on the first evening, I was hoping the wind & rain would have easied by dawn. The disadvantage of sleeping in the car was I heard the wind & rain was still hitting the car at dawn. The advantage was I could turn off the alarm & get some more sleep.

Cross Lough (12 Mar 22)

Cross Lough: The Lough is surrounded by these Machair fields

The rain had finally stopped by mid-morning, but there was still a strong wind blowing. I started looking for the American Black Duck along the shoreline, while brewing the first cuppa tea with the car kettle. It looked like most of the Ducks present on the previous evening had disappeared to feed locally or were skulking out of site in the reed edges. Eventually, I found a road that overlooked the Southern shore of the Lough, but I still no joy. Perhaps that was where it had been seen from the previous afternoon. I was glad I had seen it back on the Egyptian Vulture trip, even if it was only a flight view into this Southern section. I have only seen two previously in the UK: at Aber & on Tresco with both sightings in 1981.

A very breezy Atlantic, looking North from the beach

The Atlantic, looking South from the beach

The New York coastline is clearly a long way away

Cross Lough is a lovely place to go Birding as it resembles the Uist islands. I saw several breeding Wheatears.

Wheatear: Male

Wheatear: There were a pair of Wheatears around this small stone wall. I saw the male go inside the wall, so I suspect they were feeding young still in a nest in the wall

Wheatear: The Male showing how well camouflaged they are in the local stony walls

Wheatear: The equally well camouflaged female

This juvenile Wheatear has already fledged closer to the Lough.

Wheatear: Juvenile. I was pleased to see this recently fledged & independent juvenile Wheatear. Really hoping one year to see a juvenile Wheatear this young in the Isle of Purbeck to confirm local breeding

Linnets

Lesser Black-backed Gull: My favourite regular UK Gull species

There were a reasonable number of Northern Marsh Orchids around the Lough.

Northern Marsh Orchid

Another Northern Marsh Orchid

It was now mid-afternoon and I had to start driving back to Rosslare. There was time for some brief roadside stops for some more Irish roadside art. Having always been a fan of traditional Irish Folk music, I couldn't resist stopping to take this photo.

Traditional Irish Folk band in a small housing development in Swinford

The impressive four Tullamore statues were along another of the main roads.

One of the four Roadside Tullamore Saints

Another of the four Roadside Tullamore Saints

A third of the four Roadside Tullamore Saints

I managed to get to the Wexford Waterfowl Centre just outside Rosslare to find the reserve shut & heavily secured to ensure you couldn't enjoy it out of hours: which was very disappointing. I did manage to see a little bit of the reserve by looking from the seawall & saw my second Irish Hare of the trip. It was getting dark & time to find somewhere to park the Focus Hotel for the night.

An Irish Hare record photo