Inishbofin Arctic Warbler

Anthony McGeehan found this beauty on Sunday. We initially had in the garden beside Anthony's accommodation but it was extremely elusive and would disappear as soon as it appeared. Thankfully Anthony relocated it up above the Dolphin Hotel. After a bit of a wait it eventually gave outstanding views. It would occasionally come down to feed on the ground adjacent to a small pond hand dug by Anthony. It seem to be feeding on very small white insect pupae here and on large flies in the Alders. It was also seen opening its bill widely (dry retching?) on many occasions which might suggest that all may not be well with it.
This is of course the first record for county Galway. The nearest previous record comes from Loop Head, Co. Clare back in September 1986. There are also two records from Donegal while the remainder of the six accepted records all originate from county Cork (one record currently pending). To date the only other warblers of note for Galway are Blyth's Reed Warbler on Inishbofin, Dusky Warbler on Inishmore and 14 or 15 Barred Warblers between Inishbofin, Slyne Head and Inishmore. Surely a Greenish, Radde's, Subalpine,  Booted or even Icterine or Melodious Warbler should be next up?
We also had at least one if not two Common Rosefinches as we were leaving for the ferry along with an unstreaked Acro which we couldn't nail down.



 

 

 

Inishbofin Canada Goose

I was out with our Corncrake Fieldworker Sam Birch to carry out the first Corncrake census of the year last night. We had eight calling birds. Weather conditions were good but some of the birds were only calling sporadically so it's possible we might have missed a few. Twelve were recorded here last season which makes it the best spot in Galway for the species. They are only regularly recorded elsewhere in the county on Turbot Island and Omey Island. Local islanders have been reporting birds in areas in which we had none last night. Male Corncrakes have a bit of a tendency of moving around the island and even to other islands as the season progresses possibly in search of better habitat or a female. The vegetation has gotten off to a very slow start which doesn't help things. It has been unseasonably cold even for Ireland at this time of year with temperatures struggling to reach double figures for the last while. Things would what to very quickly as June is just around the corner.

While out there I came across a single Canada Goose on one of the small loughs. It's clear it wasn't a wild bird as it allowed quite a close approach. Two or three Canada Geese were released out on the adjacent island of Inisturk, Co. Mayo a year or two back I'd suspect it may well be one of these. At least two were seen at Roonah Lough during the winter by Pat Lonergan and were again mostly likely the same birds. Quite a few white farmyard geese dotted around the Inishbofin also.

 

Inishbofin 11th Nov 2014

A selection of birds out on Inishbofin from last week. Nothing too unusual out there on the day - 2 Greenfinch, female Eider, 3 Chiffchaffs and oddly a full summer plumaged Sanderling.



Grey Heron



Sanderling and Ringed Plover



Summer plumaged Sanderling on 11th November?!



Lesser Black-backed, Great Black-backed and Herring Gulls.

Female and male Blackbird



Song Thrush

Dunnock

Chiffchaff behind bars!

Male Stonechat



European Starling

 

Inishbofin Black Guillemots

Another highlight from last Friday on Inishbofin were the great views of Black Guillemots. Black Guillemots gather just offshore from their nests first thing in the morning. Morning counts are the standard means of surveying the species as they generally are out of view when at the nests as these are usually under boulders at the bases of cliffs. Pairs often squabble amongst themselves and can be quite vocal giving a high pitched wheeze. I had two separate flocks up at Dún More of 20 and 23 birds and a further 15 off the back end of Knock. I'm sure there are plenty other pairs around  the island.

 

Inishbofin 18th April 2014

I got the evening ferry out to Inishbofin on Thursday evening to get a full day out there the following day. The first ferry doesn't arrive out until 12 o'clock and leaves again at 5 so trying to get anything done out there is always done in a rush. I managed to get to most of the spots I had hoped to, it was around an 18km round walk, two sore feet by the end of the day! The sea cliffs are the real attraction for me at this time of year on Inishbofin. Two of the three Raven nests were successful with two and three large chicks respectively. This is a little on the low side as the average clutch size of chicks this year was around four chicks. The female Peregrine was also around but doesn't appear to have laid eggs yet which she really should have by now. The Peregrines here never seem to be very successful for some reason. It certainly can't be the lack of food so it's hard to know why? I also had probably three nesting pairs of Chough around the island, even managed to see part of one of the pairs nest wedged into a crack in a cliff.
There was a Black-throated Diver giving good views with around 20 Great northern Divers off the sandy beach at Westquarter. I  think this is the first proper island record for this species. Anthony McGeehan has seen one from the ferry in the past though. Also in the same area were two female Merlin which were seen interacting with each other. One actually called as it flew over me. These are presumably migrants, possibly Iceland bound? Males which are always first on the breeding grounds (that is if they ever leave) should be on territory for a month at this stage. Quiet on the migrant front 3 Chiffchaffs, 1 Blackcap and a few Wheatears including one female Greenland type.

Fulmar

Fulmar

House Sparrow

House Sparrow

Rock Pipit collecting nest material. Note the pink flush to the throat and the sparse underpart streaking which are features of littoralis Scandinavian Rock Pipit. However it did lack a noticeable whitish supercillium.

Rock Pipit. This shot was taken in the rain so the exposure is a bit off but again note the pink coloration to the breast, bluish tones to the head, sparse underpart streaking and white supercillium. This would probably be called littoralis by some. This bird seemed to be paired up with another much more typical looking petrosus Rock Pipit, so is this natural variation amongst the local population or what??

Skylark

Shag nesting on sea stack.

Sanderling moulting some of the wing feather tracts into summer plumage.

Typical looking local female Wheatear

Female Wheatear, most likely the leucorhoa Greenland race, note the colour tone difference between the two.

Three male Wheatears, probably migrant birds. All three fairly typical looking so probably not heading too far North.

Puffin and Razorbill skulls. The Puffin skull was a little mangled, I think the lower mandible has been twisted upside down. That's the upper mandible of the Puffin on the left which was detached.

Dead adult male Otter. Not sure what happened to this poor fella. Found in an isolated spot so certainly not a road casualty. It didn't appear to be a young animal as it was missing some front incisors and the canines were worn.

Front pad of the Otter.

 

Duach beach, some erosion here same as all sandy beaches on the West coast after the winter storms.

There used to be a lovely stone pier leading out the derelict fish curing station here, not anymore after the storms!

Prísún/The prison, an impressive blow-hole land bridge. The bigger rocks washed up by the sea probably weigh a few tonnes each.

Davillaun

Inishturk