That just about tops a poor year

Having just finished a final round of the ol' patch, its pretty desperate from Boghall this year. With the addition of a woodcock, our total for the year is a paltry 78 species which is 90.69%. This year saw a lot of regulars missed, including mute swan, peregrine, cuckoo and even garden warbler. Oh dear.

Pigeons and waders and ducks... oh my!

Well... with the leg on the mend, and finally able to drive again (having forcefully re-commandeered my vehicle from Sybil, albeit after a small argument with a shopping trolley in Aldi car park... but the less said about that the better), I've been back down checking Squince regularly again.

And lo, not having to rely on "that wee rock" Seppy for a spin, I've managed to bang in three (count 'em) year ticks over the last week. Last Sunday saw me check the old graveyard for the first time in yonks in search of a black redstart. I didn't manage one of those... but as luck would have it some diligent folk tending the graves of their long-lost-loved-ones managed to flush a flock of 30 or so Golden Plover from an adjacent field. Happy days!

The following day (Monday, if I'm not mistaken), a fine Stock Dove flushed from a beet field below the farm at the south east corner of the lake by my very self added a second year-tick for the week. I could hardly believe my luck... but the best was yet to come.

If you can ever apply the term "best" to a winter duck, that is.

Yesterday afternoon, after finishing up a list of Sybil's #TheJobs, I sloped off down patch and clocked a female Scaup with the few Tufties in the south west corner of the lake. I got the scope on it... it was wee for a scaup, a bit smaller than the tufties around it, and was that a hint of a peaked hind-crown I was seeing? It felt very like the Lesser Scaup i had on the lake back in March 2022. The more I watched it, the more convinced I became... but the wee fecker never once flapped its wings or flew... in fact, it spent most of its time with its head tucked under its wing fast asleep. With the light fading, I chalked it down as a probable, with the anticipated level of doubt and derision from "supportive" third parties who shall remain nameless.

Dopey duck spent most of its time asleep

All of which japes meant I had to be back on patch bright and early this morning (well, after the obligatory coffee and a breakfast roll, obvs) to clinch it.

And, wonder of wonders, clinch it I did!

Get in there ya fecker!

All of which ducking and diving brings me to 135 species for the year... or 106.30% in real money. Will it be enough to "clinch" the coveted Mallard? Only time will tell, I guess... but time, as they say, keeps ticking merrily away....

Even more finch fun

Hot on the heels of Seppy's earful of bull this morning, a quick look around Squince this lunchtime was at risk of producing yet another blank on the year tick front.... 

In a last-ditch attempt to salvage something from the visit, I was scanning a monster finch flock on the opposite side of the lagoon (desperate times... etc.), concentrating on the chaffinches, just on the off chance like. 

Mere seconds before Sybil put her foot down and insisted we leave, a fine Brambling gave itself up, offering decent views before getting lost again amidst the hubub. Huzzah!

That welcome finchly tickage nudges me to 103.94%, and crucially means Seppy still needs three (count 'em) species to overtake me at the top of the podium. It's a big ask, but the way that chancer keeps banging them in, it's certainly not beyond the bounds of possibility.

Is a non-Irish Irish one-two on the cards? Will Reg pull something spectacular out of the bag to spoil the party? Could another cagey fecker be waiting in the wings with a sackful of undeclared guff?

Cripes... it's almost exciting!

Lets take a look at what ya could have won....

 Yes indeedy - bully's special prize this very am consisted of a heard-only bullfinch in the vicinity of the garden - called 5 or 6 times so I'm having it

Warming up nicely at both ends!

Yes indeedy, as the 2024 patch challenge nears the December endgame, there have been developments at both ends of the leaderboard and nothing is set in stone with a little over a month to go.

Basil continues to stand out by his gate, trying desperately to thumb a list down to Squince. But I'd have to be totally stupid to fall for his sob stories again, after the last time.

Reg managed to leapfrog into 2nd place, while Bushveld has come from seemingly nowhere, with no prospects straight into 3rd place with some frankly outrageous stories of having been seawatching. As if!

Luckily tho, he reckoned without the power of the Majik Patio (tm), which produced the all-important goods for me on me birthday (thurs), in the form of a fine female goldeneye, which appeared to disappear shortly after I'd nailed it. Lucky! This pushes me through the near-mythical 100% barrier, whole also keeps me just ahead of Bushveld, and even better, restores me to third place and him in fourth - huzzah!

The biggest mover and shaker of the week has been Shakey, who was also moved to try a Storm Bert-related seawatch yesterday, and who managed to claim a frankly outrageous SIX (count 'em) year ticks - leach's petrel, sooty shearwater, red-necked grebe, great northern diver, long-tailed duck and a goldeneye, which was probly my bird from thurs. This has pushed him ahead of the proclaimers who now take up the lantern rouge and the wooden spoon and who have admitted in a quote yesterday that "it's been a poor year here, despite effort". A bit vague on precisely how much effort has been expended tho hey?

STOP PRESS - some last minute news from Royzah who has just had a collared dove in his garden, which is seemingly patch gold round his way. Not only that, Royzah then managed to tapdance his merry but slightly hungover way along the Donmouth boardwalk just in time to connect with 3 (count 'em) little auks and a little gull, so he's moving up the scoreboard too, but probably not sufficiently to trouble Mr Nimmo of Wanstead who is still happily ensconsed in mid-table mediocrity.

All to play for then - I'd best go for a seawatch...

***Post-Seawatch Update***

A fine leach's petrel heading slowly east off Galley late morning - only my 3rd wan evah off Galley, after 2 on a seawatch in Sept 2022. Moves me back into second spot just ahead of Reg but for how long???

They should be annual...

 A sneaky little sea-watch yesterday morning before work produced 11 little auks and 3 long-tailed duck.  

My last (and only) little auks on patch were 5 January 2016 and the long-tailed duck were only my third record.  They should be annual, but only if I got out more.

These two push me past 100% and into a podium position.  With time running out there seems little prospect of retaining the Golden Mallard but still requiring brambling (a 100% er, recorded every year) plus hopefuls for coal tit and woodcock, there's always a chance, albeit a slim one.

122 species, 

100.27%

Happy Days

Bushveld

Reg Reveals All

 Yes indeedy - that got your attention hey? Should get a few more page hits too with any luck. Anyway, suffice it to say Reg has not been resting on any laurels and is still giving it 110% right up to the years end. Its beginning to pay off too as he had little auk and lapland bunting over the weekend, whilst also adding quail to the list after claiming one back in the summer (whatever that really was...).

In a bid to put the frighteners on Basil, he's also claiming that Jack Snipe, Velvet Scoter, LEO, Snow Bunting, Glauc, Iceland gull and slav are all virtually nailed on before the 31st Dec....

All to play for then, as it gets that little bit tighter at the top. Reg needs just four species to catch Basil, while Seppy still requires five, which is probably a stretch at this stage, but ya never know. #Believe

Thanks for the boost chief! 👍

Incapacitated as I am by only having one leg at present, getting down to the patch, and moving around to actually do any meaninful birding is proving a challenge.

That said, press-ganging various family members into taking me birding on mental health grounds hasn't been entirely fruitless. Indeed, this very Thursday just gone -- on my birthday, no less -- I managed to cajole Sybil into a jaunt down to the patch, yielding a fine male Shoveler on the lake.

Shoveler on the lake... majik... well, for a duck, at least.

And it's not just the family stepping up. In all fairness, credit where credit's due and all that jazz. Seppy has been a rock through this journey of hardship and slow recovery.

A smallish, somewhat reluctant rock, it has to be said, but he has occasionally succumbed to my repeated badgering to give me the odd spin for a cursory look around the patch. In spite of his valiant efforts to suppress as much as humanly possible, these mini-sojourns have yielded an immpressive total of two (count-em) year-ticks over the last five weeks or more. The first, a fine Yellow-browed Warbler -- my first of the autumn, and, much to my driver's chagrin, a splendid Dabchick this last Sunday.

Fair play!

My unfortunate affliction, and the fact I've been unable to skive off and hit the patch at will while everyone else is at work, means I have no doubt missed legions of migrants passing through this autumn. Despite the hardship, the slim pickings that have turned up take the tally to a respectable 103.15% as we enter the final stretch.

Game on!

Desperate times...

 I got a message from the boss to update the Blog, but if only there was something worth updating.

With the three patch ticks in September: Sooty shear, red-breasted berg and a yellow-browed. And a meagre total of five: barnacle goose, jack snipe, redwing, missile thrush and goldcrest in October, the patch total creeps up to 120 species and 98.63%.

Alas, time is running out but with a bit of effort and a following wind there's still potential to sneak past the 100% mark before the year is out.

Happy days

Bushveld 

Overdue but under performing

 Boghall has been quiet since May. And I mean that as the birds have been absent. Snipe and a few common migrants are about it. This means we are at 89.5% with 77 species. Desperate.

Hotting up for the podium spots!

 Yes indeedy - moving swiftly on, nothing to see at skwinse anyway but LOTS to see at Galley! A mid-pm scan of the lake produced first an incredulous male pochard, and then as the scan continued, a noteworthy male wigeon and a kingfisher, before finally alighting on a frankly outrageous black-necked grebe! My first on patch since 2009 and my 5th wan evah!

Marvellous!

Proof-of-life evidence as follows:

A black-necked grebe, earlier

And some more

A pochard, earlier

Either way, it was absolute scenes on the Majik Patio (tm)!

In other news, Reg has been kind of banging them in up at Collieston, although he did rather over-dramatically announce that it had been an "Awful birding autumn for me ( literally worst I can remember!)" before admitting that he'd also only just got his first Great Northern of the year....

All to play for then, for those podium places....

Seppy's Scrutineering gets out of hand

 

It's all lies (admits Sepp Blatter, on any date you'd care to nominate).

 

In a shocking (but perhaps not surprising) turn of events, Seppy stooped to an all new low in October when he hijacked a draft post by an honest and rule-abiding participant in this esteemed competition and manipulated it to his own ends.

This post (for it was this very missive) was about to highlight Seppy's illicit and unscrupulous conduct as he shifted the metaphorical goalposts mid season, altering targets and massaging statistics in a most unsportsmanlike fashion to suit his own nefarious ends. 

What did the self-appointed Adjudicator General's meddling consist of, I hear you cry? He unilaterally decreed that the yearly average for Squince this season be recalculated northward, dropping the first year's estimated patch total and basing the target on just a 2-year rolling average.

OUTRAGEOUS!

The reason for this spontaneous mid-season recalibration? It seems he was finding it too hard to keep up. Net result: my target for 100% rose by almost two whole species, from 125.33 or some such to 127.

So where does that leave us? Down, indeed, but not quite out... yet.

Despite a busted ankle (which made scouring the patch nigh impossible over the entire autumn), Yellow-browed Warbler was a welcome addition to the year-list over the last month. Add the Gadwall and a flock of fly-over Skylarks from Sunday and my new (artificially suppressed) percentile has tottered up to 102.36%. So still in front... just, despite Seppy's cheating.

Roll on the Ducks, Gulls and Waders. Yippeeeeeee!

On-patch twitching

 Yes indeedy, sometimes the luck falls to others and all you can do is twitch stuff found by other people on your patch. Ah well - it made for a fun day on Sunday anyway with some great birds on patch! I'd been out since early doors, taking advantage of the extra hour but hadn't really seen much other than a handful of blackcaps and a few chiffchaffs. 

I was just nearly done checking the last bits of the patch when I got the news of a pallas's warbler in Dirk. Old spoons had reckoned he'd had a brief glimpse of one on Weds so this wasn't entirely unexpected but when I got there it had vanished once again. Whilst talking to the finder, he suddenly pointed and said "Isn't that a red-breasted flycatcher up there?!?"

And it was...

A red-breasted flycatcher, yesterday

After a while, we managed to get on the pallas's warbler, even getting some validatory evidence...

ooooof, boooom etc

The theme has continued right up to this very am, when I received a text message alerting me to the presence of a female/imm surf scoter on Long Strand. Indeed and it was even visible from the Majik Patio (tm), meaning not only a FULL FAT PATCH TICK but also a "from the garden" tick - result!

Alas, the record shot leaves a little to be desired...

A surf scoter, yesterday - 229 for Galley!

I even went and brought Basil and his gammy leg over to the Majik Patio (tm) so he could validate it this afternoon. With a bit of luck it might get in with the 9 common scoter that are knocking around and hang about into the new year....

Royzah in Red-Rumped Rumpus

 Yes indeedy. Barely has the news got out, but the blog is hopping with an almost live update from Big Royzah.....he's just found a red-rumped swallow on his patch, which is a full-fat patch tick no less.

"It flew past about 100m from me on the golf course and kept going over the river towards town.", said Royzah shortly afterwards.

Skillz

No pics so here's wan I took earlier of the juv American Golden Plover just off patch in Clonakilty...

An american golden plover earlier

Marsh Lane to be renamed Dusky Lane

The last few days on Galley have been fairly quiet on the mig front since getting back from Shetland but I've still been banging in the year ticks pretty regularly. Catching up with spotted flycatcher and greenfinch was a top priority, while jamming a cattle egret from the Majik Patio (tm) was a bit of a bonus.

A spotted flycatcher, yesterday

Even the lake has started doing the business, with up to two (count 'em!) coots, a fine lapwing, a flyover spotted redshank yesterday and today a brace of pintail turned up - top stuff!

Out again for more this am, and bumped into a nice ringtail Hen Harrier over the fields, which showed well before it booted off east across the bay.

A hen harrier, er, today

 No shots of the distant pintails, but I just had a feeling that there could be something else out there today so sacked off opening brown envelopes and went for another wander down marsh lane. I could hear something going "tac" but when I looked, I could only see a phyllosc. It took a wee while to confirm that it was indeed the phyllosc going "tac", and with better views I was happy that it was in fact a dusky warbler!! 

Wahay!

It was really getting dark by this point!

Took a while to get a reasonable shot, as the bird was pretty mobile, never sitting still for long. It was calling nearly every time it moved so it was quite easy to tell which bush it was in, just difficult to get prolonged views! Hopefully it sticks around tomorrow, and that these south-easterlies bring in a few more goodies!!

Dawdling along

 It's been a while since posting anything, mainly cos there's been very little to shout about.  

August passed by without notice.  Managed to pick up six species for the month: kestrel, dunlin, golden plover, ruff, bonxie and common tern, all making up the numbers.  

September was no better, except that I wasn't here for half of it; which was nice.  Sooty shear', yellow-browed warbler and a merganser was the months tally.  The merganser though was only my third for the patch, reflecting my lack of seawatching as it should be annual, if only I could be bothered.

Anyway, these rather meagre pickings hauled me up to 116 for the year and 94.82%.  

The good news is there's still 8 species to be found before the end of the year which have been recorded 80% of the years, so should be almost bankers.

Happy days

Bushveld

All going on at Galley

 Yes indeedy, the autumn has definately begun all right! It was a lovely still morning here so I thought it might be worth a quick punt around Galley. Bit of a bad start when I remembered my wellies were drying in the house rather than resting in the boot of the car but hey, crocs are inappropriate in all weathers right?

I was idly checking some meadow pipits when I happened across a similar sized bird with a bright eye ring and creamy malar stripes, but pretty clean otherwise on the breast, with a pinky red bill - "not a pipit" I mused, before I began to think about ortolan. Before I could take the thought much further the birds booted off and I watched it fly off to a distant phone wire where it landed with a couple of linnets. As I stalking closer in my trusty crocs, it dropped into stubble with more linnets and then the whole flock booted all around, leaving me none the wiser as to where it had gone.

Luckily, it hadn't gone far, and was back up on the phone wires, allowing better views and I could finally be sure it was an ortolan, especially when it began calling like one!

Once Old Spoons had been set in motion, we were able to refind it again and he even got shots

An ortolan bunting, yesterday

The excitement wasn't over as barely had I reached home but Old Spoons was on the blower babbling about an untagged juvenile white-tailed eagle over his gaff and heading my way. A quick sprint to the Majik Patio (tm) and hey presto - there it was! Huzzah! Reckon its prob OK to tick this wan for the patch hey?

A white-tailed eagle heading my way earlier (pic C. Cronin)

Marvellous!

Big Royzah Goes Seawatching

 They say lightning doesn't strike twice and they should know but at long last we have had some news from Big Royzah (everywan's favourite deceased tap-dancing trumpeteer) (for it is he) and indeed he has even eventually, after weeks of questioning, even released his percentage score as of yesterday.

In addition, he divulged that he had indeed been seawatching and had indeed sekured the following species for his year list:

2 (count 'em) bonxies

2 (count 'em again) arctic skewers

1 manx shearwater

1 long-tailed skewer

After another few prods, he also coughed up his patch percentage to date, which you can see over on the right - just above Shakey's score, who is safely in last place. Nice to see.

So there we have it - more Royzah updates as they happen!

In other news, now that it is finally September, I've been getting in amongst it with the autumn migs at Galley netting a fine tree pipit yesterday (first since 2014) and a whinchat courtesy of old spoons today. Marvellous.

A few more additions

 Yes indeedy, the seawatching has continued to be quite good, although the overall numbers of things other than Cory's has been quite low. However, as always, one is enough for the year list! Since my last update, even Basil has dragged his sorry ass out for a cursory glance at the sea and he even strung gleaned a few year ticks, but I'll leave them for him to declare, when he gets a moment...

So, over the last week or so I have netted a fine brace of grey phalarope, a species which for some reason (most probably apathy) has oft evaded me on patch. In addition, a cracking adult sabine's gull and a common tern while following the sab's, have both been most welcome. Numbers of cory's shearwaters have remained quite high, while great shearwaters have been chugging past but in much lower numbers.

Corys on the left; greats on the right

Up into third place in the league table, although undoubtedly this will not have been updated for ages by the other playas. Looking forward to the mig season getting underway any day now - all to play for!

Seawatching scores

 Yes indeedy, there have finally been some decent south-westerlies, and a result, there have finally been some decent seabirds passing the patch's outer limits! A massive 10.5 hr seawatch on Sunday plus another 6 hrs on Bank Holiday Monday resulted in a minimum of (count 'em!) 1,611 cory's shearwaters, 118 great shearwaters, 3 wilson's petrels (missed another 5 - ouch!), 2 long-tailed skuas, 5 balearic shearwaters, 2 pomarine skuas, 3 arctic skuas and 2 bonxies.

Not a bad couple of days birding! 

a telescope, yesterday

Still behind the goggly-eyed proccies in 5th place on the overall table tho - irksome!

At least it's stopped raining now...

 There goes another June and July, only this time without any sun and very few birds.

June did produce the only full fat patch tick of the year so far, in the form of an avocet on the Notsogreatpool on the 25/6.  This was followed by an Arctic skua cruising along the cliff tops on the 26th.

July delivered mute swan and swift both on the 9th and there's been nothing else since.

With a ten year average of two ticks for June and three of July, this years tally of two for each month is bang on average.

The forecast looks set fair for the beginning of August which could lower the water levels and provide some nice muddy edges for some nice waders; fingers crossed.  And I might look at the sea at some point. But for now the year list sits at 106 species and 86.65% of the total, which nudges me up into silver medal position.

Happy days

Bushveld

Easy singles

 Yes indeedy, its finally time to wave goodbye to the June doldrums and get back in the seawatching saddle for the start of the autumnal festivities! I did glean a few bits in June, namely common sandpaper, puffin and arctic skua, but for the most part its been slow going over the last few weeks.

Fast forward to this morning, and once the rain had eased, and I'd woken meself up with excitement, I headed out for the first proper seawatch of the autumn. And, while there wasn't a whole pile of stuff going through, I did manage to knock in single cory's shearwater, sooty shearwater, balearic shearwater, and bonxie, as well as 3 (count 'em) storm petrels. Which was nice.

Hopefully there'll be a bit more wind and some more big shears for the rest of July...

a May...zing

 May 2024 was quite a month.  A prolonged spell of easterlies brought in a flood of scarce migrants up and down the coast with most fenceposts adorned with a red-backed shrike or two and the bushes stuffed full of warblers.... well almost.

The month started well enough with along with the expected migrants a drake garganey floated around the Notsogreatpool and a cracking hooded crow did adorn a fencepost; only the third for the patch and easily the best one so far.  A wood warbler skulking around the Moat on the 4th May was only the 2nd for the patch.

More patch fillers during the month were supported by some fine patch birds including a green sand and osprey; also both seconds for the patch and a greenfinch was only the third ever for the patch.  The stunning male red-backed shrike was expected this spring and the third year running one has graced the patch.

A total of 20 species in May was the highest May total since records began and put me on a 102 species for the year and 83.38%.  Also the highest ever for this time of year.

Happy Days

Nothing much to crow about

 And so the year trundles from spring into summer, with barely a tick to be found on patch *SIGH*.

Barely doesn't mean none though... and a fine Jay (less than annual over the few years I've been doing this patch... didn't get one last year... FFS!) and singing Reed Warbler were welcome additions for May.

That pushes me up above the 90% mark... but as Seppy seems all too fond of reminding me, essentially means I'm f****ed 'til Autumn (barring the poxy seawatching season, which I suppose I'll have to drag myself out for later in the summer if conditions are good... I mean bad... er... you know what I mean).

On the non-bird front, the patch was invaded by giant fish in May... I counted upwards of 60 bARSEking sharks from just below the wee graveyard on Myross Island last weekend. So, in the absence of any interesting bird shots, here's a non-birdy fish clip to keep you all entertained.

Quail hello there!

 Yes indeedy, I managed to bumble into a full-fat patch tick last thursday in the form of a quail that the Hound of Destiny kindly flushed. Which was nice. Sadly, Old Spoons also managed to verify/validate it later on cos I stupidly gave him too precise directions. Ah well. Karma and that eh?

No photos but here's a snap of a whitethroat and a sedge warbler from the patch last weekend instead...

A sedge warbler, yesterday

Er a whitethroat, yesterday also

Anyway, that along with a few other bits and bobs such as common sandpaper and whitethroat moves me on up (as it were) to a bang average 95 species for the year, which is pretty much exactly where I should be as the May doldrums settle over the patch for the "summer". Checking the percentage scores, I see I've dropped in just ahead of Bushveld in the league table - sweet!

See you back here on the 1st July for the start of the seawatching season....

Springing ahead... ish

May rolled around yesterday, and the welcome addition of Whitethroat elevated me to a healthy 88.56% on the leaderboard. Majik!

Spring brought with it a smattering of the usual migratory suspects, including the hirundines, the common warblers (here's looking at you Willow, Blackcap and Sedgie) and a couple of handy Groppers. Wheatears finally put in an appearance in late April, and a couple of Sarnie Turns off the wee headland at Tra an Oilean were most welcome.

Other notables included a couple of SEOs on patch in April, and a fine Yellow-legged Gull in amongst the large gulls at the Blind Harbour roost.

One of two (count 'em) SEOs on patch in April

Undisputed bird of the spring on patch... and one of the birds of spring for the whole of County Cork, according to our infamous local birding TD (the Irish version of an MP), was the fabulous Red-rumped Swallow duly highlighted by Seppy in this post (thank you kindly sir). Seppy twitching birds on my patch is the ultimate form of validation, and is rapidly becoming something of a habit. Long may it last.

Here are a couple of shit record shots of it, just because...

Look at the red rump on that wee fecker!

Apart from the swallow, it's been a quiet spring on the rarities front, with nothing much out of the ordinary turning up anywhere. And it will be June soon... roll on the summer doldrums *sigh*.

Onward!

Playing catch up

 With such a slow start to the year and being well behind on my average by the end of March, things could only get better, as they say.

April is usually a frustrating month up here, with Spring not quite sprung and winter clinging on but not delivering.  This year winter did cling on as usual but April certainly did deliver, A total of 34 patch ticks over the course of the month; easily a record total for the month.  Obviously many were birds typically scored in March and 18 of them were 100% 'ers, i.e. get seen every year, so don't really count for much.  However a few nice extras included a scattering of migrants at the end of the month, with ring ouzel and redstart being the best of the picks.  The two goosander on the 8th were only the third records for the patch.

Bird of the month though was the 1st winter Glauc sat in a field on the 4th April, being only the second record for the patch.

Which puts me nicely on 82 species and a much improved 66.31%.

Happy days

Bushveld

Reid it and weep

 For we are back! We had a mechanical with the server that runs the recording studio in 2023 that meant we lost our lists and our next couple of albums. The latter was a shame as they were by far and away our best work (think OK Computer meets Bizarro with elements of 4AD releases). Anyway, we are back and up and running. This weekend topped up the list nicely with northern wheatear, ring ouzel and Eurasian curlew all added to the list. These gems brought us to a whopping 68 for the year. As we are chasing 86, this translates into 79.07%. Come on.

Big Up Basil

 Yes indeedy, there's still not much happening at Galley. A trickle of common migs in the last few days, with sedge warbler, house martin, sandwich tern and blackcap all gleaned, but not a lot else.

Things got so bad that I was forced to go and validate Basil's red-rumped swallow that he found at Squinse, and has steadfastly refused to document here so far. This is fine though, as I get to showcase my amazeballs pics thusly:

A red-rumped swallow yester, er last week, er ages ago

Proof of life, as Basil has a bit of a history with wild swallow claims....

Slow spring

 Yes indeedy, the spring has been that slow so far that even the Golden Mallard has shown no signs of migrating! Oops!

I have gleaned the odd year tick here and there tho, including a few common migs such as chiffchaff, willow warbler and wheatear, which was nice. A tystie down dirk brought a certain Stevie G to mind, while an adult iceland gull in the next door field was seasonally expected. More recently, I just happened to be lookin oot the window at a fortuitous moment to catch a fine shelduck go by, thusly...

A shelduck yesterday

Things finally picked up a bit this am when I stumbled across a load of slightly out of date but still perfectly edible cans of beans and a tasty pasta sause which had obviously all just come in on these freshening southerlies....

Just fresh in, by the looks of it

So there you have it - thats me up to date till the next biggie shows up...

Oh, so, so slow

 Nearly the end of March and my first posting of the year and it really isn't worth it.  With a tally of 47 species and at 38.01%, 2024 has been my slowest start to a year ever, with all previous years having scored in excess of 50 species by this time. Little grebe in February is the only notable species being the third year for this species and the first time they've not been in the autumn.  All other species are pretty much 100% ers.

The first summer mig of the year appeared today in the form of a rather nice chiffy flitting around a hedge and brought hope of better birding days ahead.

Happy Days 

Bushveld

Ooooo Migrants

 Yes indeedy, the long wait for spring is finally over. It started on thursday pm when I bumped into 2 fresh-in chiffchaffs bouncing around the gorse bushes on the top lane. By friday, numbers had increased to at least 9 birds although I'm sure there were way more than that, as birds weren't being very showy in the stiff easterly breeze.

Managed to get out again on sunday, when in addition to 4 more chiffs, I banged into a very smart male black redstart briefly, before it booted off. Always good to get a black red nice and early in the year.

Another quick look in the wheatear-less fields this lunchtime and sadly, while they were still ear-less, I did glean a sparrowhawk for the year and another chiff.

Any day now for the ears, hopefully!

Distant dodgy ducks

 Yes, indeedy, on a weekend tip-off, I had a go at scanning for a pair of long-tailed ducks yesterday evening, as it had become sunny and calm. They had been seen from Cloghna Head at the other end of the beach, which is about 2ish km away....

Took a while, but I picked them up in the end. Hardly giving themselves up but they looked the part, honest guv! The ID was clinched when they upped and flew miles out to sea as it got closer to dusk, to roost in deeper water, as previously documented by Hope-Jones (1979). #ScienceInaction

In other news the gull-billed tern is still alternating between sitting on its humph in a field beside kilkeran lake or else pouncing on eart-worms up in the ploughed field. Here's the best pic that I've managed of it.

A gull-billed tern yesterday

Onwards and upwards - the dugbirds will be back soon!

Mystery solved

Yes indeedy, although the patch has been largely dead for the first couple of months of 2024, the lake finally turned up the goods!

The weekend before last I was checking the lake and briefly glimpsed a bird in flight that I couldn't nail. The nearest I got was possible ross's gull. But thats the sort of bird news that you really don't want to be putting out so I convinced myself it must have been a funny med gull.

Fast forward a week, and I was checking the lake again and saw a bird on the shore that again I couldn't identify. This time, I was leaning more towards forster's tern but it didn't really add up. So I drove down the road for a closer look. It wasn't there. Went back home and scanned again from the Majik Patio (tm). There it was again, with a handful of black-headed gulls, with which it was a comparable size, though different jizz. Back down the road but it wasn't there. Again.

Then I saw it flying around - it was a tern and looked all light grey above - the wings, mantle, rump and tail were all the same shade of light grey, with white around the sides of the neck and a slight mask behind the eye. It landed, and I could see the legs were dark and the bill was chunky and dagger-shaped and all-black. By the process of elimination based on its size and features, it gradually dawned on me that it had to be an adult winter gull-billed tern. Result! Although, sadly not a patch tick, having had one in the same place back in July 2023.

The bird flew up to a nearby ploughed field and hawked around a bit before returning to the lake, always remaining pretty distant and I wasn't able to get anything better than piss-poor record shots. Luckily Old Spoons jammed into it nice and close flying from the ploughed field back to the lake the following day....

Cracker!

the gull-billed tern yesterday

My first contender for New Old Snowy for 2024 too - all good! 

Every Little Helps

 So, that's January out of the way... and February kicked off with yet another year-tick (#YAY). A distant but nonetheless fine example of a first winter Little Gull sitting amidst the Herring Gull roost on Rabbit Island yesterday elicited a satisfying "Fux sake. Jammy c**t" out of Seppy, which is always a good sign.

Crap phone-to-scope photo... cracking early year-tick

The patch flew along in January, in fairness, fuelled by some very handy lingering birds from December (here's looking at you, Ring-necked Duck, Scaup, Goldeney, Cattle Egret and... drumroll... Slavonian Grebe). A Coot on the lake towards the end of the month was another welcome addition, and a full-fat patch tick in the form of a superb redhead Goosander on Squince Lagoon was pure gold.

Is this Seppy's bird from Kilkeran a few weeks back?

All of which January japery takes me to a healthy 89 species for the year, or 71.01% in real currency. Which is great... but leaves very little scope for tickage until the migs start rolling in (I hope). Onwards!

Full Fat Ahoy!

 Yes indeedy - there I was, carefully scoping the gull flock on the lake for anything decent at all, when all of a sudden I noticed a big, cigar-shaped duck type thing flying around - Goosander ya bas! Amayzing! Lost it behind the annoying pine tree and couldn't pick it up again, but a quick scoot down the road to check more closely didn't reveal any further sign. Total jam - just happened to be in the right place at the right time! That plus the pair of wigeon this am moves me up to 73 or 52.02% for the year - first full fat patch tick since the pink-footed goose last October - now on 226 for the Galley list, which is the most important list of the lot!

The Return of Reg

 Yes indeedy - everyone's favourite showbiz policeman Reg Hollis has stepped out of retirement, indeed at the same time as stepping into retirement! Confused? Don't worry, the net result will be Reg out front at the end of the year, most likely with New Old Snowy also in the bag. Still, hopefully a bit of additional competion will lead to all the other competitors giving it 110% to try and upset his dastardly plans!

Reg eagerly puts out the news of his Green-winged Teal that he's found already on patch this year....

Best get back out there lads!

All Hail Lord Bushveld

 Yes indeedy, the 2023 patch challenge has finally drawn to a close, even though its been sewn (stitched?) up since about mid-July. Lord Bushveld has somehow managed to join Sepp Blatter in the exclusive Three-time Winners club, with a fine final score of 112.22%. Congratulations, and look out for the Golden Mallard (worth at least £50 on ebay) arriving in the post sometime around June 2024!

Herewith are the 2023 final scores, in order to allow eternal reviewing and scrutiny....

Some scores, yesterday

Top marks to Basil Faulty for being "best of the Irish", even though he's Welsh and fair play (if thats not a step too far) to Sepp Blatter for managing to make the podium yet again, despite everything. Last and indeed the least said the better, commiserations to the Proclaimers who were forced into a DNF* due to mid-year laptop failure in combination with general ineptness. Hopefully they'll be able to get it together again for 2024.

Happy New Year to all contenders and faithful blog followers (if there even are any?) - the 2024 competition is now open! Worth a moment of contemplation to consider that this is the 20th year of the original patch challenge competition! How cool is that?

*Did Not Finish