Hooray for Old Spoons

 Yes indeedy, for it was he who rang this morning with news of an adult yellow-legged gull on the beach at this end of Long Strand, as I sat in my warm(ish) office only a few hundred yards away!

A quick race around the house collecting scope and glasses and off down the road, just in time for the whole flock to boot off! Luckily tho, Old Spoons stayed calm and more importantly on the bird as it resettled on the sea, allowing awesome views as illustrated below:

Full fat YLG on the patch!

Shortly afterwards, he found a second adult in the flock! Score! So that was this mornings excitement - patch list now stands at 222 (Greenshank!) and year list trundles onwards to 145 - my 2nd highest score evah!

15/12 Edit - jammed into 3 lapwings in off earlier moving me up to 146! Is there any more to get?

Another little bunting sighting

Following my badly seen but calling vigorously fly-by little bunting across the garden and down the lane in a force 8 gale last month, Old Spoons jammed into presumably the same bird on Galley this afternoon, and he got shots too, before it inconveniently disappeared again for the rest of the afternoon!

Old \Spoons, this pm (Ciaran Cronin)

Presumably both sightings involve the same bird seen in the same area by one lucky observer back in October, but I guess there's no way of knowing. There can't be many (if any) spring records of little bunting in Ireland, so chances are its the same individual, Hope it finally settles down a bit!

Quiet otherwise, although 2 chiffchaffs and a black redstart indicated a bit of movement through the crease - missed the latter last year too, so that was a welcome year tick! 70 species up for the year...

Old Spoons does the business

Due to parental constraints I was unable to do much on patch this am, so it was up to Old Spoons to find me stuff so I could go and see it this pm. This plan very nearly backfired, as no sooner was he out of his house but he was finding year ticks a-plenty. First he kicked off two lapland buntings, which never came back. This was a bit annoying, but when a 20 minute birding opportunity (tm) came my way mid-morning, I hurried down the track to where they'd been and on the way I flushed this...

A snow bunting, trying not to look blurred and on the huh

This is obviously not being flushed. In fact this was skillfully stalked this afternoon by crawling on my belly up the grassy strip on the top lane. Luckily there was no poo or thistles encountered.

Anyway, I continued on my 20 minute sojourn and bumped into this...

a stoat, standing up

Sadly he wasn't in the sunshine or the shot might have been better, or perhaps not.

So that was that, until the afternoon, when I had to slog round Galley again trying to see this

A ring oozel, nearly anyway. I could photoshop the crescent white, but I haven't

Success! Easy when you know where to look! And I did! Bingo! Another punt for the laps but nae luck, however I did get lucky with a rather fine firecrest loitering in the Dirk Bay fushias, well a couple of them anyway. There's rather too many for my liking down there.

Also scored another couple of flight views of the richard's pipit, from the other day - its still aboot.

more scores

Friday was a good day - spotted a juv black tern from the lunch table, and then Old Father Spoons pulled a marsh harrier out of the bag - he's a love eh? Marvellous! Here's a photo for Royzah as he's still only seen 1 black tern ever ever ever

A black tern yesterday [Copyright Old Spoons]

ya mite as well have one of de marsh harrier too eh?

A marsh harrier yesterday [Copyright Old Spoons]

nowt on patch

Nothing new on the patch and indeed I could only manage crippling views of Ireland's first Pallid Harrier early on Satday morning - what a great bird! Pics by Old Spoons here

stock-taking

Had the dubious pleasure of old spoons's company this morning - dead as a doorknob it was, till the flat-footed one conjured up a stock dove out of nowhere - happy days!