A boni's and a blackpoll on patch

 Yes indeedy - its seems Galley truly is an unstoppable force this year in terms of rares! Hot on the heels of the previous large slices of luck, I stumbled into an adult winter bonaparte's gull down on the beach last week, whilst out with the Hound of Destiny. This is almost certainly the same individual that netted me Old Snowy last September. Exhibit A, taken in the fog a couple of mornings later...

A bonaparte's gull, yesterday

And as if that wasn't enough, the following sunday I banged into a blackpoll warbler, while trying to score a ybw

Not a yellow browed warbler!

Quite a surprise to say the least! Luckily I think most folk who came saw it, but it could disappear for ages at a time. It stayed a couple of days and then wasn't seen again. The first record for Galley I think.

twitching the nighthawk

Me & Ross Geller took a punt that the Common Nighthawk up in Antrim would remain for another day on Friday - it certainly did!

A common nighthawk yesterday

The fly-bys along the river at dusk were incredible, but sadly my recording technology was not up to the task of capturing any footage - brilliant bird!

Did manage a flyover lapland bunting on patch early doors on Friday, plus merlin today moves me over the near-mythical 80% barrier.....

REV in Dirk

Been easing back into Galley, adjusting to the severe changes in vegetation levels after Shetland. After a rainy morning, a pre-school pick-up wander down Dirk last monday was proving very fruitless, when all of a sudden, as if by magic, a red-eyed vireo appeared in the tree that I was scanning. Almost as quickly, it vanished again, and I was left wondering if I'd imagined the whole thing.

Luckily, after a few heart-stopping minutes, I managed to relocate it in the adjacent tree, and it did the decent thing, and performed in full view for a few seconds, before heading off again, towards the big clump of sycamores at the bottom of Dirk. I had to go and collect the wean from school, but on returning to the scene of the crime, complete with camera, I drew a total blank. It was like it had never happened - Dirk was back to normal again! After an hour, I could take no more, and headed home to celebrate!

So I never did get a photo, but here's a blurred and on the huh shot that Ross Geller took of the Mizen bird the previous day instead...

A red-eyed vireo yesterday by Ross Geller

As for Dirk, well, who knows what could be in there - if only there was a bit more cover to actually hold stuff!

Dirk Bay, yesterday