"Are there woodpeckers in Cavan"?

Great spotted woodpecker - photo by Dick Coombes

"Are there Woodpeckers in Cavan?"

 A presentation by Dick Coombes, (Birdwatch Ireland's CBS Coordinator) will take place in The River Front Hotel, Main Street, Virginia on Tuesday 9 April at 8pm.

Dick will talk to us about the recent colonisation of Ireland by the great-spotted woodpecker. In recent years they have been discovered breeding in Wicklow and Down. Could they now be breeding in Cavan? Dick's study of these birds has been featured on the popular "Living the Wildlife"TV series. Come along to the talk and find out about the most recent updates on the spread of the great-spotted woodpecker! 

All welcome and admission is free!

 Cavan Branch Members AGM will take place prior to the talk at 7pm.

BirdTrack

What is BirdTrack?

BirdTrack is an exciting project, through a partnership between the BTO, the RSPB, Birdwatch Ireland, the Scottish Ornithologists' Club and the Welsh

Ornithological Society, that looks at migration movements and distributions of birds throughout Britain and Ireland. BirdTrack provides facilities for observers to store and manage their own personal records as well as using these to support species conservation at local, regional, national and
international scales.

Exciting Spring Arrival !

In readiness for the forthcoming flood of spring arrivals, we have an exciting new arrival of our own to announce: we've just launched a fantastic new BirdTrack Home Page! www.birdtrack.net It's packed with interactive features to make BirdTrack more relevant to birdwatchers on a day-to-day basis and encourage even more people to get involved. There's never been a better time to add your records.The records submitted by BirdTrackers like you now form the core elements of the page.Explore the map to find out what has been seen locally or to visualise the relative frequency of records of any species across Britain and Ireland.Discover the latest reporting rates (the percentage of complete lists that contain each species) using the interactive graphing tool. See which members of the BirdTrack community have been most active via the ‘Top BirdTrackers’ tables… and log in to see how your own stats compare!

All the options to add and interact with your own records are now available directly from the Home page. Simply login using the button at the top left of the page to activate these options. You can stay logged in by making sure cookies are enabled on your device and ticking the ‘remember my login details’. The first time you log in to the new page, you'll be asked for permission to display your name alongside your records. Please use your forename and surname as your display name (i.e. 'Nick Moran', not 'Nick','NickM' or 'BrecksBirder'). We'll only display your name with your permission.

Happy BirdTracking.

Brian Caffrey

Dundalk outing Sunday 3 March

Photo by Clare Donoghue

Our group met up at Dundalk Docks at 12 noon where we were joined by Joe and some Monaghan Branch members. Here we enjoyed close-up views of teal, oystercatchers,black-tailed godwit, little egret and a number of gull species. Greenshank and lapwing were also present.

Photo Steve Driver

Our next stop was Soldier’s point. We arrived shortly before high tide and watched the birds feeding before heading to roost. We were treated to views of large flocks of black-tailed godwit, bar-tailed godwit, golden plover, some dunlin and brent geese. A highlight was close-up views of a grey seal.

Photo Joe Shannon

Goldeneye Photo Brian Mc Keever

After a quick lunch break, we spent some time at Lurgangreen watching the birds flying in to roost at high tide.

Photo Clare Donoghue

The sun had just come out and it was a real pleasure to spend some time at this lovely location.  Large flocks of geese and waders were present. A hunting peregrine raised the birds on a number of occasions and we were treated to great views of the flocks in the air.

Thanks to Clare,Steve,Joe and Brian for sharing the above photos.

Sunday 3 rd March outing to Dundalk Bay

Photo by Michael Mc Nulty. 

A car outing to Dundalk Bay will take place on Sunday March 3rd. Meet at Dundalk Docks at 12 noon. If you wish to car share from Bailieborough please meet at the Market Square at 10.45am. Best to bring a packed lunch and to wrap up well. The outing should last a few hours approx but if you are making your own travel arrangements then you will have the option of leaving a little earlier if necessary. If you have not visited the area before and you are not sure of the location of the docks then please contact me by email or at 086 8336675 to arrange a meeting point in Dundalk.

The black tailed godwit pictured above in its beautiful summer plumage was photographed by branch member Michael at our outing there last March.

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Presentation by Breffni Martin in Bailieborough on 21 February

A talk by Breffni Martin of the Louth branch of Birdwatch Ireland took place on Thursday last in the Business Centre, Bailieborough. Breffni spoke about the waders and wildfowl of Dundalk Bay. As well as giving us many useful wader and wildfowl ID tips he also spoke about the amazing journeys undertaken by many of these birds annually to and from their breeding grounds.  A special mention went to the bar-tailed godwit- a satellite-tagged godwit had been recorded travelling from its breeding grounds in Alaska to its wintering grounds in New Zealand in just over 8 days! (Visit this link to read this  amazing story here)

He also told us of the importance of Ireland as a wintering location for geese and wading birds including brent geese that breed in the Arctic Tundra and black-tailed godwits that breed in Iceland. We hope to see these species along with many others when we make our return trip on March 3 to Dundalk Bay. Thanks to Breffni for a very informative and enjoyable presentation.

Countryside Bird Survey Training Day Sunday 24 February in Virginia

Dick talking to the group at a recent training day in Shannon

Information on the day by Dick Coombes

Ever thought of taking part in one of our key bird surveys, the Countryside Bird Survey (CBS), but didn’t know how to go about it? Well Olivia Crowe and Dick Coombes will be conducting a training day this coming weekend in Virginia. Why not come along or maybe even bring someone else?

The details are:

• Sunday 24th February,  Lakeside Manor Hotel, Virginia, Co Cavan  

The schedule for the day will be:

09.30 – 10.00  Arrival.

10.00 – 13.00  Illustrated talks, instruction about survey methods, ID and a chance to ask questions, with a tea/coffee break mid-morning.

13.00 Lunch (provided)

13.45 (approx) Short field trip. Should be finished by approx 15.30.

The CBS is carried out all over the country, but there are many gaps to be filled. Hopefully this training session will produce some new recruits as well as provide an opportunity for existing survey participants to get a refresher and meet other participants. We will also be showing some of the interesting results achieved by this important survey to date.

Getting ready to commence the outdoor field trip in Shannon

The afternoon field trip will provide easy hands-on experience with the forms and survey methods. The format will be very informal and there will be plenty of time to ask questions.

 Participants enjoying the outdoor fieldtrip at Shannon event 

 To help us plan for numbers etc, please register your interest at:   http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MQ8X38Y or  just get in touch with us directly (rcoombes@birdwatchirelnd.ie) or tel 01-2812408.

"Waders and Wildfowl" Talk in Bailieborough Thursday 21 February

Teal at Navvy Bank, Dundalk.

A Presentation on "Waders and Wildfowl" by Breffni Martin (BWI, Louth Branch Chairperson) will take place on Thursday 21st February in the Business Centre, Shercock Rd, Bailieborough at 8pm.
Many species of water-birds spend the winter months on the Co.Cavan lakes and this is an opportunity to learn more about them and to improve your ID Skills.
Breffni is well known to Cavan branch members and has joined us on many occasions on our branch outings to Dundalk Bay, and we are very pleased to have him come and talk to the local branch.
This talk will be suitable for beginners and we will follow up the talk with an outing to Dundalk Bay on Sunday 3rd March, when we hope to see many of the species that Breffni will talk to us about.
All welcome and admission is free!

Nest Boxes :

Pj and Andrew hard at work!

 If you are interested in putting up a nest box a small number will be for sale on the night.The boxes were made and donated to the branch by committee member PJ Byrne. He has also on behalf of the branch placed a number of nest-boxes in a local forest.Thanks also to Andrew for helping out with the job. ______________________________

Countryside Bird Survey training day

A Countryside Bird Survey training day will take place in The Lakeside Manor Hotel, Virginia on Sunday 24 February. If you wish to take part in the training day Please email Birdwatch Ireland,CBS Coordinator Dick Coombes at rcoombes@birdwatchireland.ie  Visit the following link to learn more about this survey here:

Upcoming Events:.

Sunday 3 March - Outing to Dundalk Bay.Details on this event will be posted soon.

Tuesday 9 April  -   " Are there Woodpeckers in Cavan ?"  A presentation by Dick Coombes, (Birdwatch Ireland, Countryside Bird Survey Co-ordinator.) in the River Front Hotel, Virginia at 8pm. Branch AGM prior to the talk at 7PM.

Sunday 19 May National Dawn Chorus day. Details of walks will follow closer to the date