Launch of the Bird Atlas 2007 - 11

 by Brian Caffrey.

I am delighted to announce the launch of the Bird Atlas 2007-11 pre-publication book offer (please see attached).Order now at our special pre-publication price of €54 and save a third off the retail price!

Be one of the first to receive Bird Atlas 2007–11, the most important British and Irish bird book for decades. The most complete and comprehensive overview of bird distribution and change in Britain and Ireland. Over 1,300 maps describe patterns of distribution, abundance and change for nearly 300 species.

Discover the changing fortunes of the birds of Britain and Ireland, with the help of authors Dawn Balmer, Simon Gillings, Brian Caffrey, Bob Swann, Iain Downie and Rob Fuller. Have the latest scientific findings about distribution and change at your fingertips, including chapters telling the atlas story and highlighting the factors influencing our changing bird fauna... all to be revealed when the book is published in autumn 2013.

How to order:

1)      Online at http://shop.birdwatchireland.ie/birdwatchireland/product_info.php?products_id=929

2)      By Post: send the attached order form to: BirdWatch Ireland, Unit 20, Block D, Bullford Business Campus, Kilcoole, Co. Wicklow

4)      By Phone: call us on 01 2819878

Don’t miss this great offer – order by the 31^st July 2013

Presentation By Dick Coombes on 9 April in Virginia

Dick Coombes Birdwatch Ireland

A presentation by Dick Coombes took place in the Riverfront Hotel, Virginia on Tuesday 9^th April at 8pm after the AGM. Dick is the Countryside Bird Survey co-ordinator with Birdwatch Ireland and has studied great-spotted woodpeckers closely since they were first recorded breeding in Ireland back in 2009. A few years prior to this they had been recorded breeding in Northern Ireland and in 2008 a juvenile bird was sighted at a bird feeder in Co. Wicklow! It was confirmed that great-spotted woodpeckers were breeding in the woodlands of Wicklow in 2009 and since then the birds have been gradually spreading along the eastern side of the country.

Are they breeding here in Cavan? To date there have been a few reported sightings of woodpeckers in the county but breeding has not yet been confirmed. We have lots of suitable habitat here. Their favourite nesting habitat is mature woodland where they can find trees with some element of rot, preferably an oak. Dick described what signs we should be looking out for:

 Between March and April we should listen out for the sound of woodpeckers drumming- a very distinctive sound that indicates a woodpecker is holding a territory. To hear an example of what a woodpecker drumming sounds like, follow this link: 

http://www.wildechoes.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=48:great-spotted-woodpecker&catid=42:picidae-woodpeckers&Itemid=62

Also keep an eye out for the presence of feeding holes or evidence of nest hole excavation in mature trees.  The nest holes can be difficult to spot as they are generally located quite high-up on trees but if you keep looking up and listening who knows what you might discover! Please pass on any records of sightings to Dick Coombes at rcoombes@birdwatchireland.ie

A special word of thanks to Dick for a most enjoyable and informative presentation. It was evident that Dick has put in a lot of work over the last few years studying these birds and that although it has been demanding he has enjoyed it all very much and has a great affection for these very special birds!

Cavan Branch Committee

The following people were elected to serve on the committee for the coming year at the AGM which took place prior to the Woodpecker Presentation on Tuesday 9 April in the Riverfront Hotel, Virginia.

Chairperson Heather Bothwell, Killeshandra
Secretary     Elizabeth Mc kenna, Bailieborough
Treasurer    Sean Callaghan, Virginia.
PJ Byrne, (Vice Chairperson), Michael Mc Kiernan (Vice Secretary), Peadar Reynolds (Vice Treasurer) Tom Broe and Yvette Von Cramon.

Cavan Branch contacts details can be found on the Birdwatch Ireland Website here

"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.