Starling

"This starling in my garden has his best Sunday suit on"

Thanks to PJ for sending this photo

AGM and committee for the coming year

Our AGM was held recently in Bailieborough, when the committee and some outings were decided upon.
The committee for the upcoming year was appointed:

Chair:         P.J Byrne                                  vice chair:         Peadar Reynolds
Secretary: Ashley Wynne                             vice secretary:  Michael Mc Kiernan
Treasurer: Séan Callaghan                           vice treasurer:   Heather Bothwell

General committee: Elizabeth Mc Kenna, Andrew Carleton.

This followed by a very interesting talk by Olivia Crowe regarding her involvement in research of the Greenland White-fronted Goose.

Keep an eye on this blog and on Facebook (Cavan birdwatching) for events.

Mail cavanbirdwatching@gmail.com to join our mailing list.

Many thanks to Peadar and Lee for the lovely facility of the Bailieborough Business Centre.

Dawn Chorus 2016

Cavan branch Dawn Chorus Day Sunday 15th May
This event will provide a great opportunity to learn about birdsong while enjoying an early morning walk. Come along and bring a friend!

Bailieborough: Meet at the Castle Lake Forest, lakeshore car park, 04.30

At this time (just before dawn) one gets to experience birdsong at its best in the quiet and stillness of the early morning. It provides an opportunity to hear the chorus build from just a lone thrush or blackbird to a full chorus of all the birds in the forest! The walks will last about an hour and we recommend wearing warm clothes and bringing along a snack and hot drink to enjoy afterwards.

Contact Elizabeth 086 8336675 or cavanbirdwatching@gmail.com for more information.

Dusk Chorus

evening-walk

Cavan Walking Festival – Lakeland Geopark Evening Walk

02 May 2016 @ 7:00pm - Town Lake Car Park, Killeshandra, Co Cavan

Welcome the summer season with an evening walk with local Geopark Guide Heather Bothwell.  

Identify birds and birdsong at evening chorus.  

Please wear sturdy footwear and wear warm waterproof clothing.  

For more information please contact +353 (0) 49 9526121.

Upcoming event

Our AGM will be held on Thursday 21st April in the Bailieborough Business Centre.

The meeting will commence at 7 p.m and will be followed by a talk at 8 p.m  by Olivia Crowe from Birdwatch Ireland;

‘Tracking the fortunes of our Greenland White-fronted Goose’

The iconic "wild geese" of the bogs and wild places of Ireland, including Co. Cavan.

Modern Ireland has an international responsibility as the primary wintering site of these shy and reclusive  long-distance migrants from the high arctic.

(photo John Carey)

Brian Caffrey talk

    (photo: Daniel Downey)

Brian Caffrey from Birdwatch Ireland presented a very interesting and well-attended talk regarding the birds of the towns and villages of county Cavan in the Johnston library recently.
He spoke of how urban areas contained important habitats such as parks, rivers and buildings for several bird species.
Swifts, dippers and grey wagtails are all likely to be found in populated areas but have suffered population decline due to several factors; climate change and building renovation being two.
In Northern Ireland saveourswifts.co.uk have championed the cause of these birds, giving lots of information regarding how to attract them, build nest boxes and lots of links, videos and things swift-related.

Western Wall, Jerusalem

Maiden Tower, Baku      

Brian gave many interesting examples of the popularity of swifts worldwide, These photos have been taken from this dedicated swift blog:

 actionforswifts.blogspot.ie

Barn owls are almost unheard of in Cavan; Birdwatch Ireland has only a record of 2 pairs in the whole county. Their population is being decimated by the misuse of rodenticides.  Find out more about responsible rodenticide use at this link...www.thinkwildlife.org

Nestboxes close to or over water will be useful to our dipper and grey wagtail populations; trials have shown that they are readily using boxes under bridges, provided they are above flood levels.

(permisson must be obtained before putting boxes up on bridges).

Here is an article about success with dipper nestboxes. 

birdwatchireland.ie

Brian asked that any owl sightings be submitted to John Lusby (Birdwatch Ireland) jlusby@birdwatchireland.ie
and that sightings of swifts, dippers and grey wagtails be submitted on Birdtrack.

A previous talk on swifts by Michael Casey is linked here   cavanbranch.blogspot/swifts

Birds of County Cavan

Brian Caffrey from Birdwatch Ireland will be presenting a talk on the birds of town and village habitats.
Join us for an informative evening of birds, nest boxes and wildlife.
This is the ideal opportunity to learn more about the bird species found in your local community with practical tips, advice and guidance on how to better protect them. In particular, we will focus on nest box schemes for threatened species such as Swift, Dipper and Barn Owl and innovative ways to create new bird habitats.
Johnston Library, Farnham St. Cavan 
Thursday 10th March
7.00 - 8.30 all are welcome!

An apple a day....

Thanks to P.J Byrne for this lovely photo of a female blackbird in his garden.

Dundalk outing

Our outing to Dundalk Bay on Sunday February 14th- 'Valentine's Day' began with a bright sunny start which continued for the duration of our trip.

First stop was Dundalk Docks where a wide variety of Ducks and Waders where on display. These included Teal, Common Sandpiper and Spotted Redshank. Across the motorway in the local park we viewed some less conspicuous types like Rough and Snipe.

As we continued on our journey we stopped at Navy bank and Blackrock were we watched Shellduck, Merganser and Brent geese take to the sea.

After a short 'Coffeee Break' we proceeded to the embankment along Lurgangreen where we saw some marvellous sights of Roosting Oystercatcher, Goldeneye, Pintail and large flocks of Waders and Geese as they broke the skyline.

The day turned out to be a cold one but lighting conditions were excellent for the accompanying photographers.

By the time we started homeward bound we had spent a most enjoyable day in Dundalk with some wonderful sights and a large variety of birds spotted.

Many thanks to all those who attended.

Report by Freddy McGavin.


photos from Dundalk
Clare took some amazing photos there.
Follow the link to see the great variety of birds they saw.

New nest boxes

Replacement of nest boxes in the forest.
After last year's inspection it was agreed to replace the nest boxes this year, as they had been up for some time.
After a period of time we had all boxes replaced, with the good news that all the boxes were used for nesting last year.
Finally I would like to thank Andrew Carlton for helping me both to make and put up the nest boxes.(P.J Byrne)

Dundalk bay outing

On Sunday 14th February, the Cavan branch will be visitng Dundalk bay.
It is a very popular spot and is one of the most important sites in Ireland for migratory coastal birds.
Bring warm clothing and a lunch.
Meeting at the docks at 10.30 a.m.
You can park at Lidl and cross the road to the docks from there.
Anyone wishing to carpool can meet at Bailieborough.

The first branch outing of the New Year will take place on Sunday 24th January. We will meet up at 10am at Drumlane Abbey car park, Milltown. At Miltown lake, we hope to see a selection of waterbirds including some whooper swans. We will also carry out  I-WeBS (Irish Wetland Bird Survey) counts on Milltown Lake and other lakes in the area.

It is recommended to wear warm waterproof clothing and appropriate footwear. Beginners and non-members are very welcome to attend all events!

For information on The Irish Wetland Bird Survey click here

To become a member of Birdwatch Ireland click here

Lough Sheelin's shores

Despite the snow and the rain and the cold, a brave few souls set off to explore the sites along the shores of Lough Sheelin.

The snow of the previous days had melted thankfully but the sky was grey so visibility was quite poor.

Michael has great local knowledge and had planned a route around the lake – from Crover to Mountnugent, stopping at Ross Castle and Sailors' Garden. We also visited Lough Kinale and Bracklagh. 
Though we started off slowly, with only a bird or two on view from the hotel grounds, this recorder soon found herself rapidly turning the corners of her book to remember our sightings! 
A goldcrest calmly flitted from branch to branch in front of us, allowing us to get a great close-up of this tiny bird. A flock of long-tailed tits took flight from trees near the water's edge.
Mute swans, wigeon, gadwall, teal, pochard, tufted duck, goldeneye, cormorant, great crested grebe, little grebe, grey heron, an enormous group of coot (AKA a cover of coot!)  numbering around a thousand according to one estimate, and water rail all were on the water on the lakes.
In a field overlooking Lough Kinale we spotted some redwing and fieldfare along with starling and chaffinch.

Sadly, we weren't the only ones watching the birds; a hunter had set up decoys and a whirling device on the lake and as we watched some tufted ducks in flight coming to join the flock we heard the shots and saw them fall. 
Many thanks to Michael for leading the event, it's one definitely worth revisiting in spring. 
P.S if I'm missing any birds from our count please let me know!

Dundalk Bay

Outing to Dundalk Bay on Sunday 15th November.

We left for Dundalk from Bailieborough at 9 am on what was a very wet November morning. By the time we reached our first stop, Annigassin Harbour, the weather conditions had improved considerably. At Annigassin, we spent a short time observing the many waders and gulls before moving to our next stop, Seabank at Castlebellingham. Seabank is a great site to watch waders- as high tide approaches the views of lapwing, golden plover and black tailed godwits in flight can be stunning! We were not disappointed and enjoyed watching the birds gather here as the tide came in. En route to our next destination, the Oscar Merne hide at Lurgangreen, we stopped to view the large flocks of geese in the fields close by. Here we viewed graylag and white-fronted geese and large numbers of curlew, some ruff and golden plover. Also present amongst the geese flocks was a pink-footed goose- a real treat! The tide was high when we arrived at the Lurgangreen hide. It was nice to have shelter from the elements and to view the birds from the comfort of the hide! After a short stop for coffee we finished up the day at the Dundalk docks. Here we enjoyed watching cormorants feeding and lapwings returning in to feed as the tide levels dropped. A special thanks to Gerry O' Neill for keeping us posted on what birds were present in the area and to both Gerry and Peter for meeting up with us at the hide.

Report and photos Elizabeth Mc Kenna

Dundalk outing

Cavan Birdwatch branch are travelling to Dundalk on Sunday 15th November.

All are welcome to join us.

To car share, meet at Bailieborough Market Square at 9am sharp.

To meet with the group at Dundalk Bay contact Liz on mobile or by email in advance to arrange a meet up point.

email:   mckennaeliz@gmail.com

An unusual sighting!

Michael photographed this blackbird lately and sent it on with a helpful attachment from Birdwatch Ireland.
It seems that colour aberrations like this are unusual but albinism is more common in blackbirds than most other species.
Many thanks for the interesting picture and the helpful info Michael!

I've also added an RSPB link to their page on similar colour variations; (complicated words that you get bonus points for pronouncing correctly!)

rspb-abnormal-colour-variants

Trip to Sligo

We gathered in Cartron car park on a cold but clear Sunday morning to explore the favoured sites of Sligo birdwatch.

Michael Bell met us with a booklet of local birds published in association with Sligo Tidy Towns.

In Cartron we saw great black backed gull, herring gull and wigeon.

Our next destination was to Bunduff lake where there was a flock of whooper swans, one or 2 mute swans as well as mallards exhibiting un-mallard-like behaviour!

To Mermaid's Cove where a flotilla of eider caused great delight, cormorants, oystercatchers, great northern divers, black guillemot and a trio of brent geese.
At Raughly we spotted heron, sanderling, turnstone, curlew and rock pipit.

It is entirely possible that we spotted a great many more than these! We shall wait for more detailed reports from those who weren't desperately turning down corners in their books to remember what they saw!

Sligo outing

On Sunday 18th October we are meeting up with the Sligo branch to visit some of their favourite sites at this time of year. 

Regarding transport: 
If anyone has room for one more in their car or someone does not have transport please let me know as soon as possible so I can try to arrange something. email cavanbirdwatching@gmail.com

Bring a lunch and hopefully we'll have somewhere scenic to have our sandwiches!

They have asked us to be there for 11 a.m. to make the best of the tides.
We have arranged to meet at Cartron Car Park, which is just off the main N4 as it travels over Hughes Bridge in Sligo. You take a left for Rosses Point rather than going on to Donegal. Cartron is on the left just before the road narrows with the seashore also on the left. There is a viewing platform there as it is a good spot for waders.

Buzzard on the wing

Clare sent in this great photo of a buzzard in flight.

A date for your diary

Who: Fionnbarr Cross RSPB Fermanagh

What: A talk on RSPB Fermanagh

Where:County Museum, Ballyjamesduff

When: Thursday 24th September

Fionnbarr is an RSPB warden who manages the reserves of Lower Lough Erne.
They have been involved in recent years in making the islands suitable for birds to breed.
He will talk to us about the work that they do in providing shelter and making the area attractive to birds. They have reported higher numbers of a variety of birds, evidence of their success.

rspb/ni

This event is free and is open to members and non-members alike. 

We hope to see you there!