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!