Glenfarne Forest Park

The meeting time on this flyer is incorrect: we are meeting at 12.00.

Dawn Chorus Belturbet

Ballyconnell Woods

What glorious weather we had for our 2nd annual walk in Ballyconnell Woods today!

The walk, starting at the park opposite the Realta Centre takes you along the canal for around 1km before crossing a stile into the woods. 

Many of our records of today are of birds heard and identified by their song and some were spotted as well. With all those trees though, birds have fantastic camouflage!

So, to the list.....(drumroll..)

blue tit

chiff chaff (he made himself heard very early on and then refused to sing until much later)

wren

mistle thrush

dunnock (obligingly came and perched right beside us!)

goldfinch

long-tailed tit (nest-making)

red poll

robin

treecreeper

wood pigeon

little grebe

great crested grebe

hooded crow

tufted duck

buzzard

mute swans

dipper

rook

jackdaw

starlings

and a great spotted woodpecker.

We had local reports of a woodpecker from last year so we were keen to investigate further. We hadn't even entered the woods when we heard him drumming. He flew around quite a bit so remained very elusive. We did manage to get the briefest of glimpses of him as he flew close to us and then reconsidered and returned to the cover of the trees. 

Dick Coombes presented a talk to Cavan Birdwatch back in 2013 about how recently these birds have started to breed in Ireland. Have a look at our archive link to read about it:

cavanbranch/archive

GreatSpottedWoodpecker

Upcoming event

Cavan Birdwatch walk through Ballyconnell woods on Sunday 26th March @ 10 a.m.

Wear sturdy footwear. New and non-members are welcome. No dogs please

contact cavanbirdwatching@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Tree-planting help wanted!

Dear birdwatcher,

Cavan Birdwatch have been invited to come along and participate in the following event..

"You are invited to come along to a tree planting event at Castle Lake Forest Bailieboro on Friday 10th March at 2pm."

This is part of an initiative called "Peace Forest Community Planting" in commemoration of the victims of the Troubles. This area will be called the Peace Forest.
Coillte have sponsored the plants and will be on hand at the event.
Bring along spade and wellies. There will be no heavy work involved.


Our branch have used this forest over the past decade for our Dawn Chorus events as well as for individual birdwatching, and many local members put in alot of time and effort in erecting and maintaining nestboxes there so it would be wonderful if we could give them as much support as we can.

Look at the following to find out more..

Peace Forest