iwepts October 2012

What time did you have your alarm set Saturday morning?
5.45am for me, crazy time to be getting up I thought, (as I got up), but a 10.30am high tide meant we had to be at Bull island for 7.20am.
It was a cold morning.
Jumping up and down cold, and it didn't warm up.
I could hardly concentrate on my counts, Ger was banging his mitts together so much.

10 of us turned up, quite impressive.
I joined Ger and John on their section (south of the causeway to Sutton), numbers weren't massively high or low, loads more Brent, some RH mergansers, only 3 Shelduck, 1 Pintail, few Teal, Wigeon....
Lots of birders were out with their lenses looking for the Yellowlegs, but apparently it wasn't showing.

Due to our extra early start we were all counted, finished and sat having our coffees by 9.30am

John and Ger iwebbing - Oct 2012.

iwepts sept 2012

7.30am The wooden bridge, Clontarf, Sat 15th September 2012

7.35am Bull Island - lots of daylight still.

Jerry, back of John, Ger and the new boy, Denis.

Helen and Laura joined us and the fun began.

We were given our sections, we started counting, the fun drained away.

Not to put anyone off volunteering for iwebs within the 2nd sentence! because it is a good thing to do, but as soon as we started counting we were quickly reminded that iwebs, by its nature, is daunting.

Well, if you want to try and be accurate, it can be daunting; if you didn't care, you could look out at the mudflats, look at all the waders, react with a 'meh', make up some numbers, shout 'finished' and go drink coffee - but we are good little volunteers, so we get to bitch and moan, because if you want to get good counts, iwebs is a bit of a head wreck.
(unless of course you get to 'do' the beach - then you just get to sit on a rock, sip coffee and look wistfully out to sea).

So anyways, me and Denis got on with our counts, bitched and moaned (sign of a good volunteer), decided that sections 3 and 4 were extremely difficult, by far the hardest of all sections in Ireland, congratulated ourselves on being amazing people for giving it a go, made up a master plan of how to do the section differently next month, and before we knew it, we were finished.

Luckily there weren't actually all that many birds around today, hardly any in fact, so we finished up relatively early, and to be honest, it was probably one of the easiest iwebs counts I've done so far (thanks Denis).
The tide didn't rush in, the weather was great, it was very calm and still, no wind, no rain, no fog, no mist, no watery eyes, no snotty nose, no frozen hands, no tantrums, it was warm, maybe 13º, so the two of us were able to take our time, chat, count, we even managed a good look at a Peregrine perched on a post which Denis spotted.

Of note from today's count were early arrivals of Brent Geese, possibly around 100, I counted 240 Common gulls! never seen anymore than 20 in the one go, so to see 240 was incredible.
No Dunlin in our sections, no Knot, no Pintails, no Shovelers, 4 Shelduck, not many Oystercatchers in comparison to the numbers me and Jim saw in August, no Plovers at all - that we saw. 50ish GBB gulls, Helen got Wigeon and Teal....  and the perched Peregrine.

So that was our Sept iwebs, started 8ish, finished by 9.40am.

After iwebs, I drove over to Crumlin to see if I could see this Raven being reported by Stephen Lawlor
on Irish Birding.
He's also managed to see an adult Med gull (Clonmacnoise roundabout/ Bangor circle, Crumlin), Buzzard (soaring over Crumlin/ Drimnagh) and Merlin (Landsdowne valley park, Drimnagh) in the last few weeks.
Of course I didn't see any from his list today.

But I did see a Common gull in with the Herring gulls and Black headed gulls on Clonmacnoise roundabout.

Adult Common Gull, Clonmacnoise roundabout, Crumlin, Dublin 12

Size of Common gull in comparison to the juv Herring gull and Black headed gull in distance.

Adult Common gull

juvenile Starling, Crumlin, Dublin 12

Adult Starling, Crumlin, Dublin 12 - there was a flock of around 120.

Just look at the brush stroke precision of the plumage

Not the sharpest photo of a Rook, but I love that dagger bill and near blue tones going through the feathers.

2 juvenile Rooks, Crumlin

Would you just get off!

Whev.

So there you go, there's a post for you.

No more official complaints to the blog ombudsman please.
Cold weather and long dark nights make for lots of posts, warm weather and long bright evenings make for few.

Pretend iwepts aug 2012

Bull island High tide was 1pm (4m), so we met at 10.30am to give us a few hours to get to grips with what was around.
I was amazed that there wasn't a single Oystercatcher north of the causeway. Usually, due to my poor wader id skills, I volunteer to count the 1000's of oystercatchers in this area, so to see none was a real eye opener, it made me realise how full on migration to the Bull actually is.
We didn't see any Knot (that's up for discussion), no Teal, no Brent, no Wigeon, no Pintails, 34 Shelduck, no Bartailed godwits, but 150ish blacktailed north of the causeway. 1 Dunlin.

150 Blacktailed godwits, Bull island, Aug 18th 2012.

points for the Dunlin and the Mystery bird.

Dunlin bottom left, Mystery bird top.

When we saw it fly off we saw it had seemed to have black legs, Knots have yellowy legs. The species of this bird is probably very obvious to lots of people looking at this photo, and I think it's probably a Knot, but who knows.

We saw at least 14 Little Egrets on the Bull. 46 were seen today (21 Aug) according to the Bull island website.

Black tailed godwit in summer plumage, Bull Island, Aug 18th 2012.

First Curlew I'd seen for months.

2nd Curlew? Much shorter bill.

Much shorter bill and obvious markings on the head. My first ever Whimbrel. There have been large numbers of Whimbrel on the Bull over the last few months, I think I saw 50 listed at one point. There was only 1 that I saw. Actually I've just looked at Tom's Bull island website and he saw 64 Whimbrel yesterday!

My one and only Whimbrel, a bird I've scanned and scanned for over the years.

South of the Causeway Jim was able to initially id, then differentiate 25 Grey plovers from 400 Golden plovers. I wouldn't have known they were plovers, I was glad he was around.
Neither would I have been confident to know that the flock of 150 Godwits was only made up of Black tailed with no Bar tailed there.
I got the Lapwing though, 30 and Redshank, 500. Then my old friends the Oycs, 700 of them hanging out south side.
By midday the tide had already risen to cover all the previously exposed mud.
So although high tide wasn't until 1pm, by midday most the waders had disappeared into the salt marshes, hidden from view.

A great morning, thanks to Jim for making it out.

Iwebs March 2012 - blub

Difficult to see what I'm writing here through the tears.
Today was the last iwebs count for 6 months.

*hand punch of joy into the air*

It has been interesting and of course I've enjoyed it, but I won't lie, it's the other iwebbers wot makes it. Ger, John, Philip, Tom, Jerry, Sinéad and especially Helen - big up and Respect.
Great to see Denis joining today too, as the iwebs PA, lovely handwriting.
Nice to have a Royal visit from Kendrew too, short but sweet flyby.

March 2012 iwebs was a very quiet and easy count, quite the opposite to last month's. TG.
Me and Philip covered sections 3 and 4, there were so few birds, it was great.

Bull island 08.36 March 10th 2012. Dull, but dry day. There was sun behind a load of cloud, but the cloud never really cleared so there was no sun shine = poor photos to follow.

Philip sporting this season's Farmer Chic look. Philip was well able to count all the Dunlins, Knot, Green shank and Grey Plover - the waders I simply wouldn't have been able for.

Section 3, Bull Island, Dublin Bay

I think we finished up by 11.30 and went for coffee (and scone, and sushi(!), and one of those natural bars that pretends to be healthy but is packed with sugar - yum).

I was really hoping the sun might give me a break so I could get some good light for some decent shots, but nope, it was poor light all day.
And birds seemed to be all really far off today too.

Little Egret, Bull Island, Mar 2012

Female Merlin, Bull Island, Mar 2012. Male would be grey on top and have a thick black tail band.

Meadow Pipit resting on a post near the golf course, pale sub moustachial. One of 'loads of Meadow pipits' at the Bull today.

Terrible photo of a Skylark, but just wanted to mention that there were thousands of Skylarks at the Bull today all singing and starring in their own sky shows, great to be in the audience.

Kestrel, grey head and grey tail = male kestrel, Bull island, Mar 2012

Male Kestrel, female would have a brown head and paler body

Male Kestrel, female would have barring across her tail and it would be browner, not plain grey as the male's above.

No Owls that I saw, Philip didn't see any either (he was there at dawn), Denis didn't see any (but nothing new there), neither did a couple of birders we met on the way back (possible urban birder sighting!) and I've just checked Irish Birding and no sightings, so I'm assuming the owls have finished their wintering at the Bull and gone off to their breeding grounds for a bit of summer lovin.
Happened so fast.

Iwebs Workshop, Dublin, 25th Feb 2012

Big up and thank you to the H Bee and the O Cee for a very interesting Iwebs workshop in Dublin last Saturday.
Presentations on tips for wader id's (guess), tips for accurate Iwebs counting (again, guess), Iwebs reporting (tick anything), what's done with all the Iwebs info (bin) and why Iwebs needs to be done at all (have to), were given by the organisers and Iwebs champi-onis Helen Boland and Olivia Crowe.
Both gave excellent presentations, don't know how they do it; public speaking - shudder.


John English (and another guy whose name I can't remember, sorry) from the Finglas Branch also gave a talk, describing how they've been counting waders down at Rogerstown estuary since before time Iwebs began and discussed some of the ongoing problems they face.
They sounded incredibly dedicated to the cause and obviously cared hugely about the conservation of the Estuary area.
Respect.

Some issues mentioned during the day seemed to trigger what could potentially have been very lengthy discussions, but time constraints only allowed the following Hot Topics to be touched upon:

• Lack of volunteer Iwebs counters around the country, Rogerstown especially

• Lack of informative monitoring/ signage around Bull Island asking owners to keep their dogs on lead

• Lack of signage around Rogerstown reminding people how the area is an SPA (Special Protection Area) and that shooting of birds (whilst legal) should at least be limited.The problem of legal shooting around Rogerstown has become more problematic over the last few years.

Olivia Crowe giving a presentation on Iwebs reporting, Feb 2012

The task from hell - get into groups and work out how to split up the massive Strangford loch area for Iwebs reporting. Thankfully I was in the same group as Sinead Cummins, Siobhan Egan, John Cromie and Ger Franck - I respectfully listened to their wisdom - who wouldn't?! As they poured over the map, I was intrigued by how they worked everything out, they certainly know their stuff and it was cool to see their knowledge in action. Btw - that's not Sinead or Siobhan behind John and Ger - unless that's how they look in photos.

John presenting our Task from Hell masterplan (Fingal group put everyone to shame btw).

Siobhan Egan listening, Sinead Cummins texting.

Not that we'd realise too much, but the sunshine outside was splitting the sky during the day, so just before lunch we all went outside to squint into the sun for a photo and then weirdly we all went back inside to the darkness - very unusual for a bunch of birders, but there you go - we were all obviously in 'the zone'.

I think we finished up by 2.30pm and most people drove down to Bull Island to one of the Dublin Iwebs areas up close and personal.
The Bull was putting on a good show with plenty of waders prodding the mud, tucking beaks into pluamge and behaving in the required manner when guests are present.
Eventually people started heading home and myself, Dennis and Patrick Walked All The Way down to the Point to try and see the 4 reported Short eared owls - we didn't see any owls, but we did see a female Merlin who seemed to be having her after lunch sit down.
I didn't have my big lens, which was nice seeing as, like I said, we Walked All the Way Down to the Point, but I don't think I'm going to move to digiscoping anytime soon.

Female Merlin having an after meal sit down on a grass tussock, Bull Island Feb 2012

So the iwebs workshop was a very informative and interesting day - thanks to all involved.
Helen and Olivia obviously put in a huge amount of work to makeIwebs reporting accurate and efficient, they do remarkable work and seem hugely under resourced in what they do, but they seem to have risen above this and do a sterling job regardless. Muchos respectos to them.
The Iwebs season finishes in a few weeks but starts up again in October, so if you think you would be interested in counting waders (especially if you live near Rogerstown Estuary) you should email hboland@birdwatchireland.ie

Iwebs Feb 2012

Iwebs Feb 2012 was the toughest so far.
We started counting about 9.45am from the wooden bridge,  everything was hunkydory, moved to the main road and the amount of birds where we had just been seemed to have quadrupled.
We count them pre high tide roost which can result in mis counts as the birds keep jumping up to steer clear of the rising water, which meant re-counts and re-counts again.
This tide seemed to have them more active than usual too, plus I'm slow counting my species anyway, so I was getting a tad frustrated, and I didn't even have to count the small waders which kept lifting for Sinead and Jerry!
Plus, I find the huge expanse we have to cover with no markers difficult.
PLUS, I've graduated onto counting 9 species now: Oystercatchers, Brent geese, Black headed gulls, Curlew, Greater black backed gulls, Common gulls, Herring gulls, Herons and Shelduck, tbh, my head was errrwrecked.
Anyhow, the counts were done and the coffee was downed by 1pm.

I wanted to go to Wicklow again so planned to take the east toll road from Clontarf to go via bootytown, the N11 and down to Wicklow that way.
Except that didn't happen.
Something similar to this did:
(this is footage from Rosslare port, Co Wexford- and yes, he does do a pee in the middle of the road, bonus points if you spot the 2nd guy doing the same in the bushes!)



I'm going to blame the Magnificent signage rather than my lack of brain cells for what happened, but I ended driving through the port tunnel in the completely opposite direction (going North towards the airport) and having to get back South via the M50, €6 in tolls to go the wrong way later and I was finally on the N11 and eventually around Sally Gap area by 3ish.

Road near Lough Dan, Co Wicklow, Feb 11th 2012

Foggy Wicklow colours

Coronation plantation, Co Wicklow, Feb 2012

Several Ravens around Coronation plantation, Co Wicklow

River Liffey in its infancy, running through Coronation plantation, Co Wicklow

Apart from the calls of the Ravens and the calls of a pair of Great tits I didn't hear (or see) anything else, and I did sit down, stay quiet and listen.
I would have liked to have stayed much longer but it was getting dark and I had to make my way back.

2 SE owls, 2 Peregrines, 2 Merlins and a dead Skylark

HB, SC and me sen - The Point, Bull Island, Dublin, Sat 14 Jan 2012

Spent all day on Bull Island yesterday.

First was the January iwebs count (very low numbers of everything, not a single Little Egret) then I joined Helen and Sinéad who needed to see what roosted where at high tide.

If I write a quick list of our sightings -  you'll get the gist of the kind of afternoon we had:

• 1 Merlin close up sitting, preening itself as we arrived and still preening itself as we walked away.
• A Skylark lifted and was chased by a Merlin. Skylark flew a curve and escaped, another Merlin joined in the chase, so now we're watching 2 Merlins chasing the Skylark. Poor Skylark snatched midair by 1st Merlin only for the 2nd Merlin to try and pull the Skylark's body from the other Merlin's claws - all happening mid flight.
• 'Short eared Owl!!' shout was called as one flew low over our heads, followed by 'There's Another'! Whilst swapping from binoculars to scope I lost sight of the SE Owls by focusing on a Peregrine Falcon which had gotten involved in the chaos.
• 2 Peregrine Falcons sitting on the grass, each eating their own separate catches.

Didn't have my camera, so no shots, no bird photos, just happy memories.
Aaaaaaah.
until I think about the Skylark - so sorry.
Blub.

Thanks to Helen and Sinéad and John and Ger for a great day.

Howth Head from the Point, Bull Island, Dublin - yes in January! (taken on ipod)

Iwebs December 2011

Sat 10th Dec 2011, Drimnagh 7.12am

Bull Island, 7.38am

Bull Island 7.39am

Bull Island, 7.42am

Bull Island 7.46am

Bull Island 7.47am

Brent Geese flying off, Bull Island 8am

Iwebs December 2011 was a cold 1º.
Multi layers and a bit of jumping around were your only options for keeping warm (hence the camera shake above).
The morning was beautiful though - dry, calm and really bright.

Myself and Tom counted section 3 and 4. I say myself and Tom, Tom counted every species except Brent, Oystercatchers and Shelducks. He flew through his lot, I was eyes wide at how quickly he could scan and count the section.
'40 years of birding and 10 years of helping with iwebs' he explained.
That's me sorted in 2021.

There weren't that many Brents to count, they all flew off by 8.20am! so including the 700 that flew off we counted a total of 1039.

Everyone finished their sections and we headed off for coffee by 9.45am.
I was half thinking of trying to stay around for the Wicklow Branch outing to the Bull at 12.30, but by 11am, we were all done for the day.
The sky had greyed over and the cold was starting to mess with my finely honed core temp, so with only a matter of moments to spare before my hands or feet dropped off I drove home.