On the up!

The weather eventually calmed down enough yesterday for us to make a start on getting the seaward fence back up. As it stands we should have the fencing around the K-colony (i.e. the section of the colony north of The Breaches, on the Kilcoole side) finished by the weekend. The section of the beach south of The Breaches, known as the N-colony (i.e. on the Newcastle side) irregularly supports breeding Little Terns from year to year. The numbers present there can range from none at all to quite significant (e.g. 15 pairs in 2010 & 20 pairs in 2009). I suspect that several pairs may nest there this year given that the extent of the K-colony section of beach is much reduced so we'll get around to fencing an area south of The Breaches as soon as we can.

The fine weather this morning finally allowed for some decent censusing too. A lovely flock of c.120 adult Little Terns were resting at the mouth of The Breaches at 06:00am, making frequent dreading flights. Many others were present higher up on the beach continuing with nest-site selection. It'll be interesting to see how the numbers pan out on the run up to the first egg being laid. Early on in the season the terns may travel widely, visiting different colonies along the East coast before they settle down to breed so we may have 50 birds one day, 80 the next, 20 the following day then 150 the day after!

We've now got 4 pairs of Ringed Plover breeding on site, consisting of 3 pairs in the K-colony with a total of 12 young (8 of which I've ringed) & a 4th pair at the N-colony currently incubating 4 eggs. Furthermore, there's also a pair of Oystercatchers nesting in the N-colony & incubating 3 eggs (typical clutch size) which have been coded as OC1 (I'll let you work that one out yourselves!). Both the Ringed Plover & Oystercatcher nests in the N-colony have been temporarily fenced off with flexi-net & marked with signposts to ensure that people or dogs don't trample the eggs.

Oystercatcher nest pics from last year © Niall Keogh

The 'big news' yesterday involved the finding of a SHORT-TOED LARK (rare vagrant from the Mediterranean) by yours truly along the coastal path between the N-colony & the railway track at midday. It was a lifer for me (a species I've never ever seen before) & the 1st record for Co. Wicklow apparently so needless to say I did a little victory dance on the beach!!! A great bird which showed very well at times. It moved up & down the beach between The Breaches & Six Mile Point (Newcastle) for most of the day and was seen right up to 20:00pm. It was successfully twitched by about 15 birders over the course of the afternoon/evening. No sign of it this morning though unfortunately.

More on the lark here: 

http://www.irishbirding.com/birds/web/Display/sighting/34002/Shorttoed_Lark.html

Short-toed Lark © Mick Boyle

Just got a phone call off my father literally 2 minutes ago to say there's a 2nd calendar-year Hobby flying about Six Mile Point, hunting! And I'm stuck in the office here writing this blog! TYPICAL!!! Anyways, in other news, the female Marsh Harrier continues to show well, usually hunting in & around Stringer's channels and was even seen circling high above the tern colony at one stage yesterday, almost looking like it was heading out to sea (scared the bejaysus out of the terns too!). A Quail flushed along the coastal path at Newcastle yesterday by local birder Pat King whilst on the way up to see the Short-toed Lark was an excellent find! A female Red-breasted Merganser flying south at sea yesterday was a notable record (scarce in Wicklow), 4 feral Greylag Geese were feeding on the fields inland whilst Water Rail, Willow Warbler & Snipe were all noted this morning and new for the project list so far this season. Other than that, the usual waders are still moving through, a male Kestrel has been hunting along the dunes & the Buzzard is still present inland from The Breaches.

The Otter put on a fine display this morning, fishing in The Breaches at 08:00am & there's now plenty of Common Blue butterflies on the wing along the dunes.


Right...I'm off for this Hobby!

See ya,

Niall

Windy Business!

The strong Southerly winds over the past few days have been hampering our efforts to get the fence up around the colony. Some sections keep blowing over & have had to be re-enforced with extra posts. This morning I woke up to find that last nights hide tide coupled with the easterly element of the wind had flattened the seaward section of fencing overnight, which is rather annoying to say the least! At least we know now how far we can extend the fencing down the beach whilst keeping it out of reach from the tides. The shape of the beach this year might present a bit of a problem as it is very low & the high tide mark is quite far up compared to other years meaning that the amount of safe breeding habitat for the terns is largely reduced.

Wind + fencing = tired wardens! © Niall Keogh

It seems that the terns are aware of this already as they have been sitting up high on the beach over the past few days. With any luck the terns will take the hint & change the layout of the colony so as it is long & thin, ensuring the majority of birds nesting will be well out of reach from particularly high tides or storms. There are now approximately 85 Little Terns present at the colony & again there's plenty of courting, display flights & sandeel passing being observed. Some birds have even been seen apparently prospecting for nest sites. No mating has been noted yet though so we're still not expecting eggs anytime soon (the average laying date is about the 19th May).

Female Little Tern (right) after receiving a Sandeel 'gift' from a courting male (left) © Niall Keogh
 

The northward Spring passage of waders continues with counts of 35 Dunlin, 33 Black-tailed Godwits, 13 Bar-tailed Godwits, 5 Whimbrel, 17 Turnstone, 8 Oystercatchers, a Common Sandpiper & a single Sanderling. Bird of Prey have been particularly prevalent also with singles of Buzzard, Sparrowhawk, Peregrine & Kestrel hunting the general area & even a female Marsh Harrier on Stringer's land on Sunday morning. Other noteworthy species over the past few days include a female White Wagtail, a Red-throated Diver, Manx Shearwaters, a Wheatear, 5 Little Egrets, 3 Shoveler, 2 Teal, Swift, a Grasshopper Warbler & 2 Stock Doves. A young Otter seen on Friday was a rare daytime sighting for this time of year (they usually go very nocturnal in summer around here).

A Ringed Plover on the beach yesterday evening. The small size, dark colouration to upperparts & state of moult suggest it is a migrant from an Arctic breeding population as opposed to one of our own local birds © Niall Keogh

RP1 & RP2

A quick scan of the colony on Saturday evening revealed a female Ringed Plover sitting low & tight, indicating that she might be incubating eggs. A closer inspection confirmed that she was indeed on 4 eggs, a full clutch! The nest was a typical Ringed Plover scrape, decorated with white & amber stones as well as pieces of white seashells. The nest was then given the rather imaginative name of RP1 (i.e. Ringed Plover 1!) and marked nearby with a coded stone so we can find it with relative ease & check on it’s status over the coming days. The female plover is still present & incubating today.

Just a pile of shingle?...

Whats that in the middle?...

...4 eggs from Ringed Plover nest RP1 © Niall Keogh

Ringed Plover generally begin breeding well before the Little Terns do so it's no surprise that we have a nest with eggs already. Spurred on by the discovery of RP1, I gave the colony a thorough scan again yesterday. The strong Southerly winds that we're experiencing at the moment has meant that most birds out on the beach such as Ringed Plover, Little Terns, other species of wader etc. are all hunkered down & facing into the wind, making them all look like they are sitting on nests! One female Ringed Plover did look a bit unusual in her stance however, sitting upright with all her breast feathers fluffed out. This is typical behaviour of a bird that is 'brooding', i.e. keeping chicks warm or sheltered underneath it. When the wind died down a bit I approached the female plover who quickly scurried away & began her distraction display nearby. Sure enough there were 4 small Ringed Plover chicks (probably only a day or two old at most) huddled together doing their best to try & keep themselves out of trouble! The general are where the chicks are present was marked as RP2.

The 4 Ringed Plover chicks from RP2 © Niall Keogh

It's great to get two pairs of Ringed Plover breeding already this early in the season. It should give them a good head start on getting their broods out & fledged successfully. We'll keep monitoring these two pairs & any others which attempt to breed over the course of the season and keep you guys updated on how they are getting on.

See ya,

Niall

Un-Breached

The number of Little Terns at the colony rose to 64 yesterday. Again there was plenty of dreading & courtship activity to be observed. Should be about 2 weeks until the first egg is laid! The string fencing & information signs are now in place around the main part of the colony between the Buckthorn bushes & The Breaches bridge whilst the first section of flexi-net is in position along the wardens path.

The Breaches is now open after being blocked for some time, so we're expecting the small estuary to become tidal again soon enough which should attract more wading birds to the area during the peak Spring migration period over the next couple of weeks. Thanks go to the staff at Newcastle Airfield for opening up the shingle bar at The Breaches which gets blocked during periods of strong North-easterly or Easterly winds, causing water to back up into the estuary & onto the marsh. It's important to keep The Breaches open as much as possible, not only for the local wildlife but also for the surrounding farmland.

Hi-Mac opening the shingle bar at The Breaches to release backed up water © Niall Keogh

Normal tidal patterns allow the small estuary at The Breaches to become a haven for wading birds, Kingfishers, Otters & Grey Mullet © Niall Keogh

Day One!

Myself, Cole & Jason moved the caravans, fence posts & signs down onto the site today. The first set of barriers around the colony, comprising of string fencing & information signs will go up over the next day or two. This will mark out what section of the beach is off-limits and what section of the path is still open to the public. The main fencing around the colony (flexi-net & electric fencing) will be put in place over the next while once we get an idea of where the birds are settling down to nest.

Plenty of Little Tern activity at the main colony site with lots of courtship & display flights going on. Quite a bit of dreading was observed too, during which a total of 46 birds were counted (up from 10 birds when I visited the colony on Saturday).

The Breaches has been blocked for sometime now and the estuary is full to the brim. As such most of the waders in the area were in Webb's field (NPWS reserve). There was still plenty of them moving through all the same with 22 Whimbrel, 23 Black-tailed Godwits, 3 Bar-tailed Godwits, 18 Dunlin, 16 Turnstones & a Common Sandpiper noted this afternoon. I'm looking forward to seeing how the wader migration pans out over the next 3 weeks or so, let's hope for something good! The only other birds of note were a Swift & a Yellowhammer at the farmyard and a 'winter' plumaged Red-throated Diver seen offshore from the colony.

Anyways, it's great to be back. The raucous sound of Little Terns displaying overhead was a welcome sound!

I'll post again this weekend/Monday with some pics & an update on how the fencing/setting up process goes.

See ya,

Niall