Nearly There

It's really starting to kick off down on the beach. After completing the full system of flexi-net & electric fencing around the K-colony during the week, the Little Terns started settling down straight away, almost as if they were waiting for us to finish it! Several pairs have been busy up on the highest parts of the beach, digging around looking for nest scrape sites & lots of attempted matings noted. About 70-100 birds were present most days but numbers peaked on Thursday with a whopper 164 terns counted around 2pm when most were day roosting along the foreshore. Whilst scanning through the flock a pair were seen displaying in a manner suggesting they were about to mate...and they did! Laura has reported 3 more confirmed copulations this morning so it could well be this weekend when we find our first nests (fingers crossed).

Scrape digging © Niall Keogh

Attempted mating! © Laura Nuttall

The number of Ringed Plover pairs breeding in the colony has risen to six (1 pair with a chick & 5 pairs on eggs), whilst the Oystercatchers are still incubating away in almost exactly the same spot they nested last year. The 'Oycs' are great to have around as they add some serious muscle to the colony defence force, readily driving away any crows or gulls that come too close as well as causing a racket if any Foxes or Hedgehogs were to pop in at night. 

Ringed Plover © Niall Keogh

Oystercatcher © Niall Keogh

On the subject of predators, there are plenty of Hooded Crows & Rooks about, mostly feeding in the estuary & in the fields but thankfully their presence on the beach has diminished since the wardening effort stepped up a notch after the fencing was completed. A pair of Kestrels & a pair of Sparrowhawks have been seen frequently, most often around the Sea Buckthorn where they are busy hunting for their favoured prey (small mammals & small birds respectively). A Peregrine has homed in on the area & and has made three attempts on the Little Tern colony to date, one of which was successful! Cole saw the adult Peregrine take a Little Tern in flight over The Breaches on Wednesday. For the past few years, Peregrines have predated a small number of terns, usually at the start of the breeding season, but not in any numbers to cause abandonment of the colony site. There has been no sign of any mammalian predator activity which is encouraging. We conducted a thorough check of the Marram dunes for Hedgehogs & found nowt but a Field Mouse!

Hedgehog checking © Laura Nuttall

Kestrel © Niall Keogh

Birding in the area has been quite productive lately with the highlight certainly being a PECTORAL SANDPIPER which was found in 'Webb's field' on Tuesday evening. This North American vagrant was most likely blown across the Atlantic last autumn during Hurricane season, migrated south during the winter & is now heading back North in Spring, but just on the wrong side! It was twitched the next day by about 10 local birders.

Pectoral Sandpiper © Niall Keogh

There was a large fall of Wheatears last weekend, with a peak count of 85 on Sunday. Most hung around for a few days after & were joined by a female Yellow Wagtail & a couple of White Wagtails. No sign of the Spring wader migration slowing down yet either with lots of Whimbrel (70+), Dunlin (95+) & Oystercatchers (40+) about in particular. Groups of summer plumaged Turnstones & Sanderling are migrating North along the coast & small numbers of scarce Wicklow species such as Grey Plover, Knot & Bar-tailed Godwit add a nice Arctic flavour to the mix. Summering wildfowl still about include 4 Gadwall, 3 Wigeon, 4 Shoveler, 2 Tufted Ducks & 2 Pochard.

Female Wheatear © Niall Keogh   

Linnet © Niall Keogh   

A couple of pairs of Swallows are breeding under The Breaches bridge © Niall Keogh      

An injured Dunlin © Niall Keogh  

Otters on Elev8

Jamie Durrant (BirdWatch Ireland) was on site this morning with a crew from RTÉ filming a piece on Otters for the kids programme, Elev8 which is due to broadcast this Wednesday at 4pm on RTÉ 2.

No sign of the animals themselves but at least there was plenty of very fresh Otter tracks & signs for the guys to look at on the saltmash & under the bridge.

Otter spraint © Niall Keogh

Otter tracks © Niall Keogh

New Warden

We're delighted to announce that Laura Nuttall has joined the 2012 Kilcoole Little Tern Conservation Project team & has started her new position as a Day Warden today.

Laura has worked for BirdWatch Ireland & the RSPB on a range of projects since 2008. These have included Dunlin breeding ecology in Co. Mayo, Golden Plover habitat use & productivity, waterways bird surveys focussing on Kingfisher, low tide counts and Bird Atlas surveying. She has also worked on two desk studies, one looking at long term trends in wintering waterbirds and another on the potential impacts of flood risk management methods on birds. With the exception of the Golden Plover project, all of these have been in Ireland. She is now looking forward to spending this summer as a warden at the Kilcoole Little Tern colony and to meeting as many of our readers as possible. In her spare time Laura enjoys climbing hills. 

Numbers Building

Wet, windy & miserable! Pretty much sums up the past week for us down here on the beach. Strong South Easterlies coupled with a Spring tide hammered the colony site on Monday, with waves reaching well up beyond the half way mark in places. Exactly the sort of weather event we don't want in a month or so! Thankfully none of the Little Terns have started nesting yet, with most birds spending alternate days fishing at sea. 

Little Tern © Ronnie Martin

Serious bit of weather! © Niall Keogh

Flock sizes have been fluctuating markedly throughout the week, typical for this time of year as birds move between sites before finally settling down to breed. At times the colony can seem almost deserted, then all of a sudden a flock of 50-80 terns will land in, forming a raucous line along the foreshore with birds displaying to each other between bouts of preening. Our peak count was of c.120 terns during the rough weather on Monday, 70 of which were resting along the K-colony foreshore whilst another 50 were out to sea. Amongst the resting flock was a tern sporting a blue plastic ring, most likely one of two blue colour-ringed birds we have seen here in 2004, 2010 & 2011. The terns were more settled yesterday with several pairs prospecting for nest sites & even a failed mating attempt noted. It's starting to feel like a real colony now. 

Little Terns in courtship flight (male on the left with the fish) © Ronnie Martin

Foreshore antics! © Niall Keogh

Our first nests were discovered on 12th May last year (quite an early date) so I reckon if we don't find any by the end of this weekend it will be next weekend before any action happens (the traditional first egg laying dates would be around 18th-21st May). The system of fencing around the main colony is nearly finished with the landward section, including designated viewing areas for the public, fully set up. We're just waiting for the high tides & rough weather to abate before deciding on where to place the seaward length of fence.

Other species of birds breeding locally have been performing well too. The Lapwing in Webb's field are now up to 20-22 pairs (15 of which have a min. of 40 chicks), a few pairs of Shelduck have been mooching about potential nest sites, the Skylarks in the K-colony dunes are busy feeding their first brood, 4 pairs of breeding Ringed Plovers have been found within the tern colony area & 2 pairs of Oystercatchers have also been seen mating and are expected to lay eggs any day now.

Shelduck © Niall Keogh

Ringed Plover © Ronnie Martin

An incubating Ringed Plover keeping a watchful eye! © Niall Keogh

Ringed Plover egg & chick © Niall Keogh

Skylark chicks in the nest © Niall Keogh

Oystercatcher at the K-colony © Niall Keogh

Wader passage has been much the same since my last update with max. daily counts as follows: Dunlin (91), Whimbrel (82), Oystercatcher (36), Turnstone (29), Sanderling (15), Black-tailed Godwit (13), Ringed Plover (10), Curlew (5), Grey Plover (2), Redshank (1), Bar-tailed Godwit (1) & Snipe (1).

Other birding highlights include: a 2nd calendar-year Little Gull in The Breaches, a Red-breasted Merganser flying South & a 2nd calendar-year Mediterranean Gull flying North at sea on Sunday 6th. A rather tired looking Lesser Redpoll was seen in the K-colony dunes on Monday 7th (bizzare record!) & a stunning 2nd calendar-year type female Marsh Harrier flew through on Tuesday 8th. Another Marsh Harrier was also seen on Tuesday by Brian Haslam, this time a 3rd calendar-year type male, south of The Breaches.

Whimbrels (curved bills) & Bar-tailed Godwits (straight bills) © Ronnie Martin    

Summer plumaged Red-throated Diver just offshore © Ronnie Martin

Summer plumaged Dunlin on the beach © Ronnie Martin

Moving In

After a very wet week it looked as if setting up for the project was going to hit a serious wall. Every year we have to bring the wardens luxury accommodation (three caravans!), all the necessary fencing equipment & signs across 'Webb's field' NPWS nature reserve, to the camp site located just beside the main Little Tern colony (aka 'K-colony'). For the past two years this has been relatively easy to do due to dry conditions but the tracks across the reserve were flooded during the week & by Thursday it seemed as if they were still too muddy to drive across let alone drag a caravan with us! Thankfully the tracks had dried out sufficiently enough for us to bring all the caravans & equipment across yesterday afternoon, so as of this weekend the 2012 Kilcoole Little Tern Conservation Project is good to go! First job on the list is to put the perimeter fence & information signs up around the K-colony indicating which sections of the beach & coastal path are safe for the public to use.

The numbers of Little Terns present has increased dramatically since my last blog post. There are now 70+ birds present at the K-colony, most of which are already going through the motions of courtship. Superb aerial displays, males presenting Sandeels to females & even some apparent nest-site selection have all been observed in the past two days. Once we have an idea of where the terns seem to be settling down to breed then we'll make a start on putting up the protective flexi & electric fencing.

A male tern presenting a sandeel to a female © James Hayes

Little Terns chilling out on the foreshore © Niall Keogh

Before moving the caravans across Webb's field, I censused the area for breeding Lawping in order to mark out a safe route for us to cross. To my surprise there were even more breeding pairs than I had ever anticipated! Up to 17 pairs are present, consisting of 10 pairs with chicks, 4 pairs sitting on nests & another 3 pairs which seem as if they are holding territory. A fantastic result for them so far & the large number of chicks present indicates there hasn't been any major Fox activity in the area lately. We'll be sure to keep a close eye on their numbers over the season. One brood of four chicks were sighted near the track whilst we were driving across the field so I took the opportunity to ring them.

Lapwings © Niall Keogh

There are still some nice numbers of migrant waders present with peaks counts over the past few days as follows: 145 Dunlin, 53 Whimbrel, 47 Oystercatchers, 33 Ringed Plover, 7 Sanderling, 6 Turnstone, 6 Bar-tailed Godwits, 3 Black-tailed Godwits, 1 Curlew, 1 Redshank & 1 Common Sandpiper. Of particular interest were a couple of 'arctica'-type Dunlin & 'tundrae'-type Ringed Plover which are on their way to breeding grounds well to the North as their names suggest!

Other sightings of note in the area: 16 Light-bellied Brent Geese, 5 Gadwall, 3 Wigeon, 3 Shoveler, 7 Teal, 13 Shelduck (including a prospecting pair), a Peregrine, 5 Little Egrets, a male White Wagtail, 6 Wheatears, 5 Sedge Warblers, small numbers of House Martins, Sand Martins & Swifts, good numbers of Swallows (200-300 North per. hour on Thurs), 3 Stock Doves, a singing Yellowhammer & a nice pair of Stonechats at the BirdWatch Ireland reserve.

Male Reed Bunting at the BirdWatch Ireland reserve © Niall Keogh

Some of the Brent Geese in Webb's field © Niall Keogh

Rail Safety

All BirdWatch Ireland and National Parks & Wildlife Service staff involved with the Kilcoole Little Tern Conservation Project met on site today with representatives from Iarnród Éireann and were briefed on rail safety for this seasons work. As we operate directly alongside an active railway line it is imperative that we are fully trained on how to work safely in the area. Many thanks to Iarnród Éireann for taking us through the procedures.

Otherwise it was a miserable, wet & windy day but there was plenty of activity in the area. About 20 Little Terns were seen in flight at one stage together over the K-colony, whilst sightings on the marsh included 75 Dunlin, 20 Turnstones, 20 Ringed Plover, 7 Whimbrel, c.80 Herring Gulls, c.35 Great Black-backed Gulls, a Light-bellied Brent Goose, 5 Teal, a Wigeon, a Shoveler, 2 Stock Doves & a Kestrel.

Of particular interest was a 2nd calendar-year (i.e. 1st-summer) Little Gull which was seen flying around The Breaches. Little Gulls are often found sheltering on the marsh or estuary at Kilcoole during inclement weather. They can be recorded throughout the season but sightings of immature birds such as this are most frequent in May.

This 2nd calendar-year Little Gull was photographed in The Breaches back in May 2010 © Niall Keogh

April Recce

A pioneering Little Tern, the first of the year at Kilcoole was noted on 18th April (Ian Stevenson per. IrishBirding). Over the next 10 days more reports came in right around the coast from Louth to Galway so I decided to pop down to Kilcoole last Friday (27th April) for a general look around & to see if any more birds had arrived. I always like to get a feel for the site in advance of the project season (which starts this week).

Whilst strolling along the coast towards the main breeding location (known as the 'K-colony') the distinctive sound of a Little Tern rang through my ears for the first time in 8 months, but I couldn't see it! Perhaps my wardening skills were rusty after the winter break? 

A short while later I was standing at the K-colony with my neck cranked backwards, staring up in awe at a pair of terns in full display flight, wheeling around with incredible speed. All the while a second courting pair were present nearby in The Breaches, themselves holding their heads back, necks fully stretched & wings lowered, seemingly mocking me with their posture. 

Adult Little Tern (better pics to follow, promise!) © Niall Keogh

The state of the beach was less heart warming however. Strong North Easterlies lashed the coast in recent weeks which, in conjunction with some high tides have re-profiled the beach such that the overall height is much lower than would be desirable, potentially reducing the amount of available 'safe' nesting habitat from future extreme weather events. Several years worth of dried seaweed & encroaching maritime vegetation have also been cleared back right up to the sand dunes making the beach much more open...easier for wardens to keep a watchful eye on nesting terns but perhaps also for predators to spot eggs & chicks!

I'd like to think I'm being overly pessimistic here but in any case we should all hope for settled weather this summer for the sake of the birds!

K-colony site, swept clean! © Niall Keogh

Heavy rain has resulted in higher water levels than expected for the time of year on the coastal marshes at Kilcoole. As such, there was some excellent numbers of Spring migrant waders present on Friday: 64 Whimbrel, 206 Black-tailed Godwits, 43 Golden Plover, 42 Oystercatchers, 89 Dunlin, 32 Ringed Plover, 19 Turnstone, 7 Curlew, 2 Redshank, 7 Bar-tailed Godwits & 4 Common Sandpipers were all counted on the NPWS reserve (known as 'Webb's Field') alone. Between 10-12 pairs of Lapwing are breeding here also, some of which already have small chicks. A rather encouraging increase on previous years tallies so far.

Other species of interest on the marsh included 18 Shelduck, 5 Teal, 3 Wigeon, a male Shoveler, 4 Light-bellied Brent Geese, 4 Little Egrets, 19 Great Black-backed Gulls, a Stock Dove & a singing male Stonechat. A Swift was seen overhead, 22 Swallows & 4 Sandwich Terns migrated North and a female Kestrel was showing well, hunting along the dunes.

The Breaches have been re-opened recently. Good news for terns, waders & Otters © Niall Keogh  

A tern nest marker stone from last year. That's good ink! © Niall Keogh  

Oycs & Ringos

Not only have the Little Terns done well this year down at the Kilcoole colony but so have the Oystercatchers & Ringed Plovers. This isn't surprising given that they also benefit from the extra protection from predators & human disturbance afforded by the fencing & 24 hour a day wardening. 

A total of 15 nesting attempts were made by 7-8 pairs of Ringed Plovers, comprising of 2 pairs in the N-colony, 4-5 pairs in the K-colony & another pair just to the north of the K-colony fencing in the buffer zone. Most of these pairs laid early enough to allow them to raise their first brood & then try again for a second. 

The two pairs that bred in the N-colony were predated at the egg stage, most likely by Hooded Crows, but one pair did manage to hatch it's chicks from a second nesting attempt. Otherwise, only a handful of eggs failed to hatch & these usually involved eggs in second clutches which is to be expected.

So all in all, 43 chicks hatched with a maximum of 37 fledging of which 31 were ringed. This is a great result compared to last year when 6 pairs bred but hardly raised any young to fledging for reasons unknown.

Various Ringed Plover chick pics. They're definitely the coolest little fellas on the beach! © Niall Keogh

The two pairs of Oystercatchers that nested on the beach (a pair each in the K & N-colony) both laid 3 eggs of which which 2 hatched from each nest. The parent Oycs did a great job keeping their young well fed & out of danger, chasing every gull & crow that approached in anyway close with the result that all 4 Oyc chicks fledged & can now been seen feeding in The Breaches estuary. A third pair also bred nearby in Webb's field, fledging two young. Again, another improvement on last year when both pairs on the beach fledged single young each whilst the Webb's field pair was predated at the egg stage.

A well grown Oyc chick from the OC2 pair in the K-colony being fed by a parent © Jamie Durrant

One of the two Oyc chicks from the pair that bred in Webb's field. Both chicks were caught & ringed © Niall Keogh

Despite doing well off the back of nesting within the fenced area of the beach, the poor Oycs did have to put up with a summer of being harassed daily by the Little Terns! © Jamie Durrant