Given the numbers I found present (157) last Saturday at highish-tide during the Brent Goose Census, I decided to revisit Mill Bay this evening, on the County Down side of Carlingford Lough, on a lower tide.
Amongst the 116 birds counted today, there were three ringed birds, and one of these was special - ISYY. ISYY, with its cross-banded I, which I ensured we replaced for future ringing with a straight I (because of possible confusion with T), was one of the project's very first catch, at the Wexford Slobs, on 13 February 2001, and has been a regular visitor there over the years. I see that I last recorded it on 18 April 2013 on Annagassan Beach, Dundalk Bay, County Louth on 18 April, 2013. Ringed as an adult, this bird is now 14+ years old. The rewards of long-term monitoring!!...
Thursday, 15 October 2015
Wednesday, 14 October 2015
Report from Galway...
I had a report today from Jenny Young, from the Office of Public Works in Galway, which I thought I'd share:
Hi,
I saw your website and thought I would let you know that I've seen huge numbers of Brent geese flying over western county Galway. I work for the OPW at Aughnanure Castle, Oughterard, Co. Galway, close to the western shores of Lough Corrib, and my colleagues and I have spotted numbers of geese flying over the castle on a daily basis for the past two weeks. They're very noisy and fly in groups of about 20-30, usually in the afternoons. One of the guides here has lived beside the castle all her life and says she has never seen them before. I have worked at the castle a number of years myself and I have never seen anything like this. It's really amazing to see (and hear!) them!
I saw your website and thought I would let you know that I've seen huge numbers of Brent geese flying over western county Galway. I work for the OPW at Aughnanure Castle, Oughterard, Co. Galway, close to the western shores of Lough Corrib, and my colleagues and I have spotted numbers of geese flying over the castle on a daily basis for the past two weeks. They're very noisy and fly in groups of about 20-30, usually in the afternoons. One of the guides here has lived beside the castle all her life and says she has never seen them before. I have worked at the castle a number of years myself and I have never seen anything like this. It's really amazing to see (and hear!) them!
Anyway, just thought I'd let you know. I don't know if this will help you
in any way at all but it can't hurt!
Kind regards,
Jenny Young
The recent Census has shown that there are very few birds actually located in Galway Bay. It therefore seems likely that these birds are moving down to their main wintering sites in Kerry, particularly at Tralee Bay, and at Castlemaine Harbour. Numbers recorded during the Census at Tralee Bay have shown a marked recent increase. This ties in with my own anecdotal thoughts, that there has been a significant movement of birds into Strangford Lough from Iceland in recent days.
The view from the northern part of the flyway
No - I don't yet have pictures of Brent migrating south through Canada or Greenland - maybe some day!
Gudmundur, Svenja and Finnur-Logi (pilot who also knows his birds!) surveyed the large bays of Faxafloi and Breidafjordur in western Iceland on Saturday, counting just under 5,000 Brent in 4 1/2 hours. They have not yet managed to age Brent while they fly away from a moving aircraft at 500+ft (!!) so we have to satisfy ourselves with the count.
Joking about that, of course, it is great that the tradition of synchronising autumn surveys of western Iceland with the main sites at Irish/British latitudes is continuing as it enables us to get a complete picture of the size of the population. A few pictures of the aforementioned attached. Enormous thanks to all. Takk!
Gudmundur, Svenja and Finnur-Logi (pilot who also knows his birds!) surveyed the large bays of Faxafloi and Breidafjordur in western Iceland on Saturday, counting just under 5,000 Brent in 4 1/2 hours. They have not yet managed to age Brent while they fly away from a moving aircraft at 500+ft (!!) so we have to satisfy ourselves with the count.
Joking about that, of course, it is great that the tradition of synchronising autumn surveys of western Iceland with the main sites at Irish/British latitudes is continuing as it enables us to get a complete picture of the size of the population. A few pictures of the aforementioned attached. Enormous thanks to all. Takk!
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