Blast From The Past Finds - Red-Rumped Swallow
Red-Rumped Swallow in Ireland remains a top class rarity with a stable trend. It's as rare today as it was 30 years ago and seems likely to remain so, with at best 1-3 a year on average. My lifer Red-Rumpeds occurred in eastern Spain where my family would often holiday and my Irish tick individual occurred as a very early Spring occurrence in Co. Wicklow, but it would be many many years later before my first self found bird fell. 8th of April, 2011 Still riding on a high from having found Ireland's first Pallid Harrier a couple of weeks before, I was again out working east Cork for rarities in what was by all accounts a good Spring. In a way my targets hadn't changed. I was still somewhat intent on finding a Red-Rumped Swallow, the same as I had been when checking Ballyvergan. And, having worked Ballycotton in the morning, it was en route to Ballyvergan that I struck gold. Turning onto the old Youghal road, I noticed a reasonable sized group of hirundines feeding over a s...
