Hel Hath No Birdies

Clonakilty, Cork, 2005. My first self found Laughing Gull, I somewhat detailed here . 2005 was an incredible year for Laughing Gulls (and Franklin's Gull) with unprecedented infuxes of both in the late autumn. However, with Laughing Gull it was notable that several individuals occurred in the early Summer. I had ticked my very first Laughing Gull just a week prior, in Cork city. It was quite a fortunate occurrence. Living in the city center at the time, I was actually at home at lunch time on a weekday, a very rare event, when the news came out there was a Laugher on the Lee just a few streets over. I grabbed my bins there and then and ran across. A fantastic, unexpected tick. Laughing Gull - Cork City - June, 2005 Laughing Gull was a mega at that time in Ireland.  So when I sat down at the red benches in Clonakilty a few days later, and laid eyes on a Laughing Gull...I fully expected it to be the same individual! Having watched the Cork City Bird for some time, I quickly made the ...

Lesser Yellowlegs is one of my favorite American species that turns up in Ireland. There's something about them, that clean, sleek and elegant appearance when compared to their Redshank cousins that's just brilliant whilst simultaneously being key to their search image and ID. As part of a series of posts on past finds, thought I'd jot down all the stories on birds I enjoyed finding, beginning with 'legs. Rogerstown, Co. Dublin, 2003 My first self found Lesser Yellowlegs turned up on the inner estuary at Rogerstown, found from the south hide. I was living in Cork at the time, on student placement at Lough Beg, and I was on a weekend visit home to Dublin. I took some time to get in some birding with the family on August 21st. It had been a dismal day as myself, my brother and father worked all the way from Louth in a southerly direction.  We were seeing absolutely nothing of interest and Conor was grumbling about going home early. However I pushed us onwards, saying we...