Thursday 31 July 2014

GOOD FENCES - Bird Group at Dundrum Bay & Castlewellan

Today I am showing you fences I saw when I was out with my North Down and Ards U3A bird group around Dundrum Bay, County Down, Northern Ireland.  We saw quite a number of waders in this area and then made out way to Castlewellan to see if we could see the Red Kites.






Some of the members of my class with the back drop of the Mountains of Mournes.









We scarred the skies around this area and saw a Buzzard and we thought we saw 2 Red kites in the very far distance but we could not be deffinate.  We were just about to leave when out of the blue a Red Kite fly right in front of us and all of us had very good views of it.  I only managed 1 shot.




You can access the video at

http://youtu.be/FeoSD_veS7I

If there is a black space below, click it and the video will appear.



I hope you enjoyed coming along with us.  Tomorrow I will show you reflections I found in this area.

I am linking this post with Tex's meme GOOD FENCES.

Thank you for visiting today.

Many thanks for leaving comments on any of my posts.

Wednesday 30 July 2014

Common Gulls & Black headed with chicks on Copeland Island (9)

Recently I showed you the photographs of the 2 larger of our gulls breeding on Copeland Island however today it is the turn of the Common and Black headed Gull with their chicks.  There is a short video at the end of the post.


Common Gull





Black headed Gull




Apart  from the 2 gulls mentioned in this post, there is an Arctic Tern at the end of the video.

The video can be accessed at

http://youtu.be/tpw5D-WNeR8

If there is a black space below, click it and the video will appear.



Thank you for visiting.

Many thanks for comments left on any of my posts.

Tuesday 29 July 2014

WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY "The Young Ones" on Copeland Island in June (8)

While I was on the Copeland Island in June, I came across 3 nearly fledged chick and also a Herring Gull being born.  Today I will show you the photos I managed to shot. Firstly, there are always 2 Ringed Plovers on the island but on the Saturday I could only see one parent at a time, however on Sunday just before the boat came to take us home, I went back and both parents were together so I scarred the pebble beach and eventually spotted the newly fledged chick.  I was delighted as I had never seen one before. 












Ringed Plover chick.


Can you see the chick?  This shot above is fully zoomed in on my camera.
All the other photographs are cropped heavily!








There are a small number of Pied Wagtail that nest on the island and I had seen some parents but from the kitchen window I saw a young one so ran out and captured these photographs.





My next find was a newly fledged Oystercatcher which I saw several times however only managed to capture in a few still and video once (at end of the shots in this post),  There are quite a number of pairs of Oystercatchers nest on the island and these first shots are of this adult who is not the parent of the chick.  They were taken in a different area of the island and I think she was trying to protect her nest.







Oystercatcher chick.




Lastly I saw one of the Herring Gull chicks being born.  
You will see that on the video.

I have a short video of the Oystercatcher and chick and a Herring Gull being born which can be accessed at

http://youtu.be/nkr8wpg0-kg

If there is a black space below, click it and the video will appear.



I hope you enjoyed seeing these “young ones” as much as I did finding and photographing them. 

I am linking this post with WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY.

Thank you for your visit.

Many thanks to all who left comments on any of my posts.