October 2018 - Sean Walsh park changes

October 31st

Sean Walsh Park at lunch time gave me another surprise.  Lake 5 was drained!  The Black-headed gull numbers were up as they and juvenile Herring Gulls make light work of all the fish left stranded! 

Sean Walsh Park - Lake 5 or the "Hippo Lake" was drained.

October 29th

This morning I stopped at Ben Madigan Park in Drimnagh.  036:D  and 264:D were present.  Both recorded at this location before.  But a good start to the day!

Herring Gull 036:D

At Sandyford Industrial Estate 729:D was on the roof.  A first sighting of this Herring Gull from Irelands Eye.  17km from the ringing site and 4 Km inland.

I got an afternoon trip in to Booterstown.  Lots of birders out looking as a Lesser Yellowlegs and a White rumped sandpiper, but I was looking for colour rings.  I read 18 rings. 14 Oystercatchers, 2 Med Gulls, 1 black-headed Gull and our of our red ringed Herring Gulls.  Disappointing number of Gull rings read, considering the 1,000's of gulls present.

718:D was a first sighting of this Herring Gull from Irelands Eye

Oystercatcher AI.  Ringed Jan 2014 as an adult.

Oystercatcher PJ.  The distance doesn't make for great photos and no tripod!

Med Gull White 35L6 and Yellow 2X9A are both birds I have recorded before as is Black-headed Gull White ECR4 from Holland.

October 21st

Long walk on Sandymount Strand this afternoon.  1,000 of gulls but not much in the way of rings.  The Herring Gull Red 672:D was photographed at distance, enough to make out the code but record shot only.  I read 3 Oystercatchers from the Dublin Bay project because there was little else.

Colour Ringed Oystercatcher LF - Ringed in 2013 as an Adult

Colour Ringed Oystercatcher CF was ringed in 2013

Oystercatcher SP (No photo, I reported in on 28/12/2014 but don't appear to have any details)

With nothing around I spotted a metal on a Black-headed Gull and decided to have a go.  I walked around it in a 20m circle and got all the code even though it walked twice, but never more than a yard.

Black-headed Gull EX15842

EX15842 - Poor light but readable!  Ringed in 2010 - awaiting details

I finally got my second CR Gull of the afternoon, a Polish Black-headed Gull T9PC, so far away.  It has been a while since I recorded this individual.  There has been only one sighting in the last year and that also was on this beach.

October 15th

Things in Sean Walsh Park are gradually returning to normal.  Four Ducks, 60 Black-headed Gulls, 1 Common Gull, 1 med Gull and 1 Juvenile Herring Gull were at the lake with the fountain.  Numbers are still low but better than the 0 birds at the start of the month with the fountain back on after a 10 year break!  It seem slightly less powerful today?

27H0 and 2ACA were also back.

I also checked out the other end of the park at the Stadium and 2A88 was present.  This time it wasn't in the long grass and a better photo was obtained.

October 14th

After the storm a glorious day!  Went for a walk on Booterstown Strand.  When I arrived at the spit, there were 1,000's of Oystercatchers in front of me.  I settled down and scanned the Gulls first.  I had only just started recording Oystercatcher rings when some one walked through the roosting flocks.  I had recorded only 5.  I got a 6th one later on but should have got a lot more

CR Oystercatcher XC

They were tightly packed and as usual 50% were standing on the un-coded leg!

Oystercatchers - 2 on Uncoded legs.  DD and ZI standing on Coded legs

Sandymount Strand - 1,000's of Oystercatchers

The Gulls and waders having all taken flight I went back to the Marsh Stream outfall.  As luck would have it many landed right in front of me.  The Polish Black-headed Gull T17A was ringed as a Juvenile in 2014 and has been coming here ever since, but it is only my 2nd sighting.

They just kept landing.  But not one Red ringed Gull to be seen!!

The next colour ringed Gull to land was a Mediterranean Gull and one I hadn't seen before!  I await the report but probably Belguim.  REPORT IN:  Ringed in Belguim in 2011.   Why I hadn't see it before?  Colour ring only added in 2018!

Med Gull 2X3A I am familiar with as I have seen it over the Summer in Tallaght.

However, my bird of the day and what delayed me was a Colour Ringed Godwit standing on one leg!  Half a code is no use.  I waited and even when he walked a couple of paces the 2nd leg seemed devoid of rings.  Eventually the Sun went behind the buildings and as last it moved.  This is an individual I first recorded in February 2014.  I have re-sighted it since but always on the North side of town around Bull Island.

BLKWT-RL:O//Bm-LL:ON.  (Right leg Orange above, Blue below and metal  Left leg Orange over black above)

October 13th

At Heuston Station the Great Black-backed Gull 1LL was present.  It is the 4th sighting in 7 years and all at this location.

Larus Marinus BW 1LL

Ben Madigan Park is always good but this morning the grass was a bit too long.  However, 036:D was on the goal posts.  Ringed in 2018 at a hospital in Dublin.

Herring Gull Red 036:D

11th October

With all the changes in Sean Walsh Park, I have spent more time at the Stadium end where no work has been carried out.  Gull numbers were over the 100 and among them this yellow ring.  I had to wait to get the first digit.  Yellow[2A88].  Ringed North of London as a Juvenile. A First sighting since ringed.

7th October

Bray Harbour.  No joy in looking for our Red rings.  However, first colour ring was a Juvenile Med. Last seen in Dun Laoghaire.  Nice to see it's range.

There were 2 other Coloured ringed Gulls, both Black-headed Gulls.  The Danish Gull 9MT was new to me but only ringed in 2018, apparently a Bray Harbour regular

The Black Lithuanian Rings certainly don't stand out!  However, I eventually spotted 615P.  It is the first sighting in 2018.

October 3rd

Just wrapping up the Swan Sightings for the RAS.  I had recorded CBLX at Sean Walsh Park but it was probably CBLK.  Confirming the sighting was a surprise.

CBLX was ringed in September 2017.  This was a first confirmed sighting since them!

October 2nd

With no Gulls in Sean Walsh Park, well hardly any.  Lake 5 usually holds 200 - 250 Black Headed Gulls but since the restarting of the fountain this number is around 10 - 15.  I went to the Stadium Lakes and the numbers were slightly higher than expected and among them was E5VA!  This is the 82nd sighting of this Dutch Gull in Sean Walsh Park since it first appeared in 2012 as a Juvenile

October 1st Sean Walsh Park revamp / clean up

Major changes in Sean Walsh Park.  The big lake was drained during the summer and all the mud and silt dug out.  There was a huge amount of rubbish and it needed to be cleaned, but the lake will take a few years for the biodiversity to recover.  Next year the number of flies, larvae, fish etc will be way down and I will have to see how it effects the bird life.

The final part of the clean up, which also included removing all the scrub under the tree, the fountain was turned back on.  It does look nice, but the Swans, Ducks and Gulls are wary of change and have abandoned this lake all together.  The number of Black-headed Gulls should be about 250+ and bird numbers including Swans, ducks, moorhens and other gulls should over 300.  Today there were none. I've never seen the lake so devoid of life.  It will be interesting to see how long it takes before they return!

Sean Walsh Park, Lake 5.  Very pretty but no birds!

Sean Walsh Park, last month, Black-headed Gull numbers starting to build