Lily's Blog

I worked in Sligo for a number of years, leaving when I got married. I go back regularly as I still have a group of great friends there. We have all stayed in close contact over the years. Yesterday was my first chance to get back in a while. The day consisted of up early and a lovely drive through the country, which really looks great in the sunshine. This was followed by two hours over coffee with the girls, followed immediately by lunch with another friend and chat, four of us going for a long walk at Strandhill beach and chat, followed by dinner, more chat and stay over. Who says we can’t talk!

A very enjoyable day and great to catch up with everyone.

Last night over dinner, a friend said he was going out in the morning with another person doing a bird survey, leaving at 5.40am. Though it was quite late at this stage, I asked could I join them and so his wife and I decided to get up for the dawn chorus. I have been out a few times with him bird watching in Ireland and we spent a great week with them in France a number of years ago, going for long walks each morning with my friend pointing out all sorts of birds to us. I have learned what little bird knowledge I have, mostly from him.

I woke at 5.30, made myself coffee and was (appropriately) ‘bright as a lark’, by the time they got up! (I need coffee to wake up!)

We drove out the country on yet another beautiful morning. It had the feeling of ‘good to be alive’ about it.

The survey was part of the Countryside Bird Survey. Quoting the Birdwatch Ireland’s website
‘The Countryside Bird Survey (CBS) is a national project that monitors population trends of Ireland’s common and widespread breeding birds. It has been running since 1998. The main aim of the CBS is to keep tabs on changes in breeding bird populations from year to year and over long term periods.’

Basically the survey involves listing the birds found in a 1km square. A few hundred such squares are randomly selected across the country and competent bird watchers volunteer to do the survey on a semi-permanent basis. The survey involves two visits per year, one between early April and mid-May and the second between mid-May and the end of June. The area which he had to cover was interesting as it was quite varied, grassland, some of which was boggy and included a small lake.

More information on the CBS can be found here

I kept a list as they identified each bird. Fair dues to them, they had a spare set of binoculars for me as ours were at home. I got to see most though some were unseen as they recognised them purely by sound. This is the list:

Sedge Warbler
Snipe
Blue Tit
Willow Warbler
Stonechat
Pheasant
Hooded Crow
Wren
Chaffinch
Grey Tit
Swallow
Blackbird
Jackdaw
House Sparrow
Pied Wagtail
Meadow Pippet
Robin
Mallard
Swan
Tufted Duck
Little Grebe
Moorhen
Wood Pidgeon
Reed Bunting
Magpie
Whitethroat
Dunnock
Cormorant
Blackbird
Starling

30 in all. (I may have missed an odd one on my list.) It’s amazing how many birds they identified. Had I been on my own, a) I wouldn’t have spotted as many in the first place and b) would only have been able to name a fraction of them. We never need stop learning!

One thing they commented on was that a virus has hit and almost wiped out the Green Finch population which previously was a common bird.

I saw a lot of new wild flowers as this was a new habitat for wild flowers for me. I started listing and photographing some but quickly decided to stop as would miss birds. I did see Wild Iris, Ragged Robin and the Common Spotted Orchid. A thought struck me – wild flowers are easier to identify than birds. Wild flowers don’t ‘fly away’ and can be easily photographed!

We also saw frogs and hares (and donkeys and cows and calves).

We were back for breakfast at 9am. All in all a very enjoyable morning bird watching.