Birdwatch Ireland Conference Sligo

Hi there

Sorry I've been so long putting this post up - busy busy busy!

This year I decided to attend the 43rd All Ireland Bird Conservation Conference which ran on the 26th - 28th March 2010 in the Sligo Park Hotel, Sligo.

Off I toddled on the 26th to Sligo and arrived early to find that the average age was quite higher then I had thought it might be. I then waited for Rosemary, Michael and Brendan to arrive :)

I registered and got the itinerary and told that the rest of the delegates pack would be provided tomorrow as there was a bit of a surprise. This year the theme was Seabirds: Life on the Edge. Which makes sense as Birdwatch Ireland has a Save the Sea Bird campaign.

The conference kicked off with a talk from Dick Coombes - Between a Rock and a Hard Place - this was a great talk all about Sea Watching thought I will say the thought of sitting on a rock for 9 hours whilst a force 9 gale batters me and my equipment does NOT appeal to me - I do fear I am a bit of a fair weather birder and not even the chance that I might see an Albatross could get me to change my mind at the moment!!!

Saturday was packed with 4 talks - Tracking Sea birds, Birdwatch Ireland's Actions for Sea Birds, Tracking Birds on Ratlin Island (involving a hook and a net!!!) and From Greenland to Galway - Little Auks. This brought us up to Lunch time which gave us an hour to eat and get changed for the outing.

And the suprise I hear you asking - a brand spanking new shiny logo for Birdwatch Ireland, designed by Killian Mullarney, who's name you might recognise from the Collins Guide!

New logo

There were 4 options of outings to go on - Lissadell and Ballintemple, Mullaghmore and Streedagh, Carton Marsh and Rosses Point and Ballysadare Bay. All of the trips had members from the Sligo Branch of Birdwatch Ireland to guide us.

Brendan and I choose the Lissadell and Ballintemple trip in the hope we might see the Cackling Goose. So we turned up at the conference room with about 60 other people - turned out we'd chosen the most popular one. Once we had worked out the car sharing we were off thanks to Anna and her Golf :)

The 1st place we stopped was Raghly (pronounced Rockly) Harbour. The 1st sighting was of a huge flock of Barnacle Geese(Tick) taking off in the distance, a couple of Brent Geese were closer to us at the Harbour, out in the water were Great Crested Mergansers - Male and Female, Oyster Catchers.

Then as I was trying to get a good look at a black and white diving bird (turned out to be a Great Northern Diver (Tick)) I see a black blur whizz past me and I call out - 'Swallowy Swifty thing' Yeah I know how thick did I seem but someone nice in my group told me that it couldnt be a Swift as it was too early and confirmed that the Blur had been my 1st Swallow of the Season :)

Walking up along the coast there was a cry from Dick of 'Eider' which made me run - I've always wanted to see an Eider and low there he was my 1st Male Eider (Tick), but this wasnt the only view we got. Shortly followed by 'oh look there's some Purple Sandpipers (Tick) (here comes a rant) which are in no way and could never be described as PURPLE!!! I'm very disappointed by this haha.

Then this was followed by Rock Pippit, Singing Sky larks, Turnstones, A hare (yeah I know its not a bird but I got my 1st close up view so allow me to divert) Lapwing, Shag, Herring Gulls, Red Throated Diver, Ringed Plovers, Starlings, Rooks and Pied Wagtail.

As we were walking back to the car I got my 1nd view of the day of an Eider and this time a female as well. I was very excited. (Photos again kindly donated by Brendan as I still haven't found my Sherpa).

Female and Male Eider Duck - Ohhhhh (BS)

Then in the harbour right beside us there was this little fella below - a Black Guillemot still in Winter Plumage but there was also one in the summer plumage! Strange how the bird world is eh?

Black Guillemot still in Winter Plumage (BS)

Then we moved on to hopefully see the Geese and there was a quick screech of breaks as they were spotted in a field. So out we all popped and had a goo then there was a call of 'Sparrowhawk???' (with the question marks) then a quick 'Oh no its a Merlin'. I'm not counting this thought because all I did see was a brown blob before it took off but hey one step closer eh?

While we where standing watching the Geese over our heads flew a small flock of Whooper Swans.

Then one of the Sligo branch guys headed off with who turned out to be Dr David Cabot (as see on Wild Journeys RTE) to try and get a glimpse of the Canada Goose and Cackling Goose. So we all took off after them. And Boy where we not disappointed.

The Geese moved 3times when we where watching them but the last move gave us the best views of the Barnacle, Canada and Cackling geese.

Barnacle Geese (BS)

Something here is not like the other – can you spot the differences? (BS)

Canada Goose Left and Cackling Goose Right. They are brown and white rather then Black and White (BS)

Suddenly it was 5pm an time to head back to the hotel.

On the Sunday following a later start (10am) there was a session about Getting Involved: How you can help, then the Launch of Birdwatch Irelands 2020 Vision which after a short Q&A session ended the conference for most people, but me and my big mouth somehow ended up in the Local Branch meeting representing the Tolka Branch with Sean (who at least is on the committee).

So at 3pm Brendan and myself dragged ourselves back to our rooms to see what we could do for the remainder of the evening - but seeing as our good pal Eric was on the Telly we had to be back for 6:30pm.

Someone suggested that we would go to Rosses Point for some fresh air.

As we got out of the car there was a lovely Greenfinch singing his head off. Walking along we saw a Black Guillemot, Shag and then a little Linnet.

Posing Linnet (BS)

There was also a flock of OysterCatchers, Jackdaws, Rooks, Pied wagtails, Starlings, Black Headed Gulls and a Rock Pipit.

Flock of Black Headed Gulls in various stages of Plumage (BS)

Rock Pipit again(BS)

Home to the hotel we went to watch Wild Journey's with our new friends the Barnacle Geese.

As we were all off on the Monday we planned a great Journey home via Cavan and Fermanagh planning to stop off at the many beautiful places along the way with a belly full of cooked Irish brekie. But unfortunately the rain started just before we left and followed me all the way home.

However we did stop in Fermanagh at Florence Court to have a cup of tea and Brendan hopped out to see what he could see in the rain. I followed because there had been a glimpse of a Brambling alas we couldnt find them when I went over but we did see 3 tree creepers (try say that quickly haha), Meadow Pipits, Great Tits, Blue tits and Chaffinches. Brendan also saw some Jays, some Long tailed tits and a Kestral (apparently he tried a bit of pishing).

All in all it was a brilliant weekend.

Thanks to all involved if was great weekend.