Birds Ireland

Hi friends, I'm delighted to say that a radio documentary I've worked on throughout the summer will be aired on RTE Radio 1 at 3.00pm tomorrow (Monday 28th Oct). It is part of the 'Nature on One' series and is 'The Extraordinary Tale of the White Prominent', a moth steeped in 19th century controversary, and declared extinct in Ireland in 1938 only for it to be rediscovered again 70 years later. This is my quest to learn more about this Holy Grail of Irish moths and my journey to actually see a White Prominent for myself. It can also be heard live on the RTE website. I hope you enjoy it if you tune in.

Sunday 26th May will be a birding day to remember. Hazel and I are on the Mullet Peninsula in Mayo for a week of birding/mothing/photography/kayaking (Hazel not me)/chilling/walking/recharging.
At 12.47 pm, my phone pinged. I checked the text to see an image of a Yellow-crowned Night Heron sitting on a small footbridge. This alone was enough to make me sit up and pay attention as YCNH is a North American species only recorded in Europe once before. I read the text below the image...photographed this morning at Belcara, Mayo, by a local walker!!!!! Mayo? I'm in Mayo! It was just 1hr 40 mins away. Before I'd finished the text, I was putting my gear in the car and on my way.
I spent almost six hours in the area looking for that bird. Night Herons by their nature usually become active towards dusk so, as the evening approached, myself and just four other birders settled down for a long night. I had spoken to locals about the bird and, at around 7.30pm, one man came up to us to say he 'thinks he'd seen it upriver'. We dashed up that direction and...bang! There was Ireland's first Yellow-crowned Night Heron on the river bank.
It was a surreal moment for just five birders to be watching such a rare bird and celebrating with 10 local people who joined in the celebrations with us. Lorraine Ryan who took the original photo that morning also joined us.
It was one of the most enjoyable twitches I've had in years. While many others got mega shots today, I wouldn't swap the experience of that moment of relocating the bird with the the local community. My shot may not match those taken today, but it captures a special moment in my birding life.