Rathlin Walk 3: the wildlife

My last post was about the walk out to Rue lighthouse. This is the photographs of the wildlife I took while out on the trail. I hopefully will give them the right I.D, so I hope you enjoy the photos.

So the first photos show the Eider duck.

Eider Duck.

Next up is three photos of a Curlew ( NUMENIUS ARQUATA)

A few more minutes along the coast a few more ducks showed up, I think these might be Male Mallard (eclipse) and a Wigeon (rufous female) at the back. The next photo is of a Wigeon (rufous female)?

Wigeon

The first bird to be photographed has I move away from the coast is a Stonechat (male) sitting on a wire fencing.

Male Stonechat

The Coot is up next, this is a very common bird here in Ireland found on all types of water ways.

Coot.

The next bird I post on my last blog post has a Golden eye, after looking closer I think it’s a female Tufted Duck

Tufted Duck

I’m now off road and walking up towards the clipp top trail when I hear the call of a Buzzard (BUTEO BUTEO)

Buzzard

Buzzard

Just before the cliff top trail a flock of Curlew’s flew pass.

Curlews in flight

The next batch of photographs were taken from the ruin cottages down by the coast near Rue lighthouse

Rock Pipit.

Seals and Eider Ducks

The walk back to Church Bay was by road, and it along the first mile this photo’s were taken.

Again I heard the call of Buzzards, this time there was two riding a thermal over the hills I had just walked. They were at the limit of my lens but I got this shot above.

This I’m not sure off but might be the Devil’s – bit Scabious.

Black Bird male. these birds will start to change their diet at this time of year. Feeding on more fruits in this case black-berries .
Common Carder bee

I have just got back to walking along the coast, a small sandy beach nests in the rocky coast line. I blimb down a take a seat on a sandy bank at it’s edge. It’s from here I get some of the small waders feeding here.

Dunlins feeding along the waters edge.

The last two images are Little Ringed Plovers .
I believe the two images above are of a Rock Pipit.

These are the last birds I photographed before entering the village. Again I’ll leave you with this photo of the Kelp house .

thank you for viewing

George mcNeill.

Black & White Wednesday

Welcome to another B & W Wednesday, hope all is well in you in your part of the world. The norm of this post is a single photograph. I will be posting a few images if they are related to the day and place they where photographed.

So the location is in the Dromara hills close to my home. The morning was heavy fog but around 11.30 am the sun was burning it off and opening the views to that layered effect.

This was taken has I climbed up through Drumkerragh forest has the fog was thinning.

With the fog clearing quickly has I walked higher up into the forest the sound of crows and ravens filled the valley with there calls. Pairs flying from tree top to tree top it gave me a chance to get a few nice images. This one below is off a couple of Ravens on a dead tree.

Raven ( Corvus corax) is a member of the crow family.

https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/raven/

In spring if you ever get the chance to watch Ravens do their courting flight, please watch them. They love to fly and at times you might think they have a death wish has they race towards the earth.

Here’s a link to a short Youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFKcj9aN7ZI

My next encounter was a small bird of prey, a Kestrel. I saw it sitting on a tree top and slowly made my way towards it. I lost sight of it and then has I rounded a group of trees there she sat. I got a few images has she sat looking around her but a bunch of twigs was spoiling them. Then she took off and came my way drifting on the breeze looking for prey. Nearly above me she started to hover and that’s when I got the following image.

Female Kestrel.

Kestrel ( Falco tinnunculus ) belongs to the falcon family of birds.

Kestrel:https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/animals/birds/kestrel/

These are another fun bird to watch has they hover in the sky looking for small prey on the ground, when spotted the drop at great speed onto there prey.

Kestrel hovering, this is a great slow motion film. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0D-J0cgJME

Kestrel hovering and the dive in real time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaRSihpIU34

Hope you enjoyed a little part of my morning walk and a few of the wildlife we have here in Northern Ireland.

Take care and stay safe.

George.

Black & White Wednesday

Out early Sunday morning and went up to my local woods, Drumkerragh Forest. A misty view of the forest and Slieve Croob mountain greeted me. Has I set off with camera bag and monopod on my walk, I hoped the sun would burn off the mist. After three hours of walking and into my final mile the sun started to do its job.

This was taken with a Sigma 150-600 mm lens, shot at 240mm. I love the way a telephoto lens can give the appearance of compressed distance between distant objects in a scene.

This area has a large number of ravens around the woods at this time of the year. Walking towards some dead trees just of the trail. Two landed close by on one of the trees.

Missed the first one in but caught the second one landing has seen above.

This next shot is a silhouette shot edited in Silver efex pro, I use this to edit all my B&W images.

Again it contains a lone Raven sitting calling across the valley.

The start of the walk did not look promising from a photography point but I ended the morning with a few good shots to edit in the evening.

Thank you for visiting and stay safe.

George.

Lockdown wildlife.

First I hope you are all keeping well and safe where ever you are in the world. Here in the north of Ireland we are back in a four week lockdown but we can still go out to exercise. So when the weather allows I pack the camera and head for the coast. I’m lucky that I have some great mud flats where the sea birds and wading birds feed within a 30 – 40 minutes drive. So the following photographs have been taken over the last few weeks along the County Down coast. Most of them have been shot with a Nikon D750 camera fitted with the Sigma 150 – 600 mm telephoto lens, some handheld and others using a tripod fitted with a gimble head. The following link is a great site for bird information here in Ireland and the UK. https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/curlew/

The above is the Curlew ( Numenius arquata) taking off , great fun to watch has they sprint up to take off speed.

Here we see the Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus) it’s a very distinctive bird with it’s bold black and white plumage, orange beak and legs but most of all that blood red eye.

Next the Brent goose ( Branta bernicla) This small goose  is similar in size to a mallard duck. Can be hard to get good photographs with the eye showing because of the dark coloured neck and head. With the setting sun behind me it was just right this evening. They are always in a flock and the on singled out here is seen drinking.

The Snipe(Gallinago gallinago) this is a bird that is getting rare to see here, it’s numbers have declined over the years. When I was a kid at school ( a long time ago) these where common and seen over most marshes daily. I was surprised to see two of them together. The Brent geese disturbed them and these one flew closer to me and nested down into the seaweed.

The Redshank (Tringa totanus) gets it’s name from it’s most distinctive features, their bright orange-red legs. I find these are one of our most common birds along this part of the coast. They can be found in large flocks or today just a few feeding on the incoming tide.

The next photographs where taken from my van when I saw this Kestrel just for the road side. I pulled over and shot a few frames before it moved off.

Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) these are a small falcon and are often seen as here along the road sides hovering looking for small prey.

The colour is a little weak in these photographs of the Kestrel with the bright sky behind them but since they were part of the coast outings I included them.

Thank you for visiting and I’ll leave you with a image of Portaferry across Strangford lough.

Brent geese with Portaferry in the back ground and Windmill hill on the right.

George.

Black & White Wednesday.

This week I jumped into my time machine and went back to September 2018. A time you could go out among people, enjoy a coffee with someone and if someone coughed it didn’t even register with you. So this shot was taken at an Irish moto-x Championship round. It was held at the Laurel Bank circuit near Saintfield, County Down, Northern Ireland. A quick word with the clerk of the course and I had permission to access parts of the course closed to the public. This gets you closer to the action but still staying a safe distance should something go wrong.

Laurel Bank Moto-X circuit.
Eating dirt..

Thank you for traveling along with me, here’s one more from the day.

Air time.

Stay safe and thank you for visiting.

George.

Camera : Nikon D750 with a Sigma 150-600 mm telephoto lens.

Data for first photograph: 1/3200 sec @ f/3.2 : ISO 400

Lens focal length : 150 mm

Black & White Wednesday

In parts of Ireland people believe that the spirits of the dead still live within the ruins of their homes.

Who am I to disagree with them. This shot taken through a gap in the trees with a telephoto lens and shows a small stone homestead with out houses built onto the main house. It possibly had a thatched roof when built and since this is hill country it would have been hard to live of the land here. Today it’s mostly sheep on the hills with some cattle on land that has been cleared and reseeded for better grazing.

The spiky looking plants in the foreground is soft Rush. these use to used for light at night in poorer house holds. Here is a link to there use: https://www.libraryireland.com/SocialHistoryAncientIreland/III-XVII-9.php

Camera :Nikon D7200 . Lens : Sigma 150-600 telephoto.

Data: ISO 500, f9 @ 1/250 second. Focal length 240 mm.

Thank you for visiting.

Stay safe,

George.

Black and White Wednesday

This weeks B&W image was taken on one of my morning walks.

White horses and dry stone wall. This type of wall would be popular in this area of Ireland.

Camera: Nikon D7200, Sigma 105-600 mm lens:

ISO 200: 1/640 sec @ f9 : focal length 190 mm

Comments welcome, likes or dislikes.

Take care,

George.

Black & White Wednesday

Welcome to another B&W Wednesday, the photograph this week of a Cabbage White butterfly. It was taken with a 150-600 mm telephoto lens. Using a telephoto lens allows you to stand well back from your subject, less chance of spooking them.

Shot in raw format and edited in LR with the final edit in Nik Silver Efex Pro.

Photographed using a Nikon D7200,

Sigma 150-600 mm lens.

ISO: 400, f8 , 1/800 sec. Lens focal length 550 mm.

Thank you for visiting and stay safe.

George.

Killard Point

Was driving along the road following the Co.Down coast. Something dark was swimming close to shore, There are seals in this area but normally you don’t see them where the tide is in. So pulling into a small car park and seeing people watching something I got out and asked the first person what was in view. His reply was a ship just off shore repairing something. Walking down to the beach to see the seal which turned out to be a woman swimming wearing a wet/dry suit. Given this is the start of winter and it about 7 degrees  Celsius (44 Fahrenheit) and a cold wind blowing it was not warm. Got talking to her and being a local she told me about Killard Point. It was a Royal air force base around the second world war and was used for radar  until it closed.

After following her directions and were to park I followed the shore around to the reserve gateway which you enter from the beach. I meet few people on the reserve and a few I did meet give me a lot of info  about what to see and the best time of year to visit depending on the season. Below is a few bird photos i took while walking the coast. I intend to return once a month and will also include some landscape shots from the area.

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I know this is not a sea bird shot but of the repair ship people were watching.

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First up we have a Curlew ( Numenius arquata ) the one at the top the b&w bird is an Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus )

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Like these ones, which are resting has they stand one one leg and like the right hand bird they rest there heads on there back. A bird very easy to identify by its markings and bright red eye.

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And one landing on a rocky isle to wait for the tide to drop and expose there feeding ground.

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Liked the way this Redshank ( Tringa totanus ) stood out against the clear backdrop.

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A shot across the bay to Kilclief castle, not the greatest of photos, the landscape is nice around here and hope to do some landscape shots in the area.

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The two larger birds are Cormorants ( Phalacrocorax carbo ) they are about the size of a large goose and are diving bird that feeds on fish.

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Identifying these are not so easy, but given there habits and markings I think they are Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea ) which are a winter visitor to our shores from North Siberia.

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These were hard to get a good shot of, they stayed well away from where I was.

Ringed Plover ( Charadrius hiaticula ) or there international name Common Ringed Plover.

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Rock Pipit ( Anthus petrosus )

Got this shot while walking back from the reserve, I got a few shots of them on the pebbly beach but not as close or sharp has this.

These next few photo’s are of one of  Britain and Ireland’s smallest birds, the Wren

(Troglodytes troglodytes )

Again these are hard to photograph, fast moving and busy  seldom staying still. Most time you only catch a glimpse  has they fly from one point to the next. It was this movement gave it away and a little crawling on the ground that got me these shots, plus thanks to a long focal lenght lens.

 

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On my drive home I called at another reserve near Dundrum on the County Down coast and on leaving it I saw  a Grey Heron ( Ardea cinerea ) in a field near a river that run’s along the road side. Using the car like a hide I got a few shots. Would have been nice if he had been hunting the river bank but maybe next time.

 

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Thank you all for coming on my day out with nature here in Ireland.

Till the next time, take care.

George.