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.

Rathlin Island

Rathlin island sits about six miles off the north coast of Northern Ireland and around 11 miles from Scotland. In the spring/summer months sea birds in there hundreds converge here for the breeding season.

The Island is a dog leg shape around 8 mile long and around 1 mile wide, there are three lighthouses at the three points. The south lighthouse is closest to the N.Ireland shore, the East lighthouse looks out towards Scotland and it here that Robert the Bruce hid in a cave close to the lighthouse during the  First War of Scottish Independence against England. He fought successfully during his reign to regain Scotland’s place as an independent kingdom and is now revered in Scotland as a national hero.

Looking across the Irish sea to Scotland 11 miles away from Rathlin. Island..

rathlincommunity.org

Its’ at the other end off the island the main centre for sea birds lies at the West lighthouse. It’s a reserve run by the RSPB and a bus runs from Church Bay out to the centre. The first thing is the noise from Thousands of sea birds fill the air and the other can be the smell that can fill the air if the wind blows in the wrong direction. But the sight you will never forget.

This is the top of one of the sea stacks, covered mostly with Guillemots.

Guillemots on another sea stack,

https://abhainncruises.com/portfolio-items/rathlin-island-trip/

The above photo is from abhainncruises.com and is a view of the west lighthouse. It’s different from the normal due to the light being at the bottom, you can see it here in this image situated in front /bottom of the main building.

The next images will be from the main viewing platform which is on the left of this image.

Kittiwake nests on the ledges high above the shore. These are true seagulls, with non-breeding period spent entirely at sea.

Razorbill, note they lay there eggs on the rock without a nest. Another bird that is rarely seen outside the breeding season. It spends most of it time far out at sea.

Razorbill. A beautiful bird with it’s striking marking on the bill.

Fulmar: to me this is one of our most beautiful seabirds, And to watch them fly in to land is a marvel to watch. They approach at high speed looking like it not stopping, then land so softly. Or to watch them hang on the wind coming off the cliff faces, truly amazing. has the next photograph shows.

Fulmar: Hanging on the breeze.

Fulmar: hanging the breeze.

This is all from Rathlin at this time. Planning a walk around part of the Island soon.

thank you all for viewing, take care

George.

Before I go I’d like to say hello to Evelyn and her mum who chatted to me on the ferry back to Ballycastle. Thank you for taking time to look at some off my images and enjoy your life at university.

ATB George.

https://www.rspb.org.uk

http://www.rathlincommunity.org/visit

52 week Black and White

Week 9

This week I’m in Downings (Na Dunaibh) in the north of County Donegal.

This photo is of the Laurentic Gun at Downings Pier.

Laurentic gun at Downings Pier.

The following links give the history of the gun the ship and the gold that it was carring when sunk. .

https://www.inishowennews.com/LGun.htm

https://www.whitestarhistory.com/laurentic1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Laurentic_(1908)

Thank you for visiting.

George ☘️

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.

Black & White Wednesday

This weeks image was taken around five of years back when I was playing around with lighting and having no model at hand it was yours truly in front of the camera. So here is one of those images from that evening.

I was using a fixed light to my right and a reflector on my left side fixed to a spare tripod. It was shot on a Nikon D5300 camera with a Sigma 17- 70 mm lens at 55mm , ISO 100, f/5.3 and 1/100 second shutter speed.

I have been sorting through images stored on hard drives I used has backup . So expect to see a few more image from the archives in the future.

Take care my friends,

George.

Black & White Wednesday

I have been looking back through some image files stored on a back up hard drive. So this weeks image was taken in London a few years back. His name is Ralph a Miniature Schnauzer and belongs to my daughter. A little dog with great character who loves attention and to play but would never make a guard dog. He would be putting you out in front to defend him.

Ralph.

Thank you all for visiting,

stay safe and well,

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

This week we’re off to the coast and a small black and white bird called a Pied wagtail (Motacilla alba) is the subject. They are a common bird here in Ireland and the UK and can be seen all year round. They can be found almost any where, from coast to city centres. When standing they frantically wag their tail up and down or dashing across the ground in search of food.

Pied Wagtail (Motacilla alba).

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

Data: 1/800 sec @ f/6.3: ISO 320

Lens focal length: 600 mm

Stay safe,

George.