Friday 28 February 2014

South Dublin Parks: Jan & Feb update

No megas to report in the South Dublin Parks since 1st January but patching here has been enjoyable all the same with a total of 56 species (60 points) recorded by the end of February.

With Kilbogget Park being the closest of them to home it has received most of my attention, boosted by my new tactic of diverting normal routes and walking through the park as much as possible on my way to the bus/mates houses/pub! This has resulted in adding Collared Dove, Snipe, Light-bellied Brent Goose, Siskin, Reed Bunting, Lapwing, Sparrowhawk & Raven to the list since the last update. Of these, 24 Light-bellied Brent flying South overhead on 6th Jan, a single Reed Bunting coming out of roost early morning on 9th Jan, a single Lapwing on the pitches on 5th Feb and 2 flyover Ravens on 22nd Feb were by far the best finds in local terms. The Snipe was flushed from the rugby pitches at 1am one night on the way home from the local Guinness dispensary! (dodgy)

Other highlights at Kilbogget have included peaks of 26 Mediterranean Gulls (starting to display these past few days), a super little flock of 21 Teal, two pairs of nesting Coot (apparently incubating since 18th Feb!) and cracking views of 2 Water Rail. Have also had a colour-ringed Oystercatcher from the Dublin Bay Birds Project feeding on the pitches which was ringed at Merrion Gates, Sandymount in February 2013.

Cabinteely Park finally yielded a Treecreeper in the wood on 6th Feb but other than that, 3 Little Egrets & a flock of 40 Redwing have been the only other sightings of note there. Not much to report from Clonkeen Park other than the usual few Med Gulls, Little Egrets & Grey Wagtails.

On the BirdTrack front, that's 10 complete lists/369 records added to the database from the parks over the past two months.


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