Re: Bugboys mission
Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2017 9:17 pm
Thanks Dave and Wurzel, I do still have a few reports left to go so I will just have to leave you in suspense
Thanks Max, and yes you guess right
4/5th June, Ireland part 3
On the third day of our Ireland break the weather started off rather gloomy before beginning to re-enacting Bible stories, namely a particular story concerning a big boat.
We decided to go north of Galway this time, I was still hoping to find some Irish Marshies and maybe an early Large Heath, but driving along through what seemed at times to be never ending torrential rain it was quite clear that was rather unlikely. Occasionally the rain would relent and we would even venture out from the safety of the car if there was somewhere to park. It was a real shame the weather had turned on us, we drove past so much wonderful habitat that was just begging to be explored had it been sunny. The scenery at least was pretty breath-taking. Remarkably I did actually find a butterfly, a Small Heath. I presumed I saw the same one twice but both times I spent some time chasing it to make sure it wasn’t actually a Large one ----------
Our flight back to London wasn’t until 9pm so we had most of the final day to ourselves and took in some coastal destinations. The Cliffs of Moher (which sounded to me like something from Lord of The Rings) came highly recommended and since I was also hoping to tick of some seafaring avian lifers we set of. The weather had improved slightly from the previous day in that there was much less rain but it was still far from butterfly friendly and so it was to be that the previous days Heath was the last Irish butterfly I was to see.
The Cliffs however lived up to their billing and I was able to tick off Puffins, Guillemots, Fulmer, Chough and Shags to my avian list. We probably also saw Razorbill but our bins couldn’t tell from the distance we were at. The Auks were all lower down and could only be made out through our bins but the Fulmers on the other hand were all over the cliff face and regularly drifted up mere feet from us on the top path. I spent quite a lot of time admiring their flying skills and I’m pretty sure I never saw one flap from any bird, just the slightest twist of the tail or tilt had them turning on a sixpence mid-air, remarkable skills. So ends my Irish trip I managed the primary target, saw lots of unforgettable scenery and came back with some good memories. The next day I was shooting off to Scotland
Thanks Max, and yes you guess right
4/5th June, Ireland part 3
On the third day of our Ireland break the weather started off rather gloomy before beginning to re-enacting Bible stories, namely a particular story concerning a big boat.
We decided to go north of Galway this time, I was still hoping to find some Irish Marshies and maybe an early Large Heath, but driving along through what seemed at times to be never ending torrential rain it was quite clear that was rather unlikely. Occasionally the rain would relent and we would even venture out from the safety of the car if there was somewhere to park. It was a real shame the weather had turned on us, we drove past so much wonderful habitat that was just begging to be explored had it been sunny. The scenery at least was pretty breath-taking. Remarkably I did actually find a butterfly, a Small Heath. I presumed I saw the same one twice but both times I spent some time chasing it to make sure it wasn’t actually a Large one ----------
Our flight back to London wasn’t until 9pm so we had most of the final day to ourselves and took in some coastal destinations. The Cliffs of Moher (which sounded to me like something from Lord of The Rings) came highly recommended and since I was also hoping to tick of some seafaring avian lifers we set of. The weather had improved slightly from the previous day in that there was much less rain but it was still far from butterfly friendly and so it was to be that the previous days Heath was the last Irish butterfly I was to see.
The Cliffs however lived up to their billing and I was able to tick off Puffins, Guillemots, Fulmer, Chough and Shags to my avian list. We probably also saw Razorbill but our bins couldn’t tell from the distance we were at. The Auks were all lower down and could only be made out through our bins but the Fulmers on the other hand were all over the cliff face and regularly drifted up mere feet from us on the top path. I spent quite a lot of time admiring their flying skills and I’m pretty sure I never saw one flap from any bird, just the slightest twist of the tail or tilt had them turning on a sixpence mid-air, remarkable skills. So ends my Irish trip I managed the primary target, saw lots of unforgettable scenery and came back with some good memories. The next day I was shooting off to Scotland