On the whole a good week with the Short-eared Owl giving very nice views around Starnafin Farm and the white ermine Stoat under the Visitor Centre windows. Today the elusive Water Rail made appearances either flushed by us walking to Tower Pool Hide or by an Otter swimming in front of Tower Pool Hide along a drainage ditch. The numbers of White-fronted Goose have dwindled from the 300+ numbers and were hanging around the 160 mark and today there was just 3 visible at one time but given that the majority of geese had left possibly due to the freezing conditions here at Strathbeg more are likely to return to bolster the numbers.
The surprise record of the week has to be the 10 Crossbills that flew through on Wednesday during the Farmland Bird Survey. Since then though the size of the flocks of finches and buntings have increased greatly just since Wednesday.
Below are what we've seen during the week. The monthly Wetland Birds Survey, due to be carried out in just over a weeks time will give us a clearer indication of just have many Pink-footed Geese we have here since the January count of 15,000.
The geese have been moving in big numbers recently and were especially impresive last night flying with the moon behind them. I can assure you that this is most likely a Pink-footed Goose and not a pterotactyl!
Anyway, here are the weeks birds:
Crossbill 10, Snipe 2, White-fronted Goose, Pink-footed Goose, Barnacle Goose 50, Lapwing, Hen Harrier 1, Short-eared Owl 1, Long-tailed Duck 1, Dunlin 13, Whooper Swan 185, Mute Swan, Water Rail, Shelduck 7.