Chris Ingram; 7th August.

I just had an email from Chris who was on tory a couple of days ago.

'Here is my list for the 7th:

Fulmar  offshore
Gannet  offshore
Shag
Heron  1 at lake
Mute Swan  2
Mallard
Tufted Duck  adults with young on lake
Oystercatcher
Ringed Plover
Lapwing
Dunlin  c.5 on beach
Knot  1 at lake unable to fly
Redshank
C. Sandpiper  1 at lake
Turnstone
Great Skua  1 from boat on out crossing
Common Gull
Lesser Black Back
Herring Gull
Great Black Back
Kittiwake  few on lake
Commic Tern  2 offshore probably Arctic
Rock Dove
Swallow
Rock Pipit
Meadow Pipit
Pied Wagtail
Wheatear
Hooded Crow
Raven
Starling
Tree Sparrow

32 species'

Regards Chris

Autumn is here

I got a call from Anton to say that he spotted his first migrant of the autumn in the garden today, a Willow Warbler.

I hope to make my first trip of the autumn next monday. The weather charts are predicting strong west/north west winds all weekend I just hope they have died down enough for the ferry from Bunbeg to depart. I plan to bring some frozen chum for the crossing.

Chumming from the Tory Ferry

I started making frozen 'hard chum' recently with the intention of toeing it in a mesh bag from the back of the Bunbeg ferry (skipper permitting) on trips out to Tory in the autumn.

The ferry passed Bloody Foreland, one of Ireland best seawatching points, and I am considering making a large block frozen chum to be dumped off the ferry when passing Bloody Foreland for anybody seawatching in the area.

 Let me know if any seawatchers in the area are interested and I will try to coordinate the drop with one of my autumn trips to the island.

The other option would be to drop the chum block nearer tory so birders on the island might be able to sea some seabirds.

Breeding birds 24th-25th June.

 I was on Tory Monday and Tuesday just passed to do a land based survey of the breeding birds. Four new species confirmed breeding; Black headed Gull, Eider, Sedge Warbler and Reed Bunting.

Thanks to Liz Mc Kenna who helped me with the survey on Monday.

Notables

Eider; female with 4 chicks in the harbour.
Tufted Duck; Female with 10 chicks at the lighthouse lake.
Black- headed Gull; 10 pairs with a minimum of 10 chicks at the lighthouse lake
Common Gull 160 adults attending nests with a minimum of 40 chicks
Little Tern; 8 birds mobbing other birds at a likely nesting site. Birds may be incubating.
Arctic Tern; 10 pairs nesting behind the lighthouse, including at least 2 birds incubating.
Peregrine; Pair on and off seen around the cliffs but no confirmation off breeding.
Buzzard; Pair at the cliffs behind West town.
Dunlin; 3 birds at the lighthouse lake.
6-8 pairs of Redshank
Sedge Warbler 2-3 pairs, including one bird carrying food.
Reed Bunting; 2-3 pairs including one bird carrying food.

Eider with ducklings

Fulmar

Redshank

Sedge Warbler

Wheatears

 Plemty of recently fledged Whearearsaround the island. Unseasonal Whooper Swan and Iceland Gull also present. The only migrants were a single Chiffchaff at the east end and  up to 4 Collared Doves.

Iceland Gull

Whooper and Mute Swans

Collared Dove

Rock Pipit

 On the ferry over the best were 5 Storm Petrel. On the journey home just a single Manx Shearwater with at least 15 Storm Petrel and one Leach's Petrel following a small fishing boat between the islands.

Manx Shearwater

Liz Mc Kenna 13th June

I had a message from Liz was on Tory on Thursday...

I was back on Tory yesterday with my son Myles. We were out on the cliffs for most of the time. Had all the gear packed up for the ferry when I noticed this bird at the harbour. I taught it looked like an Iceland Gull. Sorry about the quality of the pics - had to use my son's camera as no time to take back out the scope!

See crossing very quiet. A few shearwaters on way out and a great northern diver was the best we had.

Thanks for that Liz.

The Iceland Gull is still present today per Anton Meenan

Iceland Gull

1st June; Trip list

 I recieved a message from Richard Smith via Birdforum on their recent trip to Tory;

 Rather late but here is the Derry trio's bird list for 1st June. Quite a rough sea with swells up to 10 ft. Highlight of the day was Great Shearwater & at least 6 Basking Shark. See attached bird list. It was nice to meet Dublin birder Mark Stewart.

Roger Murray, Theo Campbell, Richard Smith

Richard Smith

Tory Island Trip                              01/06/2013

On 8:30 outward sailing

Great Black-Backed Gull       Common Gull            Herring Gull

Lesser Black-Backed Gull      Kittiwake                  Sandwich Tern

Common Tern                         Guillemot                  Razorbill       

Black Guillemot                     Puffin                        Gannet         

Great Northern Diver              Fulmar                      Manx Shearwater

Storm-Petrel

On Tory

Mute Swan                Mallard                Tufted Duck

Swallow                   Rock Dove            Corncrake

Snipe                       Redshank                Turnstone

Dunlin                      Oystercatcher         Golden-Plover

Ringed Plover          Lapwing                 Arctic Tern

Magpie                     Chough                  Hooded Crow

Raven                       Blackbird               Wheatear

Starling                     Wren                      Sedge Warbler 

Skylark                    Tree Sparrow          Pied Wagtail

Meadow Pipit           Rock Pipit

On 18:00 return sailing

Great Skua         Great Shearwater

Marc Mc Loughlins Photos

Marc has sent me some of his photos from his recent trip to Tory.

Thanks Marc.

Peregrine Falcon

Black Guillemot

Black Guillemot

Corncrake

Tree Sparrow

Snipe

Basking Shark

Sedge Warbler

Chiffchaff

Chough

Buzzard

Corncrake

Great Skua

Little Tern

Buzzard

Great shots of the Corncrakes!