Sligo outing

On Sunday 18th October we will be joining up with Birdwatch Sligo to explore the habitats of the county.
We will be visiting Cartron, Bunduff lough and Lisadell.
Sligo have a fantastic website that gives you lots of detail regarding their favourite sites, what to expect to see and when.
www.sligobirding.com
More information will be made available closer to the date.
If you have any queries, suggestions etc please email me at cavanbirdwatching@gmail.com

Long-eared Owls

Members have reported hearing the call of long-eared owl chicks this summer in Bailieborough.
These birds are easier heard than seen as their plumage is ideal camouflage for them. 
Find out more here...birdwatchireland LongearedOwl

Listen to an adult long-eared owl here..rspb longearedowl

Here is a video link to their chicks calling; a sound described as a "squeaky gate"!

Lough Gowna, Wednesday evening. Fish on the menu!

Thanks to Clare for this great series of photos!

Dublin Bay birdwatching boat trip

Guided Boat Cruise: Seabirds of Dublin Bay Biosphere

To celebrate the launch of the new Dublin Bay Biosphere, Dublin Port Company is pleased to support a guided boat cruise which will be led by staff from the BirdWatch Ireland seabird team.

The cruise will visit some of the various seabird colonies located around Dublin Bay: Black Guillemots on the River Liffey near the East Link Bridge, the Common and Arctic Tern colony near Poolbeg Power Station and impressive numbers of cliff nesting seabirds at Howth.

Date: Saturday 27th June 2015 

Time: 08:00 am - 11:00 am

Departing from and returning to Sir John Rogerson’s Quay, Dublin City (near the Samuel Beckett Bridge)

Booking: please email biosphere@dublincity.ie or call 01 2223394

Admission: €5 per person or €10 per family of four (children must be accompanied by an adult)

Proceeds from the cruise will go to the BirdWatch Ireland Save Ireland's Seabirds Appeal.

EARLY BOOKING ESSENTIAL ... LIMITED PLACES AVAILABLE

Cavan Birdwatch Events

To all our branch members,
I hope you have all received an email from me regarding future branch outings and talks.
If you have not, perhaps I do not have your email address.
You can contact me at
cavanbirdwatching@gmail.com and I will include you on our mailing list.

Curlew Appeal

   BirdWatch Ireland are currently undertaking a survey of breeding Curlew and are appealing for your records. While the focus of the survey is in the north-west, west and south-west of Ireland, we want records from around the country.

 The aim of the survey is to get an improved estimate of the number of breeding pairs of Curlew in Ireland and identify important breeding grounds. This information will help monitor long-term populations trends and aid in the design and application of new conservation measures for this threatened, enigmatic and well-loved species.

Record Submission

Appeal Curlew

Curlew Survey Details

"Save our Nature" campaign

There is an article in the Summer edition of Wings on the campaign to defend the Birds and Habitats Directives.
The European Commission has been tasked by its President Jean-Claude Juncker to undertake a review of the Directives. We believe, (as does BirdLife International, World Wildlife Fund for Nature, and the European Environment Bureau) that this is in fact an attempt to weaken the Directives as the push is for economic growth at all costs.
We would not have the nature laws in Ireland that we currently have it were not for the Directives. An example of the effectiveness of the Directives is that the Corncrake has been saved from the brink of extinction in Ireland as small numbers grow slowly in the north west of the country.
It is probably one of the most important campaigns BirdWatch has conducted.

We are asking everyone to get involved, to read and sign the petition, share it, spread the word and to encourage as many people as you can to sign it too.
SaveourNature

Dawn Chorus

Bailieborough 
We met up at the Castle Lake forest lakeshore car park on Sunday 17 May at 4.30am for our Dawn Chorus walk. As we gathered in the car park to set off on our walk around the lake, we had the pleasure of listening to the beautiful songs of the blackbird and song thrush who were already in full song by 4.30am!

There were still a few bats on the wing as we set off, and it was not long before we started to also hear the song of the robin and wren. As it brightened up, we were able to observe nesting great crested grebes,moorhen, mallards and mute swans on the lake. No sign of any cygnets just yet but hopefully they should hatch any day now! Further on, we stopped  to listen to a variety of bird song including goldcrest, chaffinch, willow warbler, blackcap and chiffchaff. It was a lovely surprise for us all when we encountered a red squirrel during the course of our walk as this species is on the list of endangered species for Ireland! 

A special thanks to PJ Byrne for adding an additional interesting route to our walk this year. We finished up with a nice cup of tea and a chat in the car park before heading home. Thanks to all for bringing along refreshments to share.

Click here for more information on Castle Lake Forest. It's a lovely place to visit at any time of year. Other interesting birds that can be seen in the forest include buzzard, Jay, Dipper, Kingfisher and in summer whitethroat and sedge warbler.

report and photos Elizabeth Mc Kenna

Killeshandra

4.30 a.m. saw a slightly smaller group of birdwatchers (4 to be exact!) congregate at Town lake in Killeshandra. Bats swooped overhead and 2 herons flew to shore to investigate as we started off along the lake. The earliest singers were the robin, song thrush and blackbird, joined later by a whole host of birds; willow warbler, wren, blackcap, wood pigeon, chaffinch, goldcrest, chiffchaff, moorhen, sedge warbler, grey wagtail, collared dove, swallow, starling, coal tit, treecreeper, blue tit and great tit. The woods varies from native trees to coniferous plantation and one of our group remarked on the noticeable difference in levels of birdsong leaving the former and walking through the latter.

The slightly less musical tones of the jackdaw was dominant as daylight brought us from our loop through Derrygid woods back to the lake. Things were busy on the water with a flock of juvenile mute swans, some great crested grebes, a black-backed gull, an unidentified duck in the distance with a brood of ducklings as well as a Canada goose. Town lake has numerous colourful birdboxes built by local Cub Scouts which brighten up the trees!

Garden warblers have been sighted in these woods in previous years, these are a scarce summer visitor so a trip to Killeshandra might be rewarding! birdwatch/GardenWarbler

killeshandra-loop 

Dawn chorus

We are hoping for good weather as we rise with the lark to hear our birds in all their magnificence!

The nesting season is now in full swing. Everywhere you look birds are singing, displaying , nest-building or carrying beakfuls of food. Every morning male birds announce in song they have survived the perils of the night. What is more they proclaim to rival males and local females that they are in peak condition ready and willing to rear the next generation.

Listen to the birds welcome the new dawn in fine voice and identify which birds' song you are hearing. Birdwatch Ireland organises Dawn chorus events nationwide to celebrate this rite of spring.
Cavan are hosting 2 events, we are hoping for some mild and dry weather for Sunday morning, it's looking good so far!

1) Bailieborough Castle Lake Forest. Meet at the Lake shore car park, Shercock rd at 4.30am. Contact Elizabeth 086 8336675

2) Killeshandra. Meet at the Town Lake car park, Belturbet Road at 4.30am.

Please wear sturdy footwear and bring warm waterproof clothing.

The RSPB have a section where you can listen to the song of individual birds so you might get a head start on identification.

rspb.org.uk

Dowra outing

Apologies for the delay in showing the photos and report from our Dowra outing at the end of April. 

Many thanks to Freddy for the photographs!

A perfect habitat for dippers and kingfishers: both were spotted today!

The Cavan Way, from Dowra

One of our group is a writer/birdwatcher and she wrote an article Mudlarking! on our outing, luckily there is no photographic evidence of the mud she mentions!

Dawn Chorus events

Event Reminder

Hoopoe alert!

There has been an influx of these dramatic-looking birds in Ireland recently. Experts believe the recent warm spell is probably the reason they overshot mainland Europe and arrived on our shores. There have been a number of sightings in the south, maybe a brave bird will venture further north for the rest of us to see!
If you are lucky enough to spot one of these, Birdwatch Ireland asks that you notify them.
Let us know too :)

A date for your diary

Cavan Birdwatch will be visiting Dowra in northwest Cavan on the 26th of April.
A beautiful part of the county, Dowra is the first town on the river Shannon, and is also the start (or end, depending on where you start!) of the Cavan Way.
cavan-way
cavan.ie/dowra
Bring your binoculars, waterproof gear and sturdy footwear; as well as a packed lunch.
More details about where we will be birdwatching, what birds you might expect to see and when to meet up will follow.

Cavan Birdwatch Committee

The Cavan Birdwatch branch A.G.M took place on Thursday, 19th March prior to the "Irish Swifts in Decline; What Can We Do?" in the County Museum, Ballyjamesduff.
The committee for the year ahead is as follows:
Chair: Heather Bothwell (Killeshandra)
Secretary: Ashley Wynne (Cavan )
Treasurer: Sean Callaghan (Virginia)

General committee : PJ Byrne, (Vice Chairperson), Michael Mc Kiernan (Vice Secretary), Peadar Reynolds (Vice Treasurer) Liz Mc Kenna, Andrew Carleton  and Nigel Beresford.

New members are always welcome, come along to an outing or meeting; keep an eye on our blog and Facebook page; also check out birdwatchireland.ie and their Facebook page for information, news and events.

Spring walk

Birdwatch Ireland:(NH) 
If you're looking for a fun activity this coming Sunday, 29th March and are in the Dublin area, please join me for a woodland birdwatching walk through the Furry Glen in the Phoenix Park. This is the latest in our joint series of monthly nature events with the OPW, and we hope to see a wide range of woodland species, including (with a little luck) this fellow here, the Jay. The walk is free of charge and open to all: simply meet at the Phoenix park Visitors' Centre (www.phoenixpark.ie/visitorcentre/) at 11:00am (don't forget that the clocks go forward an hour this weekend!)

Swifts

Michael Casey from Birdwatch Sligo gave an interesting presentation in Cavan county museum recently, on the subject of a declining swift population.
Concerned with the apparent decline in swifts, he and Sligo locals set up the Tubbercurry Swift Project. 

Swifts spend most of their life on the wing, landing only to nest, arriving in Ireland in May, staying until August.
Their Latin name, “Apus apus” means “footless footless”, referencing the fact that their weak and small feet only allow them to cling to vertical surfaces or shuffle akwardly on the ground, being unable to take off in flight from the ground.
They need high buildings and crevices as they drop from the nest before gaining momentum to fly.
birdwatchireland./Swifts.
There is alot of work being done in Ireland and across Europe to help the swift. If you have any information or are interested in finding out how to get more involved, please contact us!

We are on Facebook too!

Cavan-birdwatching
Cavan Birdwatch now has a Facebook page, click on the above link to view it.
We will continue using this blog to inform members of events, display photos etc.
If you have Facebook page check us out and like to spread the word!

Hen harrier Survey

(photo Shay Connolly)

BirdWatch Ireland, alongside the Irish Raptor Study Group and the Golden
Eagle Trust are coordinating the National Hen Harrier Survey 2015.

This survey will begin at the start of April and the project co-ordinators
are running a series of training workshops to ensure all surveyors are
familiar with the methods involved and to offer opportunities for newfieldworkers to participate to help monitor the Hen Harrier population.

Anyone who is interested is invited to attend the up-coming survey training workshops which
will cover Hen Harrier ecology, methods, reporting and other research
opportunities during the course of the survey. 
In Cavan, you can attend the Errigal hotel, Cootehill, this Wednesday, 25th March from 9.30 a.m. until 1.30 p.m. The workshop is free, however registration prior to the event is requested.
IrishHenHarrierSurvey2015

Even if you can’t take on a survey square you can assist by reporting
information and sightings of Hen Harriers in your local area. 

You can submit your sightings through the dedicated survey
website   irishhenharriersurvey

A Presentation "Irish Swifts in Decline: What Can We Do"? on Thursday 19 March

 Swift photo by Micheal Casey

  A Presentation entitled "Irish Swifts in Decline: What Can We Do?" by Micheal Casey (Birdwatch Ireland,Sligo Branch) will take place on Thursday 19 March at 8pm in Cavan County Museum.

This talk will be about the decline of swifts in Ireland,causes of this decline and what we can do about it.

Micheal is a vet with the Dept of Agriculture Food & the Marine's Laboratory Service. His interest in swifts is pursued outside of his work. He is also a bird ringer, with a special interest in swifts, dippers and peregrine falcons.
Micheal is involved with the swift conservation project and hopes to encourage local groups in the County to help out by getting involved in a local project.

Members of Tidy Towns committees and local Heritage groups are very welcome to attend this event!

The Branch AGM will take place prior to presentation at 7pm sharp.

More information on the Swift Conservation project can be found here