Wexford 17th February

Winter is fast disappearing and I haven't been to Wexford Wildfowl Reserve yet, a glaring omission. With good weather forecast for Saturday 17th, I headed south. The reserve is only an hour and a half from home, so I should really do it much more often. Basically it was excellent. There were heaps of birds, with an early highlight being 66 Whooper Swans in the first fields in the reserve. Also there were the first of several groups of Greater White-fronted Goose (at least 400 birds present in various areas). The main reserve office has a tower overlooking a large area of fields that are otherwise inaccessible. There were hundreds of geese of various species here, including a small group of 14 Barnacle Goose.

Next stop was Tacumshin which was even better, but further away so impossible to get decent pictures. The wildfowl theme was continued here, with hundreds of ducks (all the commoner species represented), geese (mainly Brent and Greylag, one Pink-footed Goose with the latter), and swans (mainly Mute, but at least 8 Whoopers). In addition there was a good population of waders. The most numerous were European Golden Plover, mainly contained in one massive flock of at least 2000 birds. Lots of Lapwings of course, as well as a good number of Black-tailed Godwit. Two Hen Harriers were great (but quite distant).

A birder I met at Tacumshin (Paul Kelly) put me on to a Cattle Egret at a nearby village, Tomhaggard. Sure enough there it was, doing its thing in a field with half a dozen cows. Wow.

Whooper Swans, still lovely, still to far to photograph effectively

Lots of Greater White-fronted Goose today.

Irish Hare near the reserve HQ.