Made an early morning visit this morning to Glen Lough SPA , near Edgeworthstown, on the Longford /Westmeath border. This freshwater marsh, once an open water lough before drainage in the 60's, holds a variety of wintering wildfowl, notably Whooper Swan, Gadwall, Shoveler, Wigeon , Grebes etc.. Water Rail and Lapwing are also recorded here.
Due to overgrown foliage and low water levels, good viewing over the site is quite restricted currently, despite access to the very useful hide provided by the NPWS.
Winter flooding of the marsh creates better viewing opportunities with a few areas of open water visible.
This morning's visit was rewarded with a brief sighting of a female Hen Harrier, quartering the reedbeds on the eastern side of the marsh. This site is a regular haunt of Hen Harrier in Winter/Spring, along with Buzzard, Kestrel and Sparrowhawk.
No wintering wildfowl arrivals observed on this morning's visit- from previous site trips here, best time to catch wintering flocks is from mid October onwards.
Access to the site is via minor roads off the N4 (Dublin/Sligo road, just east of Edgeworthstown) or off N55 (Athlone/Cavan road , south of Edgeworthstown)
Monday 23 September 2013
Thursday 12 September 2013
Welcome to my local patch
As this is my first attempt at blogging, better that I locate my local birding patch - it's mainly centred around north Longford, principally around the shores of Lough Gowna, its satellite lakes and adjacent woodlands and countryside.
Lough Gowna is a complex winding lake system in the River Erne basin, about 10k north west of Granard, on the Longford/Cavan border , with numerous small satellite lakes linked by small streams and rivers. The northern end of the lake forms the border between both counties, with the southern end of the lake in County Longford. A narrow channel divides the lake into north and south sections at Dernaferst Bridge, west of Lough Gowna village. The lake has many hidden bays and inlets and is bordered by peat bogs, farmland, willow and alder fringed shoreline and a number of mixed Coillte woodland plantations, notably at Derrycassan, Woodville and Erne Head , the latter of which is part Sessile Oak, planted in the 1800's. Despite it's indented outline, the lake system has a number of easily accessible viewing areas for birding with a few "off the beaten track" locations for the more intrepid birder.
Water bird populations on Lough Gowna and it's satellite lakes and rivers, while not reaching levels of national importance in recent times, is varied and widespread across the system, with wintering Wigeon, Tufted Duck, Goldeneye, Whooper Swan, the occasional Great Northern Diver, Cormorants, Great Crested and Little Grebe, Grey Heron. Wader numbers are small and birds move between the local lakes and bogland, mainly Curlew, Golden Plover, Common Snipe, with a few breeding Redshank and Whimbrel recorded on passage. Raptors present in the area are Buzzard (increasingly plentiful here !) Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, with wintering Hen Harrier recorded.
All the common passerines abound in the woodland and bogland habitats around the lake. Across all habitats here, there is the potential for rarities turning up as this area is under watched.... as they say in all the best site guides !!
I've been attempting to rectify this situation through recording sightings for the Atlas Project 2007-2011 and IWeBS annually. I plan to post occasional IWeBS count data here over the coming winter should anyone be interested !
Hopefully, my occasional postings in this blog will shed some light on the birdlife of this scenic little corner of the midlands and perhaps prompt the occasional excursion/fieldtrip ?
Sin a bhfuil go foil a chairde !
Lough Gowna is a complex winding lake system in the River Erne basin, about 10k north west of Granard, on the Longford/Cavan border , with numerous small satellite lakes linked by small streams and rivers. The northern end of the lake forms the border between both counties, with the southern end of the lake in County Longford. A narrow channel divides the lake into north and south sections at Dernaferst Bridge, west of Lough Gowna village. The lake has many hidden bays and inlets and is bordered by peat bogs, farmland, willow and alder fringed shoreline and a number of mixed Coillte woodland plantations, notably at Derrycassan, Woodville and Erne Head , the latter of which is part Sessile Oak, planted in the 1800's. Despite it's indented outline, the lake system has a number of easily accessible viewing areas for birding with a few "off the beaten track" locations for the more intrepid birder.
Water bird populations on Lough Gowna and it's satellite lakes and rivers, while not reaching levels of national importance in recent times, is varied and widespread across the system, with wintering Wigeon, Tufted Duck, Goldeneye, Whooper Swan, the occasional Great Northern Diver, Cormorants, Great Crested and Little Grebe, Grey Heron. Wader numbers are small and birds move between the local lakes and bogland, mainly Curlew, Golden Plover, Common Snipe, with a few breeding Redshank and Whimbrel recorded on passage. Raptors present in the area are Buzzard (increasingly plentiful here !) Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, with wintering Hen Harrier recorded.
All the common passerines abound in the woodland and bogland habitats around the lake. Across all habitats here, there is the potential for rarities turning up as this area is under watched.... as they say in all the best site guides !!
I've been attempting to rectify this situation through recording sightings for the Atlas Project 2007-2011 and IWeBS annually. I plan to post occasional IWeBS count data here over the coming winter should anyone be interested !
Hopefully, my occasional postings in this blog will shed some light on the birdlife of this scenic little corner of the midlands and perhaps prompt the occasional excursion/fieldtrip ?
Sin a bhfuil go foil a chairde !
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