Castletown Bearhaven!

 On Sunday morning myself David Walker and Gillian Hollamby flew from Stansted to Cork where we picked up a hire car all for a mere £36 each. We drove in very poor weather conditions which worsened every Kilometre of the c125 to Castletown Bearhaven arriving early afternoon. We soon found our target the Glaucous-winged Gull sitting on rocks a few yards out in the harbour, though by now the rain was torrential, so we retired to Macarthy's bar for fresh crab sandwiches and tea in the hope the rain would abate, unfortunately it didn't if anything it got worse.

Macarthy's Bar. taken on Monday in much better weather.

 When we left Macarthy's the Glaucous-winged Gull had disappeared and not even a record picture taken! there was however an adult Ring-billed Gull there but the weather was to severe for photographs. We drove around the harbour to try and locate the the Gull without success. It's hard to believe a mega like this and we only saw 1 other birder on Sunday and 2 on Monday. As the light failed we went back to our B&B Murphy's Restaurant for fraught night of worrying if the Glaucous-winged Gull would be present in the morning. Our worry was made easier by after having a delicious Rack of Beef  and a bottle of Rioja in Murphy's then spending the rest of the evening in Macarthy's, downing a few Guinness enjoying an Irish sing song.

Our B&B

Ring-billed Gull. taken on Monday

Monday morning  9.0 A.M. and it was still more or less dark but it was dry and windless. We soon found the Glaucous-winged Gull perched on top of a street lamp where we took our first images of it, I have already deleted all of the images I took at that time, though the light was dreadful all the while we were there. We took the opportunity to go back to our B&B for breakfast where we could watch the gull from our breakfast table. After the breakfast the light had improved a little and more images were taken.  We also saw 3 Glaucous Gulls nearby and a 2w Iceland Gull at Eyeries, rounding off a brilliant 2 days birding in great company before we had to make our back to Cork airport and home. A short video of the Glaucous-winged Gull can be seen HERE

Glaucous-winged Gull

1w Mediterranean Gull Bearhaven

2w Iceland Gull, Eyeries Beach

Hooded Crow, Eyeries.