Wildlife at
East Coast Nature Reserve
Sunday 27th March 2022
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Blackbird Performing
one of his masterpieces
Song Thrush
Strong Thrush
stretching for those berries
Drone Fly
Female Greenfinch
Male Greenfinch
Male Greenfinch
(I love them so much I had to put up a second photo)
Female Chaffinch
Male Chaffinch
Female Chaffinch
Female Sparrow
Dunnock
Blue Tit
Male and Female Stonechat
Female Sparrow
Male Teal
in the flooded field
Greenfinch
keeping an eye on me
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Great Spotted Woodpecker at East Coast Nature Reserve, Sea Road, Newcastle, Co. Wicklow. Sunday, 27th March, 2022. Two firsts: First time to see one and first time to photograph one!!!!
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Wildlife at Rathmichael Woods
Saturday 26th March 2022
Singing one of Natures Arias
A first for me !!
Chiffchaff
one of our summer visitors
Furze coming into bloom
The beautiful Comma Butterfly
I think this is a very large queen bumblebee
She was very busy exploring the grass verge
looking for a suitable location for her nest
Song Thrush singing beautifully and keeping an eye on the food above
Song Thrush
Fly on a coltsfoot flower
Two Hodded Crows
Plane overhead in transit
London to Los Angeles
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Mother Blackbird feeding her baby in our garden
Sunday 20th March 2022
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Visitors to our Garden
March 2022
Robin Redbreast
Lovey-Dovey
in the treebeside our house
Collared Dove
Coal Tit
Female House Sparrow
Male House Sparrow
Male Blackbird
Peekaboo
Collared Dove relaxing after it’s meal
This little beauty is a new visitor to our garden.
It is the Blackcap.
It has a beautiful song and I believe it’s nicknamed the Northern Nightingale!!!
Blackcap. Just so happy to see it I put in a few extra photos
Blackcap
Male Blackbird
Male Blackbird. He came down to day on to the fence and started to sing (about eight feet away) but unfortunately a rook came down and that was the end of his performance!!!!
The Rook himself
Female Blackbird and a Male House Sparrow
Love these little Pied Wagtails
Starling
Blue Tit
(the most regular visitor)
Female Blackbird
Dunnock
(another bird with a nice song)
Blackcap
Last but certainly not least
” The King or maybe the Queen)
Comes down quite often and only visits the pot plants.
Live food I would think it is after
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The birds that visit us regularly to get some food and we are very lucky to have two large trees in front of the house where many birds come to visit!!! January 2022
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This Beautiful Starling visited our garden for some food
January 2022
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A Few More Photos from the River dargle
Always happy to see this little beauty !!!
Grey Heron in Flight
The Little Dipper
Successful Herring Gull fishing !!!
Cormorant taking in the sunshine
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Some wildlife captured on the River Dargle , Bray, Co. Wicklow, Ireland on Friday afternoon, 8th October, 2021
Mallard dining on the Dargle
Grey Heron in flight
Gull coming in to land
Grey Heron
Grey Heron in Flight
The Dive
Male Mallard
Grey Wagtail
White Mallard Duck
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Wildlife in Rathmichael Wood, Shankill, Co. Dublin
I have to say we found this wood by accident. Absolutely beautiful place teeming with wildlife. Great place to have a most enjoyable walk

Mistle Thrush (one of my favourite birds)

My first photo of the beautiful Male Crossbill. I had only read about them up until now

Stood by the pond and not one dragonfly would land so here is one in flight!

Hen Bullfinch

Little door to a fantasy house on a tree trunk!!!

Long Tailed Tit

Mushroom for tea?????

Speckled Wood Butterfly

Green-veined White Butterfly
Meadow Brown
Small Copper Butterfly ( Small but beautiful !!! )
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Photos taken at East Coast Nature Reserve, Sea Road, Leamore Upper, Co. Wicklow, Ireland
Irish Linnet
This little Stonechat fledging found it difficult to perch in the strong breeze!!!
Still finding it difficult to perch!!!
Robin Redbreast!!!
Hen Chaffinch!!!
Tortoiseshell Butterfly
Tortoiseshell Butterfly
Always popping up!! Stonechat!!
Juvenile Starling
Cousins!! Little and Large. Magpie and Raven
Juvenile Stonechat
Great Tit
Reed Bunting
House Sparrow
Whitetroath
Pied Wagtail
Two Whirligig Beetles
We thought this Hen Black was injured.
We should not have worried.
She was just sunning herself.
Flew away when we got closer
Meadow Brown Butterfly
Male Chaffinch
Meadow Pipit
Hen House Sparrow
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Birds Pollinators and More
Bray Head
Ireland
Sunday 20th June 2021
Cock Bullfinch
Speckled Wood Butterfly
Sailing and Paragliding at Breay Head
Juvenile Robin
Cock Stonechat
We enjoyed watching this paraglider at Bray Head, Bray, Co. Wicklow, Ireland
Juvenile Robin
Blue Tit
Speckled Wood Butterfly
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River Dargle Never Disappoints
A strool along the Dargle River
Bray
Co. Wicklow
Ireland
Friday 18th June 2021
This duck and her ducklings were very well camouflaged
Little Egret in flight
Little Egret fishing
Pigeon coming in to land
Landed
Pied Wagtail
Grey Wagtail
Sand Martin in flight
Sand Martin
Sand Martin
Grey Heron fishing
Success
The water in the Dargle was very clear and fish were clearly visible
A Cock and Hen Blackbird at the side of the Dargle
A close up of the Hen Blackbird
A Cormorant sunning itself close to Bray Harbour Bridge
Cormorant commences fishing
Having success
A large fish this time
A Busy Bee
Take off sequence of a Cormorant on the Dargle
Airborne
Magpie
Grey Hooded Crow
Rook
A spot of grooming
Adult and young Starlings
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A Walk up to the Cross on Bray Head
then along the upper walk and down to the Greystones Road
The beautiful Stonechat
This Grey Hodded Crow was watching us intently
Hen Stonechat
Juvenile Stonechat
Cannot forget the Robin!!!!
Whitethroat
Rhododendron???
Whitethroat in flight
Irish Cock Linnet
A Beautiful Rook
Mistle Thrush
A Song Thrush beautifully going through it’s repertoire
on the highest perch it could find
Don’t know the name of this beauty yet???
Off to the next flower
Of all the birds I have photographed I never came across a more inquisitive little one than this.
He would keep looking at us then come forward a few more yards until he was literally beside us.
It was a real treat.
This Greenfinch was quite a distance away near the Old Greystones Road
Where is she off to???
This magnificent flower is growing on the Greystones Road
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A walk around one of the trails at
Vartry Reservoir
Sunday 30th May
2021
A Grey Wagtail minus his tail
He was very busy fly catching by the side of the Reservoir
Grey Wagtail in flight with an issect he just caught
A doomed insect !!!
A Blackcap in full flow !!!! They have a beautiful song
A person visiting the reservoir informed me
there are plenty of brown trout in it.
These were very small fish possibly brown trout fry
There were great numbers of them in the reservoir
He pops up regularly!!!
This bird literally plucked the insect out of the flower
The air was full of insects
Birds and fish were feasting on them
Long Tailed Tit
Beautiful cock Chaffinch
Hen Bullfinch
Another photo of the cock Chaffinch
The humble bumble!!!
Little Grebe in the distance out on the reservoir
Blue Tit
A Wren gave us a serenade
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The Birds and the Bees at Festina Lente
A beautiful afternoon spent wandering around the Walled Gardens at Festina Lente,
Bray, Co. Wicklow, Ireland enjoying nature at it’s very best, Sunday, 16th May, 2021
One of the many terapins at the sanctuary in the Gardens
The underwing is a different colour to the top
Lots of swollows breed in the stables and are a joy to watch in the gardens
Not everything is perfect in nature but this butterfly had no problem flying from flower to flower
There is always one of these beauties close by especially
where the gardeners have been working on their allotments
This hen blackbird has found a little morsel!!!
Swallow in flight
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Nature is flourishing in Bray and it’s environs. These photos were taken on Sunday afternoon 25th April 2021, in different areas of Bray, Co. Wicklow, Ireland
This heron captured in flight on the Dargle River
Legs down for the landing!!!
Landed!!!!
Dandelions are in bloom everywhere at the moment. They are a highly nutritious plant both for humans and wildlife
These three little ducklings have grown very quickly. In the last folder of photos taken, there was the mother and fifteen ducklings. A gentleman studying the wildlife on the Dargle informed me that so far nine or ten of the ducklings have survived. These ducklings have moved further up the river and I took these few photos from opposite Egans Complex, Upper Dargle Road
Pied wagtail
White Butterfly
Just took flight
Shortly afterwards it was joined by another
This was a busy little honeybee. Notice the pollen pouch on it’s leg
Euphobia
Mistle thrush in the field
The walk took us under some very large trees and there was a rustle in the leaves and out popped this inquisitive grey squirrell. He kept wagging his tail
He wasn’t in any hurry to run away
Eventually he scampered off
Coal Tit
Tree creeper
No denying this beauty!!!
A beautiful goldfinch
What is he feasting on? The highly nutritious dandeloin seeds!!!!
This blackbird was singing beautifully as are all cock blackbirds at the moment. His mate would be hatching nearby
Honeybee busy on the dandelion flower
The people at the Cross were treated to an exhibition of paragliding
The Kish Bank Lighouse in the distance
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Ducklings by the Dargle
Saturday 17th April 2021

Duck spotted in overgrowth by the riverbank

She is approached by a drake that has been swimming with another duck

He chases the duck back into her nest

He then chases after her very agressively

She sounds scared as she tries to escape him pulling at her feathers

After this agression which lasted about a minute he calmly entered the river to join the duck he had been with before

The mother duck then exited her nest with her brood which numbered fifteen ducklings

They all joined mother duck in the water

As I photographed the ducklings this hooded crow alighted on a post about three feet away. This bird showed no fear whatsoever

Meanwhile this grey wagtail, a regular by the river was looking for food among the stones

Mother and babies enjoy a swin in the river close to our side

She coaxed them on to the riverbank.

This heron flew past and hopefully did not spot the ducklings as I believe they are predators.

This starling is partial to a small fish !!!

A blue tit in the nearby trees

I photographed this blackcap singing melodiously at a different location.

I spotted my first swallow of this year looking very well after the marathon journey to summer with us

Another photo of the blue tit
The old Solus Tower at Little Bray. A memory from bygone days.
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A few recent photos taken very recently. It is a very exciting time as all the birds are pairing up for the breeding season and some have already begun building their nests
This shag was busy fishing on the Dargle
He takes a dive!!!
Success !!!!!
The Shag
Photo sequence of two swans landing on the Dargle
Swans courting on the Dargle
Two cygnets reaching maturity
The Grey Wagtail
Two Pied Wagtails
Grey Hooded Crow taking a bath.
Dipper diving
Spot the Heron
Three Brent geese fly past
They fly low past Bray Harbour wall
A beautiful crow
Little Egret
Prime real estate near Old Bray Golfclub
End of February 2021
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A few nature observations from the Peoples Park. Lower Dargle Road, Bray, Co. Wicklow. 3rd February, 2021.
My first time to spot a beautiful dipper in action!!

This cormorant was very busy fishing
Delighted to make a correction on this one. An ornitologist friend of mine has advised me and I am very grateful that this bird is in fact a shag (same family as cormorant). It is smaller than the cormorant and frequents the river less . Great to have been there at the right place at the right time.

Just dived!!

Can stay underwater for ten to fifteen seconds and when they surface it can be quite a distance from where they dived

Great excitement when we spotted this dipper. It was a beauty and we observed it doing a bit of DIPPING!!!!

A wagtail just flew past in this shot!!!

This beautiful mistle thrush brought back some memories. The first time I saw this magnificent bird was when I was a child in Frayne, my townland outside Athboy, Co. Meath. An ash tree grew at the front of our house. About ten feet from the base there was a three branch fork. Every year the mistle thrush built her nest here. There would be four eggs and the four always hatched. When she would leave the nest we would be able to have a look. Never bothered her when we would be out playing . She would never fly away. We could sit at the kitchen table and observe the comimgs and goings. It was pure magic.

Juvenile gull

Black headed gull
This grey hooded crow was busy by the river turning over stones to catch unsuspecting prey
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Plenty of action by the Dargle River at the People’s Park, Lower Dargle Road, Bray, Co. Wicklow, Ireland yesterday, January 22nd 2021
Black headed gull in winter plumage. In summer it has the black head (actually it is dark brown). In winter it just has the dark spot behind the eye. They were the most predominant gull in the People’s Park yesterday
This black gull was fishing yesterday. It was a first for us to see this particular one fishing
It would swim along looking intensely into the water
then up into the air
There was a feeding frenzy and these gulls were competing in a big way for the food being given to them
One of the lucky ones flying off with it’s prize !!!!
Some early daffodils to lift the spirits
The moon was quite visible in the afternoon sky
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Visit to
East Coast Nature Reserve
Newcastle
Co. Wicklow
October 11th 2020
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Visit to
Vartry Resevoir and Woods
7th October 2020
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The Blue Butterfly
Just so lucky to see this beautiful Blue Butterfly on the Southern Cross, Bray, Co, Wicklow, Ireland. 14th, May, 2020
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Little Creatures discovered on my Walk
Since today is World Bee Day, May 20th, 2020, delighted I came across some bees!!!
Notice the pollen sacks on it’s legs!!!!

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Wildlife by the Dargle River
Cormorant

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The Blue Butterfly
Just so lucky to see this beautiful Blue Butterfly on the Southern Cross, Bray, Co, Wicklow, Ireland. 14th, May, 2020
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Solar Eclipse
Because a Solar Eclipse is so rare
I decided I would share these photos
which I took in my back garden with you.
Peter
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Hills of Wales
Hills of Wales photographed from the walkway
over the top of Bray Head!!!!! (Sunday, 17th, July, 2016)
Photos: Peter Growney