Photo Gallery

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

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

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!!!

21a

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

Male and female mallard

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