It’s mid-October and the Brent Geese (light-bellied) have returned to Mayo for the winter from their summer breeding grounds, over 7,000km away in Arctic Canada.
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Brent Geese return to Mayo
Category: Nature Trail
Discover the beautiful flora and fauna of Mayo
The Purple Sandpipers, perched on the cliff-top at Kilcummin Head, seemed completely unbothered by my presence, even when I edged closer to take a photograph.
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Timeless Blanemore Forest
Blanemore Forest Archaeological Walk near Moygownagh is another gem in Mayo’s treasure chest of extensive Neolithic sites – the best known of which is the Ceide Fields near Ballycastle.
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A good year for Bog Cotton
I was standing in the middle of the bog that covers Benwee Head on the Children of Lir Loop Walk in one of the most scenic places in Mayo talking to a local man as he put in a late evening shift saving the turf.
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The lonely Orchid of Muingdoran
My travels took me to Muingdoran last week that isolated headland near Doolough. The meadow grass was high with some fields blanketed by buttercups.
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Oystercatchers in flight
The Oystercatcher is one of our most common waders and can be seen all around the Mayo coastline. Kilcummin, the Moy estuary, and the many beaches of The Mullet peninsula are among my favourite locations in Mayo for watching Oystercatchers.
Just as the flowering daffodils signal the end of winter, the carpets of Bluebells that decorate Ballina’s Belleek Wood in late April and early May are a sure sign that summer is on its way.
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Ducks outfox mink on Lough Conn
Nature, at its toughest, is a game of survival for both the hunter and hunted – something I was reminded of on a recent walk along the shores of Lough Conn when I noticed a mink stalking a duck and drake as the pair swam nearby.
May 2017: It’s early May and small groups of Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus) have arrived in Mayo for a brief stop-off on their way to their summer breeding grounds in the Arctic.
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The Brent Geese of Mayo
January 2019 In mid-January 2019, I spotted a ringed Light-bellied Brent Goose in a flock of about 20 foraging for food on the rocky seashore in front of Kilcullen’s Seaweed Baths on Pier Road in Enniscrone. I emailed the photograph to the Irish Brent Goose Research Group in Downpatrick, Co Down, for identification and Graham […]
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