Broad Meadow Estuary

Had a bit of time while over visiting my mother to visit an old haunt of mine from my youth, the Broad Meadow Estuary in North County Dublin. The Estuary has seen significant changes over the past 30 years not least of which include the new motorway extension which normally means the end for nature sites. However, in their wisdom the authorities recognized the site as being of importance for wildlife and instead of ploughing right through the middle of it they put a flyover instead. The resulting landscape means the area is a lot noisier but the Estuary largely remains unchanged. It certainly does not look like it has bothered the birds and wildlife too much at all. I must say well done to the Irish Authorities for this, I have seen in excess of 1000 Brent Geese on this a few years ago and it would be a great shame to lose it. That said I had a couple of hours free last weekend (July 23) and headed down to see what I could find. I took as many pictures as I could but to be honest the weather was very dull and showery so the photos were not brilliant.

Some Mute Swans

Mallard

Grey Heron Hunting

Herring Gull

Black Headed Gull

Cormorant drying off

Barn Swallow Resting

 

Pied Wagtail immature

MagpieSandpiper

Hooded Crow with Mute Swan looking on

Small Flock of Starling

Pied WagtailPoor shot of a Little Grebe

This time I also had my trusty smartphone to hand with the Merlin App loaded so I set it to work for a couple of minutes to see what bird species it could hear. Recordings were only a couple of minutes each but picked up Black Headed Gull, Common Sandpiper, Barn Swallow (of which there were dozens feeding) Herring Gull, Goldfinch, House Martin, Woodpigeon, Collared Dove, Pied Wagtail and there were some Robins in the bushes. A nice little selection of birds and a very pleasant outing despite the traffic noise.