July 2008 Sightings
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31st July 2008
Ballysadare Estuary		 A drake Wigeon in eclipse plumage was with a large group of Mallard seen in Ballysadare Bay at the mouth of the Ballysadare River (S. Feeney).
Swift Stonechat
Images  ©  Kevin Murray 2008 
29th July 2008:  Common Swift (left) and Stonechat (right) photographed in the grounds of Lissadell House.

Images  ©  Conor McElhinney2008 
29th July 2008:  Two leucistic House Sparrows which were seen with a flock of approximately 100 House Sparrows in an area of mature grass north of Sligo Town.  Leucism is a form of abnormal pigmentation where the feathers are abnormally pale.  Albino birds may occasionally be seen where there is no pigment whatever (all feathers white.

Leucism and albinism in House Sparrows are both rare but has been reported before - see recent (slightly confused) news report on albino House Sparrows seen in Northern Ireland here.

Images  ©  Conor McElhinney2008 
29h July 2008:  Two leucistic House Sparrows which were seen with a flock of approximately 100 House Sparrows in an area of mature grass north of Sligo Town.  Leucism is a form of abnormal pigmentation where the feathers are abnormally pale.  Albino birds may occasionally be seen where there is no pigment whatever (all feathers white.

Leucism in House Sparrows is rare but has been reported before, see news report from Northern Ireland here.
27th July, 2008, Grange There were 3 Juvenile Greenshank were at Moneygold, Grange on 27th July (S. Feeney).
21 July - 24 July 2008 Sligo area:
RARE MARINE MOLLUSCS FOUND IN SLIGO		 Specimens of the Violet Sea Snail (Janthina janthina) have been picked up between 21 July and 24 July: one each at Streedagh (D. Feeney), Dunmoran Strand (J-M. Dick) and Trá Bui (J. Dunleavy).  This ocean wanderer is quite rare in Europe and its increasing occurrence may indicate changes in ocean currents and wind patterns (D. Cotton).

See http://www.marlin.ac.uk/species/Janthinajanthina.htm for further details.
23th July 2008
Knocklane		 Off Yellow Strand, a tight flock of about 90 Common Eider duck were close to the shore  (D. Cotton, J. Dunleavy).
23th July 2008
Sligo		 Iceland Gull present at Quay St and Carton Marsh. Juvenile Lesser-Back Backed, Herring and Black-Headed Gulls are now in at Quay St. Slip (D. Skehan).
20th July 2008
Mullaghmore
(Bunduff Strand)		 Four Arctic Skuas were chasing birds out of a flock of five Common Terns in the coastal area from Bunduff Strand at about 5 p.m. One Arctic Skua had complete dark plumage, the others belonged to the pale phase. For more than half an hour later the Common Terns seemed to be extremely upset and behaved very noisily (Oliver Conz, Kerstin & Luis Höntsch, on a visit from Frankfurt, Germany).
20th July,2008
Knocknarea/Strandhill area 		2 pairs of Spotted Flycatchers seen (D. Skehan).
19th July 2008  Mullaghmore Head Nine Storm Petrels were seen chasing together along the coastline (Oliver Conz, Kerstin & Luis Höntsch, on a visit from Frankfurt, Germany).
17th July 2008
Easkey		 A Mediterranean Gull in breeding plumage was sighted near Easkey flying west (S. Feeney).
16th July 2008
Streedagh		 A flock of c. 80 Common Eider was seen close to shore (P. Keogh).
15th July 2008
Cliffoney		 A ringtail (female/juvenile) Hen Harrier (Northern Harrier) was observed quartering the ground for 20 minutes over bog near Cliffony  (D. Cotton, J. Dunleavy).
15th July 2008
Rosses Point		 3 Corncrakes were heard on Oyster Island (T. Gordon).
Ringed Plover
Image ©  Kevin Murray 2008 
14th July 2008:  Ringed Plover at Streedagh, north Co. Sligo
13th July 2008 Innismurray Island: Black Guillemot x 25 including juveniles,
Northern Fulmar x 28 - some pairs were sitting on possible nests in the cliffs,
Great Black-backed Gulls x 50 at least, with fledglings / Juveniles
Lesser Black Backed Gulls x 50 at least, with fledglings / Juveniles
Oystercatchers x 17. Saw 1 Nest with 4 eggs
Shags x 120, lots of juveniles,
Common Gull x 1,
Common Eider x 25 including fledglings,
Grey Heron x 1 - being mobbed by variety of gulls,
Swallows x 4
Skylark x 4 singing,
Wren x 6,
Dunnock x 2,
Sedge Warbler x 1 singing
Rock Pipit x 14 with juveniles,
Meadow Pipit x 10,
Herring Gulls x 20
Blackbird x 2
Ringed Plover x 1,
Wheatear x 1 female (C.McElhinney)
12th July 2008 Ballyconnell Whimbrel calling over Ballyconnell on Saturday morning 12 July (D. Cotton).
12th July 2008
Rathedmond,
Sligo		 A large bird of Prey, probably a Peregrine Falcon, wassighted plucking fresh kill on the eircom Telecommunications mast at Rathedmond, Sligo (M. Scanlon).
11th July 2008
Quay Street: 		2nd Calendar Year Iceland Gull, id confirmed, at the Slipway on Quay Street,09:30am today. North-westerlies today & tomorrow should result in seabird passage at Aughris & Kilcummin  (D.Skehan).
10th July2008,
Bunduff Strand		 Gannets, Guillemots, two Sanderlings together with a flock of 13 Dunlin, Curlew, Ringed Plover.  The famous Whooper Swan of Bunduff Lake was still present, also Eider, Shags, Stonechats, Cormorants were seen (Oliver Conz, Kerstin & Luis Höntsch, on a visit from Frankfurt, Germany)
9th July 2008,
Quay Street		 The probable 2nd calendar year Iceland Gull at the slipway on Quay Street (D.Skehan).
9th July, 2008
Sligo Heritage eZine published		 The July edition of the Sligo Heritage eZine is now available at Sligo Heritage ezine.
9th July 2008
Raghley		 24 Curlew, 4 Grey Herons and numerous gulls were sighted along with 2 Bar-tailed Godwits with coppery red summer plumage on their underside along the Sligo Bay side of Raghley. In addition Kestrels have been spotted almost daily hunting along the sea cliffs from Ballyconnell to Lislarry over the last 5 days (D. Feeney).
7th July 2008
Carney,
Co.Sligo		 47 Collared Doves were at Carney village on 7th July (J. Dunleavy).

7th July 2008
Raghley Point		 45 Redshank were at Raghley Point  (D. Cotton, J. Dunleavy).
6th July 2008
Ballintogher		 Cuckoo call heard, quite a late record (D.Skehan).

3rd July 2008
Sligo Harbour/
Quay Street,
Sligo Town		 The Grey Heron (that has been acting oddly, and remaining fairly constantly at the weir in the river beside Rockwood Parade) has moved from the bridge beside the Glasshouse Hotel to the slipway at Quay Street and is showing signs of ill-health (D.Skehan).
3rd July 2008,
Holy Well,
Sligo		 Redpoll, Grasshooper Warbler, Long-tailed Tit & Jay were sighted during a brief visit at the Holy Well (D. Skehan).
2nd July 2008
Cartron Marsh		 A Grey Heron was seen within 20m of the causeway road on the landward side (G. Scott).