Female/juvenile Surf Scoter, Lough Gill, 29th October 2021 (Hubert Servignat). |
Female/juvenile Surf Scoter, Smerwick Harbour, 8th November 2021 (Michael O'Clery).
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| Female/juvenile Surf Scoter, Smerwick Harbour, 8th November 2021 (Michael O'Clery). |
Common Scoter numbers have diminished hugely on the Dingle Peninsula in recent years. The Brandon Bay flock, which a decade ago, regularly numbered around 1500+ has fallen away to just a peak of perhaps 200 last winter. Currently, and I checked, there are 12 Common Scoter there when you might expect a four figure number. Similarly, the Inch and Rossbeigh numbers have fallen precipitously in recent years, with peaks of only 60 -100 birds in the last two winters when previously there might have been anything from few hundred to a few thousand. I checked yesterday at Inch, and there were 6.
And of course, the much rarer Surf Scoter often associates with the Common Scoter flocks here, but it is perhaps telling that these two recent Surf Scoter individuals (yes, the Lough Gill bird and the Smerwick Harbour birds were both seen at their respective sites today, so not the same bird), were on their own, and not associating with their near-relatives, Common Scoter. It seems that Common Scoter ain't so common around here anymore.
