Adult Black Brant (lower right) with Brent Geese, Sandy Bay, 4th January 2017 (M.O'Clery).
Adult Black Brant, Sandy Bay, 4th January 2017 (M.O'Clery).
Black Brant usually turn up in Kerry each October or early November, and in recent years, up to two have been seen in the county during the winter months. They are long-lived birds and, chances are, the same individuals are making it back to the Kingdom over many years. Extraordinary to think that most Brent Geese don't first nest until their fourth summer, some until they are seven years old, but they still make the huge migration to Arctic Canada and back each year
Adult Black Brant, Sandy Bay, 4th January 2017 (M.O'Clery).
Adult Black Brant, Sandy Bay, 4th January 2017 (M.O'Clery).
The pleasure of birding on a calm, sunny winters' day in Kerry is invariably tainted with the mass torching of the uplands. The pall of smoke from this and several other conflagrations near Fermoyle today stretched fully 10 km and engulfed the whole Brandon range and beyond. Surely there's a better way?
