Friday, 27 June 2008

Black Guillemots and Gannets....

Friday 27th June 2008

My friend emailed me yesterday from sunny Hampshire. Apparently the weather there is too hot for her!! As for me in Belfast, well I am having to take a hot water bottle to bed every night to keep me warm!!! But despite the cooler weather, I am having a great time over here and I definitely wouldn't want to be anywhere else......


Donaghadee

Donaghadee lighthouse

I've been busy visiting my relatives, so I haven't been out birding as such....but on Wednesday we were driving along the coast road from Bangor to Donaghadee, when my nephew saw a bird sitting on a wall and asked if I knew what it was. I looked over and was pleased to see a Black Guillemot, a bird I had never seen before. We parked the car and walked back for a better look, and found not one, but eight Black Guillemots. Absolutely beautiful birds, with their bright red feet and large white wing patches.


black guillemots


Then further along the coast I noticed a group of ten gannets, plunge diving into the sea..... pretty impressive stuff.


gannet

145. black guillemot
146. gannet

2 comments:

Finn said...

Welcome to chilly - and rather damp - Northern Ireland. You missed our good weather, because summer was in May this year!!
Enjoy your birding. By the way, is a hooded crow the same as what I know as a grey crow?

Soulbirder said...

Thank you for the welcome.
At a guess I would say a hooded crow is the same as a grey crow.