We saw another 3 Curlews today at a different end of the beach. Tide was low so we ventured out, armed with the Nikon bins to share.
3 Curlews, confirmed among a beach filled to bursting with a jillion types of Gull and a cluster of 50 or so (yes, really) Oystercatchers (one of our favourites).
While out and about we met another couple of birders who were looking for the Curlews we saw a few nights ago. They left empty-handed, alas they hadn’t been to the other beach though we did mention it to them to try there. If they had done so they’d have been in luck!
The husband had some whopper camera gear on him and showed us some amazing photos he took in Australia of some Ravens. He was quite the photographer with some fantastic snaps to show us.
We learned a top tip from the couple as well. I had mentioned the IOTA activation I did recently (we had talked a little about amateur radio) and that we hoped to see Puffins on the island. There is another Ireland about 5km off of Waterford which is an IOTA, Saltee Island.
What I didn’t know is that if you want to take photos on the island, even with a smartphone, you MUST apply for a free licence before travel to the island. Saltee is famous for Puffins so I’ve made a note of the mandatory licence requirement. Might help someone else here if they are visiting some day.
As we watched the Curlews and Oystercatchers this evening, we were sat on a giant rock which would be underwater at high tide. We didn’t notice it until we went to get up but the whole time at our feet was an enormous Lions Mane jellyfish!
We were at the same strip of beach a few nights back and it was peppered with hundreds of Compass and Lions Mane jellyfish of all sizes.
Good birding today and great to see our Curlew friends again. Long may it continue and I hope the reintroduction program goes from strength to strength. Important work.
You’ll need to come over for a wee trail run in my local hills, I see them fairly regularly up there, as well as the occasional cuckoos here and there (although those are definitely more often heard than seen). There’s also a wee one-pointer SOTA summit (GM/SS-222, Dun Colm) in that range, but it’s a rubbish one for running.
My pals and I flushed a jay out of a tree as we ran by this morning, and the sound it made was truly horrendous! For such a beautiful looking bird, they don’t half make an awful noise.
We all have a built in metronome, our heartbeat, its just that some people find it hard to link that to movement - I can talk, my dancing is pretty basic because I keep getting caught up in the music, instead of the pattern. People laugh, but its true - I don’t dance, I’m a musician!
These arrived today. Refurbished purchased direct from Nikon Ireland (also in stock on Nikon UK and possibly other Nikon official sites).
These things are basically brand new, just inspected them. I bought these for Mini Ted Nugent as we’ve been sharing the 8x30 and 10x42 Prostaff 7’s but both are way too heavy for him to hold for long.
These worked out at €79 with free delivery (only took 2 days to arrive) and come with a full Nikon warranty too.
There is a new version of these but the differences are minimal. Still worked out about €25-30 cheaper and good enough for the rough and tumble they will take with small hands!
I gave them a quick test drive and have to say the optics are fantastic and the form factor is superb. Wide field of view and work well for close up too - I think close distance is around 2 to 3 metres.
If you want a small, light but high quality pair of bins for your next hike, SOTA, POTA, casual curtain twitching or what have you then I highly recommend these.
You could go for the newer model at around €110 but for me these are for the mini man, so not a catastrophic amount dropped on them if interest is lost in a few months time (I waited to see if interest held long enough first). We tried the super cheap bins on Amazon but these are awful, not even proper optics in them. Good as a toy but not if you actually want to see anything with them!
The case and neck strap are great too. Everything packs away nice and compact and weighs very little. I’d say the optics are about on par with a Prostaff P3 as they are very sharp like the P7 but slightly different for colours. Not in a negative way, just saying the optics are more likely P3 based compared to my P7’s as the benchmark.
Waterproof and DCF optics too. A bargain, with the Nikon Warranty and quality optics to top it off. Might pack these myself when the mini man isn’t using them!
