Four Hours in Kenmare...

...We could probably have done with six.
 To be frank I went to Skellig Islands before Kenmare Bay, but, as they say: 'Save the best 'til last'.
 Around 12:00 O'clock we got a lift down with my Aunt to her and my uncles shop (see their Facebook page here) and from there Caleb and I walked to Kenmare Bay.  It was a bit slow when we first got there, but soon I located some juvenile Hooded Crows.  If you read my blog over winter you may remember that I frequently  complained about high ISO and poor light.  Well it was a slightly different case down there.  The Sun was so high it was near impossible to get it on your back, and heat hazes would occasionally occur in my images, so, they really didn't come out well...At all.

Finding good light for photography is actually quite hard, in the summer, early morning and late afternoon are the best times, but it is hard to get to places before the sun is high above, so I had to make do.  For once I was wishing for clouds.
 It wasn't long before I located a Rock pipit, this led me to finding a juvenile Rock Pipit!  I soon found there was a small family of two adults and two juveniles.  Again the light was hard to work with, but I tried my best to get a passable shot.  It's a shame the background wasn't nicer on this image, that big black shadow spoils it a bit.  I did however manage a slightly better background with a shot of one of the adults.

But still my best Rock Pipit shots yet.  This species seems to be doing remarkably well in Ireland, with every beach I have visited  there holding at least one pair.  Even the sandy beaches.  With a bit of patience they can come fairly close, but you have to stay low for they often fly if you stand straight as is the case with many birds.  I find the best way to go about photographing Rock Pipits is to use rocks to disguise you.  For these shots I had my Beanbag by Wildlife Watching Supplies resting on a Rock so I had good support and my shape didn't stand out.  The same applied for the Hooded Crow.  I don't know what I'd do if the beach didn't have such large stones.
 Well after  about an hour or so with the Rock pipits we headed off for Caleb's patch.  He has now extended that to the pier as it is only a couple of minutes walk away.  I let him off this, but I think the reason he did this is so he could put Glaucous Gull on his patch list.  The cheek.  Good thing I looked through his images as he hadn't noticed it was a White-winger at first.  Hopefully I'll be able to catch up with it next winter.
 Well anyway on to the real patch we didn't see anything.  So we walked to a bench to have lunch, and then I dropped my phone and we spent 20 minutes looking for it.  I would have found it quicker if I hadn't spotted a Common Tern.

I did eventually find my phone which was just in time as we had to be back at the shop by 16:00 to drive back and it was already 10 minutes to.
 It's amazing how quickly time flies when you're having fun.  As it was a Sunday - I think - they didn't do a full working day, so next time I'm over hopefully we'll be able to go for longer.
 Skellig islands should come soon, within the next week I hope, and no doubt this post will look short in comparison.