Birds seen from Clough to Dundrum

Our West Church walking group went out for the day and walked from Clough to Dundrum, County Down.

The Mourne Mountains in the distance

We were very fortunate in that the weather was sunny and fairly warm.  This is our group below.

As we walked along the old railway line with the sea on one side and small lakes to the other side, we saw some small birds like Chaffinch, the Tits, Robin and Willow Warblers.

We passed by a small stream and over on the other side we saw this dead female fox.  I wondered what had happened to it.

Dead female Fox

The tide was nearly in and so we did not see many waders but those we saw were Redshank, Oystercatcher, Curlew and I was pleased to see my first Whimbel this year (see below).  Nearing Dundrum there was a small island and it had about 14 Whimbrel, Sandwich Terns, Lesser Black backed and Black headed Gulls on it.

As we walked closer to Dundrum, the Mountains of Mournes with their purples, green and grey hues looked magnificent against the blue sky and wonderful cloud formation.  I am sure a lot of people know the song, 'When the mountains of Mournes sweep down to the sea' by Percy French  and these are the mountains he wrote about to Mary his wife when he went to London to make his fortune.  The mountains meet the sea in Newcastle which is a few miles further on.