Expect the Unexpected!

Do you ever have a day when you decide where to go birding and then nothing really worked out as you expect?  Well that happened to me today although I am going to tell you about my morning in reverse order.  I walked round Ballymacormick point into Groomsport as I have done before (see post 10 &11 June).  Along with looking for birds I was also keeping my eyes peeled for butterflies and bees which I will tell you about in another post.

 

As I walked along the beach before I got to the path around the point, there were Common Tern diving however on the small island above were mainly Sandwich Tern and Gulls.

 

 

Sandwich Terns already starting to moult.

 

Some Common and Black headed Gulls with Sandwich Terns.

 

I had hardly gone too far along the path until a little boy was with his Mum and another young person were behind me.  The little boy who was probably about 5 or 6 years old struck up a conversation with me and when he saw me looking through my binoculars he wanted to know what I was doing.  So from then on until I reached Groomsport, we walked together and he was asking me many questions regarding the birds, butterflies and wild flowers.  It was lovely to find someone so young interested in nature and it certainly was not how I had expected my bird watching morning walk would have turned out.  His name was Jay and a very well mannered little boy he was and he was a joy to be able to share my passion for nature with him.

 

 

There is an adult Cormorant on the left and a young one to the right. There is also a Herring Gull on the rocks.

 

 

 Only one Redshank was seen.

 

 

 I had reasonable views of this young Stonchat above and below

 

 

 

 

I saw a small group of Starlings on the ground with a few young however the one above looked different.  The red on its head was probably due to him putting his head into a flower with red pollen. 

 

 

 

 

Above is an adult Herring Gull and below is a young one.

 

 

 

 

There were about two dozens House Sparrows having dust baths on the path and when I passed, a number of them sat on this farm gate.

 

So firstly, I did not expect such a lovely companion as Jay on my bird watching walk and secondly I did not except when I first reached the beach that there was a World Police and Fire Games (swimming open water) just about to start. These games take place every 2 years and this was the first time they had been held in Northern Ireland.  There were about 130 people taking part from countries all over the world and I managed to speak to quite a number of the competitors just before the start.

 

 

 There were 24 ladies, the oldest one was from Brazil and is on the right hand side of the photo below and they all wore pink hats whereas the men all had green hats and the oldest man to take part was an 80 years old.  I took a video and although I did a voice over, I did not realise until I saw and heard it, that there was a lot of background noise from the crowd.

 

 

All the competitors were gathered together and given their briefing.  There were 8 kayaks to help them go round the correct way around the course and before they started, one of the two rescue boats went round the course so that everyone know which was to go.   

 

 

 

 

That is the organiser in white and he was asking the competitors and crowd to give the TV camera a bit 'Northern Ireland Mexicon' wave.

 

 

Every competitor was micro chipped and before starting they had to walk under the arch to make sure it was on and working.

 

 

The men got ready, waited for the horn and then were off. 

 

 

This is a shot of the male swimmers as they head out to the first buoy. 

 

 

About 5 minutes later the ladies were ready and they were off.  The weather was just right for this event and the crowd were very supportive of the competitors by cheering them on.  They had to swim 2 miles and it was going to take an hour so I left before the winners arrived back home.

Enjoy the video of this event and turn off the sound if you like. 

 

It can be accessed at -

 

 http://youtu.be/yQYPoqQCvUA      If there is a black space below, click it. 

 

 

So, if you have never seen any of my posts before,

always 'Expect the Unexpected'!

I hope you enjoyed this post. Thanks you for visiting.  Please call again.

 

MANY THANKS TO ALL who commented on any of my post yesterday and I am linking this post with  WBW at http://paying-ready-attention-gallery.blogspot.com.au/