Ring Ouzel?

Would a Blackbird make it’s home here?

The side of Lugduff mountain, Glenmalure valley, Wicklow. The longest glacial valley in Ireland.

I parked my car at Baravore ford, to go walking around Glenmalure Valley and see what I could see.

If Blackbirds wouldn’t make their homes here, then I think I saw several Ring Ouzels, but I’m not sure.

The left hand bird has very pale chest and head and black back and wings, the others are mostly black all over.

Ring Ouzel? Very black back feathers, but Song Thrush head and very light chin and chest.

There was nothing clear about whether this bird was a Ring Ouzel or a female /juv Blackbird going through extreme moult.

The beaks of the birds I saw were brownish, the back was black, the wings were black with whitish bits, the chest was like a Song Thrush and the head was extremely light. I couldn’t see any yellow eye ring.

It’s the light head that’s throwing me – if it were a black head with a pale chin and chest I’d be more certain of a lean towards Ring Ouzel…but the lightness of it’s upper half makes me wonder was I just looking at a juvenile Blackbird.

This is a photo of the blacker bird which was in the same tree as the bird above.

This was one of the blacker birds, blackish beak and faint yellow eye ring?

Same bird- this shows some white plumage at the top of it's chest and along the shoulder .

I was there for a while, but no singing occurred to help me id the bird by song, there were a few alarm calls but I think the alarm call of the Blackbird and the Ring Ouzel are quite similar – well, there’s a bit of a difference, but the alarm calls were always just a few clucks, so it was impossible to tell.

Any comments on this bird – very welcome.

And actually this bird threw me too. It was so small I thought it was a Goldcrest, then a Wren, but then I saw it’s yellow and was thrown. It had the yellow of a bright Grey Wagtail.

A flash of yellow caught my eye from a tree above the Avonbeg river

Pale chin, creamy, fawn chest, dark legs (so Willow Warbler ruled out)

Great yellow supercilium reaching the ear, black tip to yellow beak, some yellow in chest

White undertail, quite plain back and wings

Needle like bill of a warbler, but which one? I don't think Chiffchaffs have yellow superciliums?

This bird jumped around very quickly and was gone in about 20 seconds, so these photos are all I have. What’s not coming out in the photos though is the yellow. Again, any comments on bird id very welcome.

A Wren. I know that much.

Up at the top of the mountain I saw 3 Ravens flying around

There was an adult Raven attending to a nest - isn't 25th Sept too late for this?

I also saw a Kestrel hovering around, 3 Robins, Blue tits, Coal tits, a male Bullfinch (I think) and a male and female Chaffinch.

The area was amazing and so was the weather, it was cold though. Hopefully down to the weather and not the deathly history of the place (just google Battle of Glenmalure 1580 and 1798 Rising).

Glenmalure Youth Hostel, Wicklow, open for business

http://www.anoige.ie/hostels/glenmalure - no running water or electricity, but you couldn't find a hostel in a more scenic location

I went for a walk past the old youth hostel and as I was walking I began to think that for the birds who make their home down at the bottom of the valley, the sunlight disappears very early in the evening, it wasn’t 5pm yet but the sun had disappeared – so what do they do about their evening song? You know when the birds catch the last rays of sun and sing from the highest branches.

Do they sing as the last light hits the bottom of the valley or do they wait until the sun is going below the horizon?

I certainly didn’t hear any evening song (I wanted to hear the Ring Ouzel/blackbirds) – so maybe an early morning visit or a stay at this hostel would provide the answer through the dawn chorus. If you wake up alive.

The artlilery range is next door.

The 1798 memorial at Baravore ford, Glenmalure, Wicklow.