East Coast Nature Reserve, Newcastle, County Wicklow

On the way back to Dublin I called in at the ECNR in County Wicklow. This relatively new reserve has been created by BirdWatch Ireland and is quite an impressive place. I walked along the beach, which allowed not only good views of the sea and shore, but also of the marsh on my right. There has been a probable northern harrier seen here over the past week, which is the North American race of hen harrier, but I didn't see any harriers of any kind today. However the marsh was full of ducks, especially wigeon and teal, whilst on the sea there were about 20 red-throated divers, and three snow buntings were on the shore, so quite a decent stop to break my journey.

Red-throated diver.

Snow bunting.