Friday, January 20, 2012

Rescue at Ringdoo 10th Dec 2011

It was a bit windy and wet underfoot so decided on a forest walk at Torrs Warren heading for Ringdoo Point.

1-geese

As we got out of the car a skein of geese flew over, Pinkies I think.

The main track through the forest was closed due to felling so we headed for the dunes to continue our walk to Ringdoo Point

2-little-egret

Down by the Piltanton Burn 2 Litlle Egrets could be seen in the distance

3-masked-crab

A masked Crab shell was found on the shore along with lots of Canoe shells, razor shells and a Pelicans Foot shell.

4-stonechat

A pair of Stonechats were seen near the shore

5-bracket

Fungi growing on driftwood…

6-bracket

…any ideas?

7-waders

Silhouetted waders on the sand

8-guillimot

We then spotted this solitary bird which appeared to be stranded, we first thought it was a gull but on investigating found it was a stranded Gullimot

9 guillimot-1

This time of year they should be feeding out to sea but it had probably been stranded by the storms.

10 guillimot-2

We debated whether to carry it a couple of miles and take to a rescue centre

11 guillimot-3

Or to carry it to the sea where hopefully it could feed

12 guillimot-4

The decision was made to carry it to the sea once it had been checked over as trying to get it to a rescue centre would probably cause it too much stress so thought we would give it a fighting chance by carrying it to the sea and then leave it to nature.

13 guillimot-5

Mike managed to catch it and we checked it over to see if it had any injuries.

14 guillimot-6

It appeared fine and was quite feisty so Kirsty was given the job of carrying it to the sea which by now was quite a long way out.

15 guillimot-7

It got quite lively once it heard the waves

16 guillimot-8

It flapped about at the waters edge first

17 guillimot-9

Composed itself

18 guillimot-10

Then managed to fly a short distance

19 guillimot-11

It then dived under and popped up again several times heading out to sea, lets hope it survives!

20 jellyfish-1

Our attention was then taken by this large jellyfish

21 jellyfish-2

Which I found out later is a Barrel Jellyfish (Rhizostoma octopus)

22 jellyfish-3

Probably washed up by the storms also

23-ringdoo

We had not been this far out on the point before, a beautiful place.

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