Saturday's Critters # 517

Welcome to Saturday's Critters!

Hello and happy Saturday!

 If you love all God's creatures like I do and also like to blog about them and take critter photos this is where you can share your critter post. Link up your post and share your critters, join in with my critter party ! You can share any kind of critters the real ones, pretend ones, statues and paintings, a new or old post!

I am finally getting around to posting the birds I saw on my last full day in Ireland. On this morning we were packed up and left Kilkenny with one stop at Glendalough a Monastic city and the Wicklow National Park. Hubby and I walked around the park, enjoying the ruins, the birds I did see and lovely views of the valley of the lakes. 

1. A distant view of the round tower, we hiked some on the green trail to the lake area. 

A view of the mountain and the trail and lake. 

The Upper Lake at Wicklow National Park and Glendalough. 

2. I saw a few of the Pied Wagtails, this one was posing on a rock in the creek. 

3. Various scenes from Glendalough and view of the Monastic City or settlement, the St Kevin's church

Glendalough is a beautiful place to visit, I like the Round Tower, the Gateway and church, the view of the ruins and the trail and the lake. 

4. I am guessing the ID of this bird, a Jackdaw.  This bird looked like it was nesting between the rocks of the ruins in Glendalough. 

5. I watched a couple of Chaffinches, one male and a female on the ground near our table. We took a break and had some ice cream from one of the local vendors. 

6. The Gateway lead to the cemetery and the round tower. 

7.  I found a few Blue Tits enjoying some berry bushes.  

The Blue Tits are such a cute birds and one of my favorite Ireland birds. 

I had fun watching these Blue Tits, they were too busy eating to worry about me. 

8. The Pied Wagtail posed for me a few times.  

9.  A nice spot to sit and enjoy the view. Looks like the heart was surrounding the bench.

We loved this beautiful park and the scenic views, I did see some cute birds. Leaving Glendalough and Wicklow we headed to Dublin and were dropped off at our airport hotel for the last night of our trip. 

Thank you for sharing your critters and post!

Thanks to all my visitors and for your past and present comments. Stop back to see any replies to your comments. I appreciate everyone who loves and respects wildlife. Thank you for linking up a critter post.

Here is my linky:

I am linking up to Heidrun's Mosaic Monday  I hope you can stop by and visit Heidrun and check out the Mosaic Monday post.

Saturday's Critters # 515

Welcome to Saturday's Critters!

Hello and happy Saturday!

Wishing everyone a Happy Halloween!  🎃😱👻🎃

 If you love all God's creatures like I do and also like to blog about them and take critter photos this is where you can share your critter post. Link up your post and share your critters, join in with my critter party ! You can share any kind of critters the real ones, pretend ones, statues and paintings, a new or old post!

May 15th, I almost forgot I did not share the last two days of our trip to Ireland. On this day we visited the Cahir Castle, the Rock of Cashel and drove on to our next stop in the town of Kilkenny. 

1.   Cahir Castle, located in the Tipperary County of Ireland. It is in the Cahir town center and sits on a rocky island in the River Suir. The castle dates back to the 13th century. When Lord Cahir died the castle became the property of the Irish state and named a national monument. 

2. Grey Wagtail, Pied Wagtail and the Cahir Geese that hang out on the River Suir next to the Cahir Castle walls. 

3. A gaggle of Domestic Geese have become famous in the town of Cahir, seen on and around the Castle grounds. 

4.  Rock of Cashel located in Cashel, Tipperary County Ireland. It is a complex of buildings dated from 12th and 13 centuries. 

5. Views of the countryside surrounding the Rock of Cashel, herds of cattle near the Hore Abbey, Pigeons and I believe the last two images on the right below are of a Raven. 

6.  Hore Abbey is seen from the Rock of Cashel complex. The former Benedictine Abbey was given to the Cistercians in 1270. Now known as the ruins of a Cistercian Monastery.  A herd of cattle are seen on the grounds around the Abbey in the photo below. 

7.  The River Nore and the Kilkenny Castle. 

8. The River Nore runs next to the Kilkenny Castle. There was a nice trail next to the river we saw lots of Pigeons, Mallard Ducks, Grey Heron and a female Blackbird. 

9. Below on the shore of the River Nore are the Pigeons, Hooded Crows and Mallard Ducks. 

Edit: Thanks to Margaret, the birds below are Jackdaws and not the Hooded Crows. 

10.  On the morning of May 16th, we had time to take a early walk along the River Nore and a walk on the ground of the Kilkenny Castle. In my mosaic below are views of the Kilkenny Castle walls next to the river, castle and park land, cute doggie, Eurasian Blackbird, Eurasian Wren, Eurasian Robin and a female Blackbird. 

11. The view of the Kilkenny Castle, we did not have time for a castle tour but we did walk around the grounds outside.  

12. From our walk on the castle grounds and river trail I did find a few birds, below is the Eurasian Robin.

13.  Also on the trail we found the cute Eurasian Wren.  

I hope you enjoyed these Ireland trip photos. Happy memories of our trip and travels. 

Thank you for sharing your critters and post!

Thanks to all my visitors and for your past and present comments. Stop back to see any replies to your comments. I appreciate everyone who loves and respects wildlife. Thank you for linking up a critter post.

Here is my linky:

I am linking up to Heidrun's Mosaic Monday  I hope you can stop by and visit Heidrun and check out the Mosaic Monday post.

Saturday's Critters # 501

Welcome to Saturday's Critters!

Hello and happy Saturday!

 If you love all God's creatures like I do and also like to blog about them and take critter photos this is where you can share your critter post. Link up your post and share your critters, join in with my critter party ! You can share any kind of critters the real ones, pretend ones, statues and paintings, a new or old post!

May 10th and 11th, I am still making my way through the Ireland photos. 

1. The scenic views and stops were at Galway and on the road to Doolin.  Grey Heron, lots of gulls along the river wall, a Galway street scene, more gulls and Mute Swans on the river bank. 

2. The Grey Heron, it looks very similar to our Great Blue Heron. 

3. Mute Swans were seen all around during our travels. 

4. There were lots of Gulls and Mute Swans along the river bank in Galway. 

5.  Some of the wildflowers seen on the Burrens.

6. I believe this is a Meadow Pipit, there were fields around the back of our lodging and along the road.  As always I hear more birds than I actually see. 

7. The view outside our room for the night in Doolin.

 

8. Hubby and I were in the habit of taking an early morning walk before breakfast and before the tour started for the day. These are the early morning birds I saw in Doolin, the Pied Wagtail, Eurasian Robin, White-throated Dipper, Jackdaw, Rook and the House Sparrows. 

Two Jackdaws on a Doolin rooftop. The jackdaw is smaller than the Crows and has a black crown, wings and tail and paler plumage on the rest of the body. 

9. I was able to watch this White-throated Dipper for awhile, it looks like it found breakfast. 

I enjoyed seeing all the scenery and the birds in Ireland. Each day was a new experience, so much to see.

Thank you for sharing your critters and post!

Thanks to all my visitors and for your past and present comments. Stop back to see any replies to your comments. I appreciate everyone who loves and respects wildlife. Thank you for linking up a critter post.

Here is my linky:

I am linking up to Heidrun's Mosaic Monday  I hope you can stop by and visit Heidrun and check out the Mosaic Monday post. 

Saturday's Critters # 498

 Welcome to Saturday's Critters!

Hello and happy Saturday! Happy 4th of July weekend! 

 If you love all God's creatures like I do and also like to blog about them and take critter photos this is where you can share your critter post. Link up your post and share your critters, join in with my critter party ! You can share any kind of critters the real ones, pretend ones, statues and paintings, a new or old post!

1. May 9th-10th, nearing the end of our time in Clifden. On this day we stopped at various places, the Connemara National Park. We had time to check out the park's visitor center, we hiked in the rain on the nature trail past a few waterfalls, we saw lots of wild garlic, bluebells and the Pied Wagtail.

2. Next we were at the Kylemore Abbbey and Gardens, a small bus took us to the near by gardens. We spent some time walking around the garden paths. 

3.  Kylemore Abbey tour, a beautiful setting with the lake in front and mountains behind the Abbey. 

4.  Kylemore Abbey Chapel and nature trail, we spent enough time here we had a nice lunch in the cafe and a walk on the nature trail and time to check out the chapel. I heard more birds than I could see along this nature trail.

5.  My first sighting of a Dunnock, seen on the grounds of the Kylemore Abbey. We lucked out with the sunshine on this day.  

6. This Eurasian Robin landed on a picnic table next to my hubby.

7. Back on the road, the sheep were on the wrong side of the fence. 

May 10th , next we were driving along on the Wild Atlantic Way heading to Galway and our Doolin B&B called Churchfield.  More Ireland scenes, birds and photos coming soon.

Thank you for sharing your critters and post!

Thanks to all my visitors and for your past and present comments. Stop back to see any replies to your comments. I appreciate everyone who loves and respects wildlife. Thank you for linking up a critter post.

Here is my linky:

 I am linking up to Heidrun's Mosaic Monday  I hope you can stop by and visit Heidrun and check out the Mosaic Monday post. 

Saturday's Critters # 494

 Welcome to Saturday's Critters!

Hello and happy Saturday!

 If you love all God's creatures like I do and also like to blog about them and take critter photos this is where you can share your critter post. Link up your post and share your critters, join in with my critter party ! You can share any kind of critters the real ones, pretend ones, statues and paintings, a new or old post!

May 7th and 8th, these images are from the first two days of our tour. We spent the first night in the town of Westport in County Mayo on the west coast of Ireland. The evening we arrived in town we were booked on a 90 minute cruise in the Clew Bay, checking out the 365 islands, seal colony, views of the John Lennon's island, the Inishgort Lighthouse and the holy mountain of Croagh Patrick.

1. Scenes from the boat ride, the coast line of Westport, Eurasian Oystercatcher, the seals, a Great Northern Diver, the lighthouse and cattle on the hillside. 

2. The Rook was seen on a parking lot on the way to Westport. 

3. Our hotel for the night in Westport, had the same name as my grandson Wyatt.  It was a nice place, had a pub and restaurant attached. 

4. The Pied Wagtail, I ended up seeing this bird every day during our travels.  They must be a common bird seen in Ireland. 

"Thanks to everyone who commented about this bird and it's id."

5. The Carrowbeg River runs through the town of Westport. 

6. Mixed reactions to this bird, at first I thought a Coal Tit and someone else mentioned a Great Tit.  Apparently one has two side bars and the other does not two side bars? 

Another thank you for all who helped with the id, the Great Tit.

7. I also have had mixed reactions to the bird below a White Wagtail or the subspecies the Pied Wagtail.  Does it depend on the the bird having a gray back or this darker black back?

8. The Westport House, a historical house we toured. There was a dungeon in the basement, the grounds were lovely, I like the chandeliers and decorative ceilings. The sheep were grazing on the land and there were swans on the lake. 

9. A view of the lake and the Westport House. The Swan paddleboats were sitting there waiting for action. The house built in the 1730's and owned by the Browne Family, the dungeons have ties to the Grace O'Malley the famous pirate queen.

10. A real Mute Swan was on the lake too. 

11. A Song Thrush seen on the grounds of the Westport House. 

Thank you for sharing your critters and post!

Thanks to all my visitors and for your past and present comments. Stop back to see any replies to your comments. I appreciate everyone who loves and respects wildlife. Thank you for linking up a critter post.

Here is my linky:

I am also linking up to Anni's blog party found here I'd Rather B Birding   Anni always has some beautiful birds to be seen on her blog, check it out! Also, I am also linking up to Heidrun's Mosaic Monday  I hope you can stop by and visit Heidrun and check out the Mosaic Monday post.