Appealing calendar for bird fanciers

A beautiful calendar featuring the work of local bird and wildlife photogapher John N Murphy has been published by the Clare Branch of Birdwatch Ireland (CBBI).

One of the most stunning photos in Clare Birdwatch Calendar 2011 is the front cover shot of the great spotted woodpecker, a species missing from the country for over 200 years but in recent times has returned and is now breeding on the Irish east coast.
“The calendar depicts 12 well-known Irish birds that will be seen in County Clare and throughout the rest of the country during the birding year,” explained Tony Lynch, secretary of CBBI.
Common species such as the reed bunting and grey heron are featured along with summer breeders like the swallow, swift, razorbill and common tern. The turnstone is the only wading bird on display while winter visitors such as the brent geese and whooper swan are represented along with rare vagrants such as the majestic osprey and glossy ibis.
John Murphy, with wildlife artist, Philip Brennan, founded the Birdwatch branch in Clare in 1990. Both were active birdwatchers and ringers and with the support of a strong committee ensured that the branch quickly became one of the most promenent in Birdwatch Ireland network.
The objectives of the branch are preservation, conservation and education for the betterment of birdlife in Clare and beyond.
John is also involved in a film company which specialises in nature and wildlife documentaries for TV stations in Ireland, Europe and the United States.
He is a ­director of Waxwing Wildlife Productions, which he founded in 2006 along with Stan Nugent.
Over the past 20 years, many birdwatchers and members of the public at large have benefitted from the Clare branch’s activities. Monthly outings are open to everybody, both young and old. Most outings are to locations in Clare but occasionally trips are arranged to “birding hot spots” in other parts of the country.
In 1993, the Clare and Limerick Birdwatch branches published a book entitled Birds of Clare and Limerick 1982-1991. In 2003, The Shannon Airport Lagoon – A unique Irish Habitat was published with the support of the organisation.
During 2009, in an attempt to raise funds to update and revitalise the look of their website, www.clarebirdwatching.com, CBBI produced a bird calendar for 2010.
Last year’s calendar proved extremely popular not just in Clare but throughout the entire country, so this year, due to further demand, it was decided to bring out another calendar.
It is available in shops in Ennis, outlets around the county or from CBBI committee members. The calendar has been produced with the support of Waxwing Wildlife Productions.
John Murphy and Stan Nugent’s work with Waxwing includes a broad range of high-quality imagery contained in an ever-expanding library of wildlife video and photographs. They regularly supply footage for use in programmes on RTÉ and TG4.
At present, Waxwing Wildlife Productions is working on a second wildlife series for TG4, titled Ag Dul in Éag. This six-part series concentrates on wildlife we have lost over the previous centuries or are losing in the early part of this century.
Ag Dul in Éag, a follow-up to the highly successful Comthiocht Gan Cuireadh series, will be aired for the first time on TG4 in February 2011.
In the first series, Waxwing was highly praised for delivering footage of almost 20 new species to Ireland, with the majority never previously seen on an Irish TV channel. Many of the species covered were considered alien or indeed invasive.