WILDLIFE ENTHUSIASTS are celebrating a first for Ireland and Europe with the arrival of a little blue heron in Connemara.
Hundreds of birders, twitchers and "listers" have been arriving in the west Galway village of Letterfrack to view the bird, which is native to parts of north America.
The juvenile egretta caerulea may have been blown off course. It is in good condition and "feeding remarkably well" in Barnaderg Bay near Letterfrack, says Aonghus Ó Dómhnaill, the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) conservation ranger who confirmed the rare landing.
"Equivalent to 10 Olympic gold medals in birdwatching terms," is how Mr Ó Dómhnaill describes the first sighting of this species in Ireland or the rest of Europe.
Mr Ó Dómhnaill was in Letterfrack on September 24th when he was approached by local man Tom McCrudden and told about "what may be a little egret in the bay", he said.
"We went to look at it, it was moving between 200 yards and 20 yards of us and we had a feeling there was something different about it."
"By lunchtime, most of the Irish birdwatchers had arrived, and some had travelled from England by evening. On Monday, a group from Britain even chartered a plane to travel west.
"Normally, the rare birds which weather brings us here are so exhausted when they arrive that they never survive long," Mr Ó Dómhnaill said yesterday.
