Michael Huggins

I have just discovered Juan Gabriel Vasquez and really enjoyed Retrospective.

He doesn’t hate to say it. He loves it. Shame for him it’s not true.

lack of white flank patch. Harlequin took a while to appear but then showed off right in front of us. Diver showed well but only intermittently at mid-distance in the bay.

#donegalbirding
Harlequin and Pacific Diver both at Trá na gCloch this afternoon. First time to see the duck in a while and it’s now looking especially lovely. I was pleasantly surprised at how apparent the fine structural differences were between Pacific and Black-throated diver. Also very obvious

#donegalbirding

Harlequin Duck, Co.Donegal, Ireland.
The first record of this species in Ireland.

Wikipedia is being cruel about Tottenham Hotspur and Igor Tudor:

In March 2025, he returned to Juventus in the position of manager but was sacked in October after a poor start to the season. In February 2026, he joined Tottenham Hotspur. In May 2026, he relegated them.

#donegalbirding
And an article in the recent Birdwatch Ireland magazine Wings (members only) on the damage done to waterbird populations by out-of-control shellfish farming on the Co. Donegal side of Lough Foyle here

birdwatchireland.ie/publications...

#donegalbirding
There’s useful material in the recent NPWS report on the national and international significance of Lough Swilly here

www.npws.ie/sites/defaul...

#donegalbirding
Please use the short window of public consultation that is available to object to this destructive plan. More to follow.

assets.gov.ie/static/docum...

Plans lodged for significant expansion of oyster and mussel farming on Lough Swilly Applications for 13 locations covering a combined 750 acres includes a new cluster of oyster farms at Manorcunningham

#donegalbirding
Plans have been submitted for a large oyster farm development in Lough Swilly, a Special Protection Area of international importance.

www.donegallive.ie/news/letterk...

In quite a lot of these constituencies the category ‘least disliked’ might have been useful if asking about Utd or City.

The exception is the City of Salford (Utd by a good margin). This drawing is one of those daft creations that gives a monolithic impression of homogeneity that doesn’t exist.

There are fans of both across this map but for much of it - and in Manchester itself - the picture is entirely mixed.

In my local from 1986-2019, to be found towards the top of this map, Utd dominated, but there were also fans of Bolton, Burnley, Bury and Blackburn (a right load of Bs). And the odd brave Liverpool fan.

More significantly, most of the towns in caps here have their own pro team. Since vox pops are theme of the day, I suggest you try asking on the streets of Bolton whether people support Utd or City. But make sure to take a bodyguard. Both are hated, Utd perhaps a little more than City.

This drawing is preposterous. Apart from anything it perpetuates the myth of a ‘Greater Manchester’ (Copyright E. Heath, 1974). Parts of Wigan borough, for example, are nearer Liverpool.

#donegalbirding
A Pacific Diver has joined the Harlequin in residence at Trá na gCloch, just beyond Magheraroarty, if you need any further motivation to go there.

I taught a son of Jan’s in higher education around thirty years ago. He was a good-natured soul; gentle, sweet and apparently unloved.

Close-up of the head of a bison from the Altamira Cave, Cantabria, Northern Spain. Picasso saw these ancient creations, one of the greatest assemblages of cave paintings in prehistory, and declared "After Altamira, all is decadence".

#donegalbirding
Seems it paid a visit 18 months ago.

#donegalbirding
An immature wing-tagged white-tailed eagle has turned up in the county (again). Let’s hope it can play its part in the re-establishing of this magnificent species in Ireland with no interference from people or wind turbines.

#donegalbirding
Super picture for comparing our usual Greenland with Russian subspecies.

#donegalbirding
A couple of Russian white-fronted geese at Burt, courtesy of @delboydonegal.bsky.social

#donegalbirding
After what has so far been a quiet start to 2026 in the county, a yellow-legged gull turned up at St John’s Point yesterday.

If you can afford £2k+ compare Swarovski NL Pure, Leica Noctivid and Zeiss SF. I did last year and went for Zeiss (the Swaro can misbehave with glare for some people). For half that money Kowa Genesis 8.5x44 are their optical equal but heavy and clunky. Worth considering. MUST TRY BEFORE BUYING.

Just a shame that there are too many people too stupid or arrogant or both and think Ireland somehow has a duty to them. It’s Britain that has screwed their happy holiday home life and it’s Britain they need to change.

If people in Britain who’d never previously thought of it applied, and were granted, Irish citizenship after Brexit (thereby entitling them to an Irish passport), that’s their good fortune. For those who aren’t/can’t be Irish, bad luck.

That’s what is behind much of this from the whinging poms. Can’t quite understand that Ireland is an independent country with its own citizenship rules (rules that acknowledge our history).

As others have pointed out, you certainly do have to be an Irish citizen to have an Irish passport.