0:20:06 > 0:20:09So, Jen, what are we looking for here?
0:20:09 > 0:20:10We're going to look under the sand
0:20:10 > 0:20:13to see what it is all the birds come to eat.
0:20:13 > 0:20:15- So, I'm going to give you the spade. - Oh, good.
0:20:15 > 0:20:18- And I want you to focus on this little worm cast here.- Aha.
0:20:18 > 0:20:23So, just dig in as far as you can and then just flip the sand over.
0:20:23 > 0:20:25OK.
0:20:25 > 0:20:28- That's perfect.- All right. - Brilliant.
0:20:28 > 0:20:31So, what we're looking for is a burrow.
0:20:31 > 0:20:35And these little worm casts are made by a worm called the lugworm
0:20:35 > 0:20:37and it's one of the favourite foods of the birds.
0:20:37 > 0:20:40- So, if we just dig around in here... - What does he look like?
0:20:40 > 0:20:44Um, he looks like a little pink earthworm.
0:20:44 > 0:20:46Um, and... Here we go.
0:20:48 > 0:20:50- Oh, I'm glad you found him. - Yeah, they're quite hard to find
0:20:50 > 0:20:53and they're quite small at this time of the year.
0:20:53 > 0:20:57- So, I'm going to pass that over to you.- OK. It's windy.
0:20:57 > 0:21:01So, he's not very significant looking but he's very, very strong
0:21:01 > 0:21:04and as soon as you put him back in the sand, he'll burrow down.
0:21:04 > 0:21:08So, he eats all of the detritus that lives in the sand
0:21:08 > 0:21:10and then ejects it up to the surface,
0:21:10 > 0:21:13and that's why you get these little casts, these curly casts.
0:21:13 > 0:21:15OK, and what else have we got in this pool?
0:21:15 > 0:21:18OK, so, we've also got some cockles.
0:21:18 > 0:21:22Cockles are another important food source for the birds,
0:21:22 > 0:21:24especially the oystercatchers.
0:21:24 > 0:21:27All the different birds have different lengths of beak,
0:21:27 > 0:21:29so they specialise in different animals,
0:21:29 > 0:21:32and these ones only burrow about five to ten centimetres underneath.
0:21:32 > 0:21:35So, they just eat the gooey centre in the middle,
0:21:35 > 0:21:38- just like we would eat cockles. - Hard work for a bird to get that.
0:21:38 > 0:21:41Yeah, they're pretty hard but they're all really good at getting
0:21:41 > 0:21:42- the soft centre out of there.- I bet.
0:21:42 > 0:21:45As we've been talking about, lots of birds, lots to eat.
0:21:45 > 0:21:47Lots of vegetation, too?
0:21:47 > 0:21:50Yeah, this area is one of the most important areas for eelgrass,
0:21:50 > 0:21:54and it's one of the most protected habitats we have here.
0:21:54 > 0:21:56Every year in the winter
0:21:56 > 0:22:00we get nearly 100% of the pale-bellied brent goose population,
0:22:00 > 0:22:02and they come here to feed on the grass.
0:22:02 > 0:22:05So every summer we allow the grass to grow back,
0:22:05 > 0:22:07ready for these birds to come and feed.
0:22:07 > 0:22:11With such a rich variety of food, no wonder we get so many birds.
0:22:11 > 0:22:13And such a great place to watch them.
0:22:13 > 0:22:15Yeah, if you come here all year round you'll see birds,
0:22:15 > 0:22:18but in the winter we get huge numbers,
0:22:18 > 0:22:21and you can see some brilliant spectacles of birds.
0:22:21 > 0:22:23What are the most common, though, perhaps?
0:22:23 > 0:22:26If you pull up at any of the lay-bys along the road here,
0:22:26 > 0:22:29you're probably most likely to see the oystercatcher.
0:22:29 > 0:22:30They are the most distinctive.
0:22:30 > 0:22:33They're black and white, quite big birds,
0:22:33 > 0:22:36big, long, red beaks, big, long, red feet,
0:22:36 > 0:22:37so you can't miss them.
0:22:37 > 0:22:40And you'll always see them piercing their beaks into the sand.
0:22:40 > 0:22:42Do they eat oysters?
0:22:42 > 0:22:43They don't really eat oysters,
0:22:43 > 0:22:45I don't know why they got that name.
0:22:45 > 0:22:47Maybe in the past they ate more oysters,
0:22:47 > 0:22:48but now they really concentrate
0:22:48 > 0:22:50on the cockles and the worms in the sand.
0:22:50 > 0:22:55- What else might we see commonly? - Quite common would be the heron.
0:22:55 > 0:22:58The heron flies along with big, open wings, huge bird.
0:22:58 > 0:23:00They dangle their feet,
0:23:00 > 0:23:02which is a really good way of telling what it is,
0:23:02 > 0:23:04and they'll stand at the edge of rock pools
0:23:04 > 0:23:06with their head stretched out, looking for fish.
0:23:10 > 0:23:12What then might be a more unusual visitor to the lough,
0:23:12 > 0:23:15or perhaps something that's just harder to see?
0:23:15 > 0:23:18Some of the birds are really well camouflaged, like the curlew.
0:23:18 > 0:23:21It's quite a big bird but it's got big, long feet
0:23:21 > 0:23:23and a huge, long, curved beak.
0:23:23 > 0:23:26- So once you see it, you know it's definitely a curlew.- What else?
0:23:26 > 0:23:28We also get the redshank.
0:23:28 > 0:23:31The redshank is also easy to tell when you get it
0:23:31 > 0:23:33but it's quite a brown, mottled body.
0:23:33 > 0:23:35So if you see a bird with a brown, mottled body,
0:23:35 > 0:23:39a red, short beak and red legs, it's probably a redshank.
0:23:41 > 0:23:43How do we know what we're looking at?
0:23:43 > 0:23:46Well, whenever I'm stuck I just use a bird guide.
0:23:46 > 0:23:49I keep it in the car and that means it's there whenever I need it.
0:23:49 > 0:23:50But there's plenty of apps out there
0:23:50 > 0:23:52that you can use with your smartphone.
0:23:52 > 0:23:56You can download the guide onto your phone and use it just like a book,
0:23:56 > 0:23:58or you could take a photograph or a description
0:23:58 > 0:24:02and feed it into the app and some experts will even come back to you
0:24:02 > 0:24:03on your phone and tell you what it is.
0:24:03 > 0:24:06And I also just go home and look things up on the internet
0:24:06 > 0:24:08because then you've got the time to do it.
0:24:08 > 0:24:10And then when you're out,
0:24:10 > 0:24:12you can actually just enjoy looking at the birds.