Muck in the Mist

June 2nd saw us heading for Ballylumford and a trip to the Gobbins via Muck Island. The target was breeding seabirds. There was good news and bad news. The good news was that the sea was millpond calm, the bad news was that the sea fret was in, and there were times we could not see the coast even though we were no further than 50 metres away. Fortunately it lifted a bit at the Gobbins, but on our return journey it closed in from Muck Island home and we saw very little.

Auks at Muck Isle, the nearest bird is a puffin!!

Razorbill & guillemots

What peregrines??

More auks

Gobbins walk

Kittiwakes

Mist drifting back in

Disembarking at Ballylumford.

We had a good selection of birds and apart from peregrine we saw everything we hoped to see albeit through a mist. Gannets loomed out of the mist a couple of times and disappeared. Anyone shooting film in black and white was well served, but the birds gave good close views and were not spooked as much as we loomed out of the mist as well. All told we saw fulmar, gannet,cormorant, shag, herring gull, great black-backed gull, kittiwake, sandwich tern, guillemot, black guillemot, razorbill and puffin.

I also had a couple of trips which gave nice birds. The first was a whinchat on the Starbog Road near Cappanagh, the second was a skylark on a walk up to Quolie Reservoir near Broughsnane. The latter also gave good views of wheatear, a sand martin colony and meadow pipits.  

Whinchat courtesy of David Miller

And again

Quolie Reservoir

Looking down the valley

Quolie River

There are two reservoirs and not much birdlife on them, the best part is the walk up the valley with good views of the surrounding hills and a wide range of habitats - one of my favourite walks on the planet in May or June, never fails to give interesting birds and butterflies and is just a stunning walk. There is a ruined farmhouse at the top of the second reservoir and it is an idyllic spot for a picnic or an overnight camp. It just ticks all the boxes.

Nothing startling at WOW today (June 14th) apart from 600+ godwits, 1500 black-headed gulls and young, 160+ common tern and up to 8 arctics, 4 knot and 3 dunlin. There were at least 7 Mediterranean gulls on show but some seem to have lost chicks to lesser black backs and herring gulls. There were also 3 young lapwings but we are not sure where they came from or whether they hatched here. Next stop Tallinn and St Petersburg, a family holiday with a bit of World Cup football but I am bringing the binoculars and the travel scope!!


2018  
132: Gannet
133: Whimbrel
134: Whinchat
135: Whitethroat
136: Kittiwake
137: Puffin
138: Razorbill
139: Skylark
 
 Bangor West
65: Gannet
66: Whimbrel
67: Whitethroat

Belfast WOW
87: Raven
88: Gannet
89: Pochard

May round up at WOW

Once again I waited for a week or three and then discovered I had loads of photos and not a lot of time so here goes on a catch up of the last three weeks at WOW. The garden and NDCP have not been neglected but are not turning up new birds or meaningful photos. The first point is if you want good views and pictures of terns and gulls come to WOW.

Arctic tern

Arctic (L) and common (R)

Common tern

Common tern

Arctic tern, red bill, short legs, tail longer than wings

The black-headed gulls are feeding young, mostly on the islands but also in front of the observation room.There are chicks of all shapes and sizes from newly hatched to flying.

Two seems to be the norm

Nest, egg and chick

 

The same nest one week later, the grass has decided that summer is here!

We're cute (and gull food)

 The other species on the reserve are also coming in close, still looking for millet I supppose. Unfortunately they are out of luck as we are not supposed to go out during the breeding season in case we spook the birds and the gulls and crows make a raid on the eggs/chicks.

Moorhen

Mallard

Shoveler

Shelduck

Coot

Things got really exciting last week as we had swans with cygnets, a shelduck brood and the new tern islands finally went live. They were supposed to go out at the start of May but the terns were late in arriving so it was decided to hang on in case the gulls took them over. There are two small ones in front of the observation room and a larger one over at hide two. In less than 24 hours  there were two gull nests on the smaller ones, although the terns are showing interest.

Hi-jacked by gulls

More gull takeover!!

Small tern islands in front of the observation room, note sea fret!

Shelduck brood

Mute swan family

Bl-hd gulls, Med gull and common tern

New tern island from hide 2

Redpoll and greenfinch

Redpoll and goldfinch

Latest news is that there are at least six Med gull chicks on the main island. They are easier to see on the camera monitor so here are a couple of screen shots.

I'm skipping the list update as I need to do another post on the trip to the Gobbins on June 2, when we sailed through mist and fog in pursit of seabirds.