After several weeks of walking to and from Bangor I finally nailed a
curlew on the patch. That should be it for the year unless I get really lucky with a diver or sea duck close in. Reed bunting was a spring absentee and is unlikely now, redpoll also missing but could turn up on the feeders in the garden. I will keep walking the patch anyway - at this time of year it is a pleasant walk with less people to disturb the birds. The other notable sighting was
3 razorbill offshore at Carnalea. I also managed to get to Seacliff Road high tide roost on a sunny afternoon and was happy to get a few shots. There were
5 black-headed and 3 herring gulls, 3 oystercatcher, 3 redshank, 6 turnstone, 4 dunlin, 5 purple sandpiper and over 60 ringed plover. Offshore there were
eider, black guillemot, cormorant and shag. All in all a very pleasant 30 minutes and I was able to point out birds to some passing walkers who were totally oblivious to the avian riches on display
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| Ringed plover |
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| Redshank | | |
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| Ringed plover & dunlin |
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| Pied wagtail |
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| Gulls & waders |
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| Ringed plover, purple sandpiper & turnstone |
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| Ringed plover & purple sandpiper |
WOW finally received some water as you can see from the following photographs taken on October 18. A shelduck, two shoveler and 19 golden plover were highlights of the day as well as a few teal.
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| Water!! |
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| Shelduck reflected in water!! |
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| Golden plover reflections as well. |
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| Look Chris has built a second hide. |
Unfortunately there has been little or no rain since, so by November 1 it was still damp but had dried out considerably. Apart from the
teal and a few
lapwing everthing else had moved on. There were however 18
snipe on the mud in Kinnegar Lagoon and up to 5
little grebe in the pool. These may be the ones which breed in WOW and hopefully they will return once we have water. Offshore there were
black guillemot, eider and merganser. This week has been wet and it is forecast to be very wet over the next two days so fingers crossed.
2018
156: Sooty Shearwater - LIFER 😎
Bangor West
71: Curlew
Belfast WOW
99: Jay
Hopefully with all the rain this week, there will be some water at the WOW centre. Yes I often see all those wader and gulls roun at those rocks off Secliffe Road and there seems to be many more Ringed Plover than usual.
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