January update

Time for a catch up from the patches. The coastal path/garden has moved slowly mainly because I have not walked  the coastal path of late and I have cleaned up most of the garden species. I finally nailed a male blackcap during the garden birdwatch - only a month late. WOW has been very quiet as well. I normally add a few species every week in January but this week we had 32 species none of which were new. Last week a blackcap visited the feeders and the estuary added black guillemot.

I have been in four primary schools this week doing the big schools garden birdwatch and that was its usual fun time. Highlights were as follows:

Bangor Central has a small stand of alders which were visited by two treecreepers who spent 20/25 minutes giving the best treecreeper views I have ever seen - in over forty years of birding!! Two classes and their teachers had brilliant views of a bird they had never heard of never mind seen. 

St Comgalls had a blackcap and a flock of redwings. 

Grange had a hooded crow. 

Crawfordsburn had its usual house sparrow flock, a greenfinch, 7 redwing and brilliant views of a singing wren. I had heard it and used a playback tape and it popped up to the top of a bush and gave us all full welly. The pupils and teachers were well impressed by how much noise a small bird can make. 

I visited a site today and picked up yellowhammer and tree sparrow after a tip off. Can't say where but suffice it to say its the first yellowhammer I've seen in Northern Ireland for over ten years. I usually pick them up at Cresswell in Northumberland but even there not since 2017. I was one happy bunny today. As the days are stretching out and temperatures edge up birds are singing (wood pigeon, collared dove, blackbird, wren and robin all singing today.) and starting to do a bit of chasing around. As they say in Sierra Leone they are getting "jiggy jiggy" - roll on spring. PS All treecreeper pictures were taken by my birding pal David who had his point and shoot camera with him just in case!! I think he did very well. There are also a few from the WOW feeders and a wren in the garden. The WOW feeders had 10 greenfinches last week which is great as they have had a hard time recently.

Redpoll

Greenfinch

Wren in the garden - it's on the pot!!

Redpoll with linnet behind?

Goldfinch and redpoll

2020
90: Blackcap
91: Treecreeper
92: Yellowhammer
92: Tree sparrow

 
Bangor West

47: Blackcap

48: Brent goose

Belfast WOW
56: Blackcap

57: Black guillemot

Round the Lough

So to Strangford Lough and a grand total of 63 species. Highlights were a male scaup at Castle Island  Road, little egrets everywhere, 250+ bar-tailed godwit with 150 pintail south of the flood gates, 8 snipe at Bishop's Mill, 30+ whooper swans between Ards and Comber and 28 golden plover at Whiterock. We were fooled by the snipe as when first spotted three of them were swimming. We harked back to the excitement of 2008 when we first saw an egret on our Strangford trip, this year they were everywhere, a sign of changing times. Strangely we saw neither heron nor coot. How can you drive round Strangford without seeing a heron? A most unusual occurence especially when we remarked at the Quoile that we hadn't seen one and started actively looking for one. Anyway we had a cracking day despite the Castle Island hide being less productive than usual due to a reed cutter. The upper stretch of the Quoile had very few birds compared to the 1970s and 1980s. We're unsure whether this is lack of food or birds coming in fewer numbers due to milder winters. Some of the places which used to have feeders were either empty or missing. There was house near Ardmillan which gave us tree sparrow and redpoll, but the owner moved to a care home and the new owners don't bother. The nature reserve at the Quoile also had empty feeders. I don't really see the point of putting feeders up if you don't keep them topped up!! By the time we reached Castle Espie it was too dark so I have no idea what state the feeders were in, last time they were active but tree sparrows were absent. Greenfinch is also less common as is kestrel. It was a zero raptor day - again a bit unusual as we usually get buzzard. First seven photos are from David whose camera as you know is way better than mine. The last five are mine as scenes don't move about.

Pintail

Bar-tailed godwits

Pintail and brent goose, note mill pond water

Shelduck

Green plover and golden plover

Arty mute swans at the quoile

Snipe

Dawn at the Flood Gates

Dawn at Islandhill

Scrabo view

Reed cutting

Reed cutting

I am not going to list all the birds seen since the start of the year in the three lists, too boring to read, you will just have to take my word for the robins, dunnocks, blackbirds, magpies and black-headed gulls etc..

Since then I have chipped away at the lists and added a few species such as the two ravens which flew over the garden kronking one morning and grey wagtail mallard and mistle thrush locally as well as as lesser black back, merganser, common gull, cormorant, dunlin, goldeneye, pied wagtail and great-crested grebe at WOW. Today WOW was frozen over apart from a couple of small areas crammed with teal and shoveler. Here are a few shots from WOW.

Snipe

Snipe

Wigeon

West Bangor sunset

Winter  coastal path

Frozen WOW 

Highest tide ever at Strickland's Bay

2020
88: Raven

89: Grey wagtail
 
Bangor West
43: Raven

44: Mistle thrush

45: Mallard

46: Grey wagtail

Belfast WOW
48: Lesser black-backed gull

49: Red-breasted merganser

50: Common gull

51: Cormorant

52: Dunlin

53: Goldeneye

54: Great-crested grebe

55: Pied wagtail

Early 2020 birding

So 2020 dawned dry and cloudy in Bolton and the first bird was a magpie followed by carrion crow. I managed a couple of trips out, once to see ring necked parakeets which are breeding in a nearby cemetery and then to Pennington Flash to try and get 2020 off to a flier. I managed to get Canada goose, willow tit, goosander and stock dove  which are all birds we either don't get in Ireland or are very hard to find. I also had brilliant views of kingfisher as well as a wide range of common species including a small redwing flock.  I got a little egret which is still quite unusual in Greater Manchester and the hide was well stocked, open and coming down with at least 24 grey squirrels. I must be honest and say that Pennington Flash rarely disappoints unless I am pushed for time.

Kingfisher

Kingfisher in the tree, keep looking it is there.

Blue tit

Bullfinch & long-tailed tit

Stock dove

Willow tit - best I could do

Reed bunting

There it is, check back and find it in the tree.

Back home and a walk along the coastal path gave all the usual suspects including purple sandpiper,  rock pipit, guillemot and black guillemot with a bonus red-throated diver. There was also singing song thrush and great tit The garden gave bullfinch, greenfinch, linnet and a surprising extra of 7 redwings in a nearby tree plus all the regular cast of visitors. Over half way to the target in three days.

WOW on a high tide clocked up 47 species in 3 hours the highlights of which were  snipe, buzzard,  Brent, knot and bar-tailed godwit at Kinnegar. The highlight on the feeders was a male siskin and a couple of redpoll. Nearly half way to the target in one visit . 


2020

86: Golden plover
87: Red-breasted merganser
 
Bangor West
42: Greenfinch

Belfast WOW
47: Ringed plover

Limping into 2020

Its been a while since the last post, so first we will have a wrap of 2019. The start of 2020 in England and the first trips to the coastal path, WOW and finally the Strangford trip which took place this year on January 10th will follow soon. 

2019 finished quietly with only the Divis Street waxwings on the list. We went on Boxing Day and got a late Christmas gift of 36. WOW also provided some atmospheric shots of mist over the water - something we don't often see there.

With the phone

 Then three using a friendly birders scope, yes they are rubbish but they are waxwings.

Finally from 2019 a few from a misty WOW and a visiting 1CY peregrine.

Both patches were just below their targets. The West Bangor patch finished on 66 with a couple of missing migrants and no diver. The WOW patch stalled on 98 and lacked meadow pipit. C'est la vie.

 2019
163: Waxwing
 
Bangor West
66: Mistle thrush

Belfast WOW
98: Stonechat