The forecast for Saturday's birdathon was very windy - force 6/7 and blustery showers, and they got it right. We spent a couple of spells sitting tight as showers moved through, but never more than 15 minutes. We had good views of barn owl and little owl making it a two owl day. This is rare event in Northern Ireland as we only have three species and one is a rare winter visitor. We also saw pink-footed goose, three marsh harriers, grey plover, water rail, goosander, common scoter, sanderling, and red-throated diver as well as a host of common species even though most birds were keeping their heads down. We rolled up at Chevington Burn and could see nothing, but in ten minutes we had added six species. Stonechat popped up at Druridge Bay as did a mixed twite, linnet, chaffinch flock. Displaying skylark was a nice sight considering the wind speed. High tide meant we missed a few coastal birds but all in all we were happy bunnies at the end of a long day. It was also good to meet up with Dave who writes a blog about the Druridge Bay area and keeps me on top of what is happening there. Always nice to put a face to a name and we had a good chat.
Linton Lane with a distant barn owl -it's the small white dot |
Zooomed up to the max |
With prey - probably a vole |
QE2 Country Park and mad bird couple |
QE 2 goosander not interested in pan loaf |
Wildfowl at Druridge Pools |
Shoveler at Druridge Pools |
Twite with a linnet |
Little owl |
East Chevington feeders |
East Chevington feeders |
East Chevington feeders |
Hauxley warter rail |
Hauxley tree sparrows |
Hauxley blue tit |
My best water rail |
Blue tits |
Chevington Burn |
East Chevington |
Skua hide at Hauxley |
If you feed them.... |
......they will come |
2020
96: Kestrel
97: Pochard
98: Ruff
99: Nuthatch
100: Black grouse
101: Red grouse
102: Pink-footed goose
103: Common scoter
104: Marsh harrier
105: Water rail
106: Grey pllover
107: Sanderling
108: Barn owl
109: Little owl
110: Skylark
111: Stonechat
112: Twite
113: Red kite
114: Hen harrier
115: Meadow pipit
Bangor West
51: Carrion crow
Belfast WOW
63: Meadow pipit
Sounds like a pretty good trip. The Bearded Tits were a surprise for me as they hadn't been seen all winter. Stoats fairly common but as with most wildlife I was in right place at right time.
ReplyDeleteGlad you had a good trip even if a bit of a breeze was blowing.
ReplyDelete