Starting off with another hedgehog video of the male roaming and feeding. I'm hoping to set the camera up for daylight shots, but don't hold your breath.
WOW seems to be back to normal again as it is full up with water and there isn't a lot of mud for the waders to feed. There are some common tern chicks at last - I counted 30 plus last week - and also the first two wigeon of the autumn. No shelduck as they are all in Holland, and the mute swans put in an appearance. I hope they find somewhere else to breed as they have been spectacularly unsuccessful at WOW. I also twitched a roseate tern, sanderling and a curlew sandpiper in the aftermath of storm Ellen plus 40+ razorbills off shore at Kinnegar. The autumn passage is underway and Kinnegar had good numbers of turnstone and ringed plover as well as all the usual suspects. Brent geese mixed with sandwich terns as summer visitors give way to winter visitors. There was a young shag in the channel and a white wagtail among a mixed flock of meadow pipits and pied wagtails.
The highlight of the last couple of weeks was an unexpected little gull on the beach at Donaghadee. I was there with the family for an ice cream from The Cabin, looked over the wall while the grandchildren were in the playground and bingo - little gull kindly sitting beside a black-headed gull for the purposes of comparison.
The coastal path has thrown up some nice birds as well. A very late swift for Northern Ireland (September 8th), a buzzard and quite a few razorbills and guillemots dispersing from the breeding areas. Some of them were quite close to shore in Bangor Marina.
Photos include a migrant wheatear at Ballyhalbert - one of three seen around the harbour area
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Common terns
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Chicks chilling out
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Common tern
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Camouflaged curlews
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Ballyhalbert wheatear (David Miller)
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Kittiwakes in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. I forgot to post this last time. Place was coming down with them. Glad I don't have to powerhose the buildings, lamps and bridges once the breeding season is over.
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Lapwings at WOW
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2 blackwits and a ruff through dirty angled glass!!
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Razorbilll in Bangor marina, one of five with two guillemots.
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2020
151: Curlew sandpiper
152: Roseate tern
153:Little gull
154: White wagtail
Bangor West
69: Buzzard
Belfast WOW
85: Curlew sandpiper
86: Sanderling
87: Roseate tern
88: Razorbill
89: Shag
90: White wagtail
