Great white egret

 Finally finally I ticked one of these in Ireland but in Antrim at Ballycarry Bridge not in Down. Having dipped a couple of times in Castle Espie one popped up at Ballycarry Bridge and as they say in birding circles was "showing well". This is usually a prelude to "Disappearing when Derek turns up", but not this time. No need to labour the point enjoy a selection of pictures and if you want really good ones check out the NIbird blog. 

 

 Locally on the patches it has been quiet, cold and wet and walks have suffered accordingly. There have been divers seen off the coastal path but not by me, however I finally saw a flock of lapwing in their old spot so some sanity has been restored to lockdown life. The garden has been overrun with coal tits and they are emptying feeders at a tremendous rate. Kibbled peanuts and sunflower seeds are being buried everywhere as they make multiple trips back and forth. I have seen at least 8 at one time but am sure there are a lot more than that. They have been joined by the regular cast of winter visitors albeit in smaller numbers so far. I think it will need colder weather to pull in more birds. 

A visit to WOW threw up 35 species with all the usual suspects. After one week of opening the observation room closed for 4 weeks and it looks like this will be extended to seven weeks as Northern Ireland locks down on the run up to Christmas. Back of the envelope calculations predict that it might open on Monday 14th so we might get along before the end of the year. In the present way of going nothing is certain so I'll not be taking any bets.  If it does re-open I will try and get a post up to give you some festive cheer. Remember that the light at the end of the tunnel may be a train coming the other way!! Here's a few cheerful pictures from Thursday.

Redpoll on the new feeder

Hard to beat a nice teal

Schnoozing schelduck!!

The swan couple have returned and could well fail to raise chicks again this year

 

2020   

155: Great white egret

NDCP

72: Lapwing

WOW

92: Stonechat

And the nights are drawing in

Not only are the nights drawing in but we are under sort of lockdown again.Fortunately we can get out and about, unfortunately WOW has been forced to close. The hides are still open and we had one glorious week of coffee, heat and toilets, but it was a low tide so there was not a lot to see. Walks along the coasts and local wooded areas have not produced much in the way of birds either. I managed a three mile walk in Clandeboye Wood and the sum total was a singing robin. Even the garden has been on the quiet side with only coal and great tits in any numbers and the feeders have not needed topping up regularly.  I have also attempted to chase a few exotic visitors but that did not work out at all and yellow-browed warbler at Kearney, great white egret at Castle Espie and grey phalarope at Barr Hall Bay all saw me coming and legged it. The birding highlight of the last week or more was three buzzards on Sunday as we went to church. Church is in suburban Bangor West and to see three buzzards over the nearby houses was a bit of a shock, albeit a very nice shock. To be fair Carnalea golf course is just behind these houses and it does have rabbits in abundance so at least there is a rational explanation. I remember having to go to North Antrim in the 1980s to see buzzards and now they are on the local patch. 

I have been to Castle Espie twice to hit the rising tide, the first time we missed it so we had to go back. It's not nice when you look down the path and see water. Well it is nice in its own way but not when you are hoping to see mud and waders. First six photos by my birding pal with the good camera David Miller

What no mud!

Whoops the tide's in

The day was not wasted however as we got to see nature at its smartest. As the tide floods in it pushes through a sluice into the reserve and fills the saltmarsh with water. We noticed a little egret standing on the stones at one side looking intently at the incoming water. It dipped in a couple of times for a small morsel. Swung the binoculars across and there was a kingfisher on the other side doing the same. We watched it dive twice and catch a small fish. On our second visit we had a little egret, redshank, grey heron curlew and greenshank checking out the inflow for a meal. We also managed a smart grey plover and a goldcrest.

Sluice patrol

Distant kingfisher

That's better, mud, waders geese and ducks

50+ great crested grebes with shelduck and eider - very far away!!

Fishing in the creek

Shelduck

Tanya and I did an interesting walk along the northern edge of Strangford Lough from the Flood Gates to the sewage works, an out and back walk of 4 miles. The tide was out but rising slowly and we had good views of the birds of Strangford Lough plus a few species in the hedges and fields. For those of you who do not know this walk it is a raised tidal barrier with Strangford Lough and areas of saltmarsh on one side and Ards Airport and fields on the other side. We had good views of brent geese, shelduck, curlew, redshank, oystercatcher, dunlin, knot, lapwing,  black-tailed godwit and little egret on the Lough and buzzard, kestrel, stonechat, linnet  and skylark over the fields.

Brent on the Lough

Salt marsh

 

 

Dawn record shot from the Flood Gates. This area is good for teal lapwing and pintail.

Tidal barrier

The sign warns of low flying aircraft!!

It is my intention to walk it at high tide as the waders use the fields to roost in while the geese and shelduck float on the water. In summer the lough is virtually empty but the fields and airport support breeding skylark and linnet as well as summer visitors such as swallow and warblers. The airport cafe (Cloud 9) is open to visitors and does scones, coffee lunches etc.. What's not to like about this walk?? The beauty of Strangford and Castle Espie is how quickly the lough changes on a rising tide, these last two pictures were taken about 35 minutes apart.

 

 

 

 

 

2020  

154: White wagtail

NDCP

69: Buzzard

70: Stonechat

71: Pheasant

WOW

90: White wagtail

91: Raven

92: Stonechat