As you can see things are opening up and we had a three hour trip round Rathlin on Saturday in ideal conditions - blue sky, calm sea, light breeze, sunshine and brilliant light. Next month we should be able to land on the island and hear corncrakes for the first time in many years. Since the last post we've been chasing migrants and picked up swift and common tern at WOW, a cuckoo (first since 2014) and a wheatear in the Antrim Hills, a gannet along the coast and a house martin at a local country park. We also managed yellowhammer down the Ards peninsula, the first since one in Northumberland in 2017 and the first locally since pussy was a cat!! Now I know where to look it will not be as long again.The north wind and cold temperatures hasn't helped the local patch, but hopefully there will be a few migrants about soon.
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Antrim Hills
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Cuckoo was calling from the top of the pine trees
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Wheatear on the phone
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The Rathlin trip was low in species but as usual high in quality with close up views of all the target species and huge numbers of auks flooding back to breed. I didn't chase pictures as the camera is simply not good enough but there are a few nice scenes to give a flavour of the voyage.
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South cliffs
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South cliffs
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Stacks at Bull Point
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Common seals
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Seals at Rue Point
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Rue Point
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There is a whole other dimension to seeing the island and the birds from the sea, sorry you don't get the sound and the smell which adds to the whole experience. Watching puffins and skuas literally yards from the boat is amazing and as for gannets flying overhead in squadrons, enough said. Kintra boats run these three hour cruises from Ballycastle and it is worth checking out their website or facebok or instagram and book yourself on one.
Here's a little bonus from February, the Carrickfergus ring-billed gull which I forgot to post, it was 86 on my list.
2021
105: Swift
106: Common tern
106: Yellowhammer
108: Cuckoo
109: Wheatear
110: Gannet
111: House martin
112: Razorbill
113: Kittiwake
114: Fulmar
115: Great skua
116: Puffin
117: Manx shearwater
NDCP
60: Lesser black-backed gull
WOW
53: Sand martin
54: Swift
54: Common tern
