The year gallops on apace and there is still birding to be done and migrants to chase. WOW has opened up and there has been a very welcome return to Thursday mornings with added social distancing and masks, but the coffee is nice. I am now up to 64 at WOW as I catch up with stuff I have missed like redpoll, willow warbler, blackcap, sedge warbler, greenfinch and house martin. There was also an unexpected pink-footed goose and a curlew sandpiper as well as returning arctic terns. Some attached photos will give you a flavour of a very pleasant Thursday morning.
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BHG chicks
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Posing black-headed gull
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| Shelduck |
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| Shoveler |
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| Take off & landing area |
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Arctic tern
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Tern raft, only out a week and nearly full
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Pied wagtail fledgling
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Mute swan and 4 cygnets - doomed to not fledge!!
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Arctic terns
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Arctic tern
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Arctic tern
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Common tern
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The coastal path has added swift and swallow to the list, but is otherwise quiet. Locally the 2021 list struggles on with pheasant, sedge warbler, whitethroat, whimbrel and arctic tern picked up locally, curlew sandpiper and pink-footed goose at WOW and a splendid male hen harrier in the Antrim Hills.
I added kestrel, red grouse, goosander and water rail while in England. A walk up Winter Hill a local beauty spot near Bolton started off with a calling cuckoo and for the next two hours it was a constant backdrop to the walk. At one point we had the calling cuckoo, a singing skylark and a red grouse calling as it flew. This was one of those litttle happy moments which will stick in the mind long after all else has gone. I have not seen a kestrel in Northern Ireland this year and struggle to remember the last one I saw and where - I think it was two years ago on Black Mountain.
In the last day or two we went a-twitching to Woodburn for osprey and Craigantlet for rose-coloured starling - brief/distant views and no pictures unfortunately.
I have done a couple of dawn choruses. The Quoile Pondage produced 41 species and red deer. Highlight was the sheer number of singing warblers. I also did an early start round Elton Reservoir near Bury which was different in that I had a calling tawny owl in daylight at 0630 plus all the usual warbler songs including whitethroat, cetti's and sedge warbler. I was also looking at a lapwing chick alerted by one of the parents seeing off a couple of gulls. While watching the lapwing chick a water rail walked across behind it- happy days!!
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Red deer at Finnebrogue on the Quoile
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Swimming from the island in the river
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| Magic!! |
2021
118: Sedge warbler
119: Curlew sandpiper
120: Whitethroat
121: Pink-footed goose
122: Whimbrel
123: Hen harrier
124: Arctic tern
125: Kestrel
126: Red grouse
127: Water rail
128: Goosander
129: Pheasant
130: Osprey
131: Rose-coloured starling
NDCP
60: Lesser black-backed gull
61: Swift
62: Swallow
WOW
54: Common tern
56: Willow warbler
57: Blackcap
58: Sedge warbler
59: Curlew sandpiper
60: Pink-footed goose
61:House martin
62: Greenfinch
63: Arctic tern
64: Redpoll
