Mid term report from England

Lately back from England due to Storm Franklin which first cancelled and then delayed our return journey. Despite this we had a good (if wet) trip. Northumberland turned up a couple of dry days including the dawn to dusk birdathon. Manchester was basically wet and windy as three storms came through in a week. Let's cut to the chase then. A trip round Elton Reservoir turned up three new birds for the year - Canada goose, reed bunting and nuthatch. Despite seeing one locally it was nice to get prolonged views of a male great spotted woodpecker on my son's feeder along with jay and bullfinch.

Northumberland posted 78 species which was the highest ever. The forecast rain did not arrive and we got away with a dry day and some incredible skies. I managed 11 year ticks which sort of fell into three categories:

Absent from NI: grey partridge , red-legged partridge.  

Scarce, rare or hard to get in Northern Ireland: stock dove, sanderling, pink-footed goose, Slavonian grebe, common scoter.  

Missed them locally so far this year but I’ll take the tick: red-throated diver, fulmar, stonechat, grey plover, ruff, skylark. 

We also picked up whooper swans, white-fronted geese, goldeneye, merganser, purple sandpiper, snipe, bar-tailed godwit, redwing, tree sparrow and twite along with all the usual common species. We really only missed greenfinch.

David (rustic bunting) Miller has a better camera than me so I let him get on with it, all the attached photos are his. 

The return to Bolton followed the scenic route via Langdon Beck for black grouse and added a bonus red kite en route.

Big sky at Snab Point

Pink-footed geese.....

..... in flight

Snipe

Snipe and wigeon (and a carrion crow)

Ruff behind curlew at Druridge Pools

Shoveler

Sanderling

Red-legged partridge

Scenic grey plover at Hauxley

Coquet Island from Hauxley

Nothing much to report in the garden apart from a sparrowhawk in the apple tree. All the optics were packed so there is only a phone photo. WOW has very high water levels but no new birds reported. Gull numbers are building up - 10 + common gulls, at least 20 lesser black backs and probably 200+ black-headed gulls some of whom were having a look at the islands where they nest. Roll on the spring.

Sorry about the washing!!

Not normally water behind the coot

Water level right up on the island

2022

93: Kingfisher

94: Reed bunting

95: Nuthatch

96: Canada goose

97: Fulmar

98: Stock dove

99: Pink-footed goose

100: Skylark

101: Ruff

102: Grey partridge

103: Sanderling

104: Common scoter

105: Red-throated diver

106: Red-legged partridge

107: Slavonian grebe

108: Stonechat

109: Grey plover

110: Red Kite

111: Black grouse

NDCP

47: Wren

Belfast RSPB

59: Pintail

No frozen pond - yet

A mild month with a long dry spell means we are still waiting for a cold snap. Bangor is near the sea so we don't have a lot of frost or snow. I judge the winter by how many times the pond freezes, last winter it froze four times, this winter so far, zero. With temperatures up at 10 - 12 degrees there is birdsong, dunnock, robin, great, blue and coal tit as well as song thrush. A recent walk along the coastal path had 5 singing song thrushes in a mile and a half. We have been out and about a fair bit and the 2022 list and the patch lists are ticking over nicely. Obviously there are a few omissions but hey we have only had a month. A bit of twitching produced a green-winged teal, and a kingfisher at Castle Espie, a glossy ibis (Portmore Lough) and a great spotted woodpecker. These are increasing in Northern Ireland but still hard to find. I went chasing bramblings in a local wooded area and lo and behold I hear and see a drumming woodpecker. Happy days. (The last time I saw a green-winged teal was at WOW in September 2011.)

Green-winged teal with a European cousin at Castle Espie

WOW  has been quiet bird wise and visitor wise. The birds are still tending to stay on the far side and hide 2 remains the best option for the roosting waders. The feeders are now on the lagoon side of the observation room so there is always something to look at if the ducks and waders are distant. The patch list is now on 59 with the addition of an unexpected pintail. They drop in occasionally but we haven't seen one for a while. The lesser black-backed gulls have returned and numbers of black-headed gulls are starting to build. We are lacking wigeon and tufted duck  but shelduck, teal, mallard and gadwall are present and coot are drifting in. Here's a few recent pictures.

Pintail

Greenfinch

Grey wagtail

Teal

Goldfinch

The garden pulled in a wren, long-tailed tit and a goldcrest to join the usual suspects which still include linnets and bullfinch. I have also had a song thrush at the back of the garden but too flighty to get a shot.  A raven on the top of First Bangor Presbyterian church in Main Street was a bit of a bonus seeing as I didn't get one on the patch last year. The coastal path has not produced anything stunning, if you pass on the annual flock of Brent geese,  but it is always a pleasant walk, and it will deliver in time. Here's a few garden shots.

Blackcaps still visiting

One of three males

Linnet

Have had up to nine

Breeds in the chimney

God willing we're off to England this week. We are planning a trip to Northumberland and are planning a dawn to dusk around Cresswell, Druridge and East Chevington. Most of the time involves child care in Bolton so hopefully we'll get to Elton, Pennington Flash or Martin Mere. Might even take the scenic route through the Dales en route, never know what you might see. At least I don't have to worry about woodpecker this year, seen and heard in Clandeboye Wood. 😍😍

2022

85: Jay

86: Bar-tailed godwit

87: Pheasant

88: Goldcrest

89: Glossy ibis

90: Pochard

91: Great spotted woodpecker

92: Green -winged teal

93: Kingfisher

NDCP

39: Brent goose

40: Great black-backed gull

41: Song thrush

42: Raven

43: Grey heron

44: Long-tailed tit

45: Goldcrest

46: Sparrowhawk

47: Wren

Belfast RSPB

46: Ringed plover

47: Turnstone

48: Bar-tailed godwit

49: Song thrush

50: Coot

51: Grey heron

52: Eider

53: Sparrowhawk

54: Linnet

55: Little grebe

56: Blackbird

57: Red-breasted merganser

58:Lesserblack-backed gull

59: Pintail

With a little help from my friends

One of the beauties of birding is the number of fellow enthusiasts you run into. Some you meet the odd time, others you bump into regularly especially if there is a rare bird around.  Everyone helps everyone else. If I turn up at a site someone will get me on the bird. If I have seen it I will get new arrivals onto it. Some of them take excellent photographs and their work features on the NI birds site or the pictures site. I have used some in previous blogs when I needed a good photograph of a great skua on  Inishtrahull or a white-tailed eagle on Mull. My digi-scoping kit is limited to what I can do so it is nice to add a few "proper" pictures. So here are contributions from David (rustic bunting) Miller who has been self isolating and photographing winter birds to put in time. 

He also has linnets!!

.....and siskin

.....and the odd greenfinch

 John Mason recently took some shots in and around Strangford Lough. One of the limitations of digi-scoping is the inability to take flight shots. Strangford gives lots of opportunities for this as John shows. Check out his face book page here:  

John Mason | Facebook

Thanks to David and John who help to make birding a joy.