We had a couple of nights on Rathlin which gave another nine firsts for the year. As well as hearing corncrake on all of the three days we also visited the seabird centre and walked round the new Craigmacagan trail, which is quite handy to Church Bay and is a superb walk of 2km. It has a lot of habitats in a small area - farmland, grassland, gorse, peat, coast and lake. Highly recommended if you have an hour or two before the ferry or fancy a loop walk to or from Rue Point. Here are a few shots from Craigmacagan.
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| The map |
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| Bird's foot trefoil, primrose and bluebells at the same time? |
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| More bluebells |
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| Craigmacagan Lough |
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| East light |
The birds seen included sedge warbler, whitethroat, meadow pipit, skylark (singing), linnet, common gull, oystercatcher and stonechat plus corncrake along the road on the way back. You pass quite close to a common gull colony with nesting birds, please do not go near it i.e. stay on the path and do not wander onto the beach. You are bird people you know better than Joe Public!!
The seabird centre added all the expected seabirds, plus great skua and a golden hare which gave distant views from the car park.
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| Fulmar |
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| Guillemots on the stacks |
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| Upside down lighthouse |
134: Manx shearwater
135: Kittiwake
136: Corncrake
137: Razorbill
138: Puffin
139: Great skua
140: Sedge warbler
141: Whitethroat
North Down
57: Gannet
Belfast RSPB
70: Gannet
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