The kingfisher edition

 WOW turned up two kingfishers which stayed around most of the day - and the next one as well. I can honestly say I have not had as prolonged, close views of kingfisher ever. They chased each other round the reeds, sat on posts, preened, washed and fished. Up till then we thought the highlight was the common sandpiper preening on the trestle right in front of the window, or the two ringed common terns we spotted, but we were proved wrong when the two kingfishers turned up. Kingfishers are occasional visitors to WOW, usually in August/September when the youngsters are chased out by the parents. They do not usually stay long and very rarely give good views. There are fish in the reserve but nowhere they can safely breed so they usually move on. The deeper pools have given them a chance to fish and they are catching small fish. Hopefully they will be a more regular feature at WOW. Let's start with the common sandpiper on the trestle which was there for 15 - 20 minutes.

The kingfishers pitched up later and were still around when I left after an hour plus of watching them. They also showed well over the weekend and were enjoyed by quite a few folk who posted photos on the RSPB WOW Facebook page here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/RSPBBelfastWOW

This week the male kingfisher was still doing its stuff and we had a couple of ruff  and a greenshank. There was a third ringed common tern which has been forwarded to the relevant people. The two terns from last week came from the Blue Circle island in Larne Lough and the South Wall in Dublin - ringed as a chick in June 2021.

Ruff

Ruff

Alcedo athis

Ringed tern, white PNP - best I could do!

Off to sunny Bolton for 10 days, looking to add to the 2024 list if I am lucky. 

2024

147: Sedge warbler

NCCP

57: Common tern

WOW

78: Kingfisher

79: Sedge warbler

80: Greenshank

Summer lethargy

Decided to leave this post until I had been this week in case I got any nice pictures. So sod's law kicked in and we had a mega day with two kingfishers which stayed for an hour or more. I decided not to butcher this so they are getting their own post. So enjoy the blog and wait eagerly for the next one - the kingfisher edition. Here is a picture to whet your appetite.

Feel constrained to keep the blog ticking over but don't really have a lot to report.  I have been to WOW quite a bit but it is very quiet at the minute as the autumn migration hasn't really kicked in yet. I have had a couple of walks along the coastal path, but again very quiet apart from a passing common tern. I also had a few days in Co Donegal and added chough to the year list but could not find a dipper at all despite checking out a few likely rivers. We are due over in England for a couple of weeks of essential child care so there is always a chance of the odd tick around Elton, by the end of the month the return migration will be well under way and WOW and the North Down Coastal Path might throw up a few goodies.

The work at D3 has finished for the present and the gate is complete. The following photos show that the new road points straight at the trees so we can expect them to go in the winter. The plans show a 3 metre wide path to Hide 2. There is some hope that some trees behind Hide 2 might survive to provide a shelter belt there but it is all down to the harbour Commissioners. RSPB have been translocating some rarer plant species which have colonised the site in the last 30 years, so it is not all bad news. 

Here are a few of the birds spotted recently, others were too far away!! The little egret is a first year bird which stayed briefly until it decided there wasn't enough to eat. There are at least two pairs of arctic terns but they are difficult to find at times. Common sandpipers have been around for about three weeks. There have been as many as four, I only ever saw one but I also added a passing ruff and a grey wagtail dropped in briefly. We still managed over 30 species last week despite not having feeders up, so no tits or finches. However still recorded house martin, sand martin, swallow and swift and three tern species - arctic, common and sandwich. Little tern and roseate have been recorded this summer, but not by me. 

Arctic tern

Common sandpiper

Little egret

Little egret

2024

145: Ruff

146: Chough

NDCP

57: Common tern

WOW

76: Ruff

77: Grey wagtail