We are now well into June so it is time to post an update before I lose all track of what I saw and where I saw it.
We will start local as there have been three additions to the local patch - swift, Manx shearwater and gannet. The main reason for this is that the garden is in full leaf, birds are harder to see and I haven't walked the coastal path as much as I would like.
WOW continues to throw up surprises. We had 6 pairs of breeding Mediterranean gulls, and the sandwich terns have over 50 nests and now there are chicks - easily seen on the camera. It also served up a greenshank, ruff and 2 male garganey in mid May plus arctic terns. When I returned in early June one garganey was still there and this week we had two firsts for WOW - a Canada goose and a spoonbill. Obviously the spoonbill was the centre of attention as there is a feral flock of Canada geese in Strangford Lough. The spoonbill was feeding well outside Hide 2 and roosting at the back of the reserve so the photos are not good. At one point it was sitting on the trestle outside Hide 2 so I went round there only to find it had flown off to the back of the reserve. Oh how we laughed (not)!! I had 34 species this week including all 4 swift/hirundines, 5 ducks, 5 gulls and 5 waders.
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| Spoonbill - no doubt |
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| Better than a flyover |
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| Please come closer |
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| Oh look it's at Hide 2 - run!! |
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| Garganey and black-tailed godwit |
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| Garganey |
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| Garganey |
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Shelduck family
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| Shelduck family |
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| Arctic tern |
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| Arctic tern |
I also got to England (again!!) and we had a day at Leighton Moss RSPB reserve. This added 6 birds which are not native to Northern Ireland or very hard to get a look at: Cetti's warbler, reed warbler, marsh harrier, marsh tit, sedge warbler and a flyover spoonbill which I got really excited about until I went to WOW last week. We were also told there were ospreys feeding and there is a nest for them according to the notice in the café.
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| Osprey cam |
Well look at the ospreys, they have changed into a pair of greater black-backs with three chicks and we never did see the osprey (or hobby or bittern). Never mind it was a good day out with a nice lunch in the café and an oystercatcher nest with a single chick.
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| Oystercatcher nest at Leighton Moss |
Locally I added fulmar kittiwake and puffin on a round Rathlin boat trip, a mandarin duck on the river at Broughshane and a flyover red kite at the Quoile Bridge near Downpatrick.
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| Mandarin duck |
Finally there is this little chap which hit a window in Carnalea, was rescued, revived and released by my birding pal David Miller. We thought it might be a twite but then sanity took over and we went for a fledgling linnet.
2025
124: Carrion crow (from February!!)
125: Kittiwake
126: Fulmar
127: Puffin
128: Ruff
129: Garganey
130: Mandarin duck
131: Sedge warbler
132: Cetti's warbler
133: Reed warbler
134: Marsh harrier
135: Spoonbill
136: Marsh tit
137: Red kite
138: Manx shearwater
NDCP
55: Swallow
56: Swift
57: Manx shearwater
58: Gannet
WOW
83: House martin
84: Greenshank
85: Ruff
86: Garganey
87: Canada goose
88: Spoonbill
