More spring goodies

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. 

Spoonbill - no doubt

Better than a flyover

Please come closer

Oh look it's at Hide 2 - run!!

Garganey and black-tailed godwit

Garganey

Garganey

Shelduck family

Shelduck family

Arctic tern

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.

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. 

        

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. 

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