Autumn solstice check in

Hard to believe the year is now three quarters of the way through, the nights are drawing in and the winter visitors are on their way or have recently arrived - brent geese, whooper swans and pink-footed geese. The patch birding has slowed to a crawl and I have only added curlew sandpiper to the 2025 list. 

The North Down patch is marooned on 63 with very little chance of reaching the 70 target. Best I can do is a picture of a stunning sunset from the top room window looking west.

The WOW patch can still raise the pulse rate on the odd occasion, but still remains 3 short of the 100 bird target. I added curlew sandpiper this year after drawing a blank last year. Three turned up at the very back for about a week. We also had a brief glimpse of a kingfisher and a pair of flyover ravens. The final addition was a gannet scoped from Kinnegar which was closer to Whiteabbey than Holywood, but hey - if you can see it while standing on your patch it counts. 

I have tried to connect with the influx of glossy ibis and black terns but have not succeeded. A few days in Donegal didn't add any new birds to the list but it did however add 3 species to the County list - black-tailed godwit, bar-tailed godwit and Canada goose. The Canada goose was seen at Inch levels in  a flock of several hundred feral geese split between Canada and Greylag. I had no idea there were large feral flocks in that area. 

Whooper swan (Credit to Ivor Greer)

Inch levels from the hide

As well as several hundred geese there were 6 whooper swans and several pochard which seemed to be a trifle early for winter arrivals. They looked more like they had remained over the summer which threw me completely. Comments on this welcome, particularly if you are familiar with the Inch levels and have first hand knowledge. We picked up bits and pieces en route but nothing stunning or worthy of a photograph. 

Glenveagh Castle was bird free apart from chaffinches INSIDE the café feeding on food scraps and crumbs.

Lovely walk along an old railway line below Muckish which needs re-visited in spring. It was also bird free although a Force 6 breeze didn't help.

Pollet Great Arch had a couple of stonechats on the way down and small families of meadow pipits. 

There were also fulmar, gannet and Manx shearwaters off Fanad Head but I really was not best equipped for a three hour sea watch and I suspect my travelling companions would have rebelled at the thought. 

2025
144: White wagtail
145: Curlew sandpiper

NDCP

63: Greylag goose

WOW

93: Peregrine falcon

94: Curlew sandpiper

95: Gannet

96: Raven

97: Kingfisher

It's been a while

It's been a while since I did a post and there's a couple of reasons for this. First I've been a bit busy with family across the water and secondly there hasn't been an awful lot to report on. We will take it a patch at a time.

The local patch has thrown up both guillemot and razorbill which are expected this time of year close to the coast. I also picked up the feral flock of greylag geese doing a fly round from Ward Park

WOW has had a few good birds of late including a long expected great white egret. I have been predicting one of these for at least three years but as fate would have it, it turned up while I was in Bolton and did not stay long enough for me to connect. I did connect with little egret and white wagtail and also had a fleeting glimpse of a young peregrine falcon which has been hanging around trying its luck. Exciting things are happening at D3 and this week they took down our shiny new fence and blocked off the back gate. This was planned work and the ponies will be back when the work is finished and the gate re-instated. 

No entry!!

This was it in July

Ruff - one of 14

Different ruff

Common tern

Lapwing

Lapwing

The 2025 list is crawling up into the 140s but most possibilities have been hoovered up so it is a matter of being a bit lucky or getting put on to something which has been spotted by someone else. I can tell you now the bogey bird of 2025 is treecreeper. I have spent quite a few pleasant walks wandering round likely wooded areas but so far I have not been lucky, and with treecreeper you need that bit of luck. I can see me doing laps of Castle Park in Bangor between now and December looking for droppings on a roosting site in a nice coniferous tree. 

I went owl hunting up Druridge Bay in Northumberland and managed a barn owl. The hoped for little owl has either gone or was in hiding but I did see two red-legged partridge while doing a three point turn in a farm gate. I also had a tawny owl hooting away very close to Richard's house in Bolton. It was actually in the big poplar tree at the bottom of the garden but try as I could I was unable to actually see it. I got a recording on Merlin but cannot see anyway of getting it on here from my phone.

Cresswell Pond at dusk

Grey heron at Randalstown courtesy of David Miller

Roe deer at Druridge Pools which were bone dry

2025
142: Red-legged partridge
143: Barn owl
144: White wagtail

NDCP

61: Guillemot

62: Razorbill

63: Greylag goose

WOW

91: Little egret

92: White wagtail

93: Peregrine falcon