Black swan

Not a movie or a ballet but a bird from Australia which is classified as E on the BOU list i.e. escaped or released into the wild.  Said bird is swimming round Strangford Lough with 3 mute swans, is clearly wild and not ringed. As David said, "The joy of birding is that anything can turn up anywhere". Doubt if it made it from Australia, but absolutely no idea where it pitched up from. 

This started out as a rising tide at Montgomery hide and then an amble round Castle Espie once the tide was full. Highlights included grey plovers, kingfisher, little egrets and a hunting peregrine.

When we arrived

When we left

Grey plover

In between we had waders, geese and ducks pushing up towards us and flying north with the incoming tide. All in all a good day despite an absence of passerines, but then that's not what we went for. 

WOW has been quiet of late but on a good day with the feeders up you can hit 40 species between there and Kinnegar. I added carrion crow and fieldfare - the first time ever at WOW. I also saw a small twite flock on the beach at Donaghadee. Finish with a few from the hide, a couple from WOW and a nice rainbow at Kinnegar.

The Lough was heaving with shelduck

One of many

Lots of redshank

Even more shelduck

Teal from WOW

Shelduck from WOW

What's not to like?

2021:

154: Twite

155: Grey plover

156: Black swan

NDCP

69: Razorbill

WOW

86: Fieldfare

87: Carrion crow

Travel updates (and WOW)

 Just back from a jaunt round England starting in Bolton, and then visiting Northumberland and South Yorkshire. Before setting off we had a badger in the garden so here is a link to the trailcam footage.  If someone can tell me why I can't get the video showing on the page I would be grateful. I have tried uploading from computer and from YouTube, neither works.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AdQ7pGteTU

Bolton added a great white egret at Elton Reservoir to the year list and a willow tit at the PenningtonFlash feeders. It managed not to add stock dove as well and I have no idea why!! A walk around Druridge Bay in Northumberland added a red-throated diver and a flock of 16 or so snow buntings, while Old Moor RSPB reserve in Yorkshire turned up a marsh harrier and a red-legged partridge as well as another great white egret. All in all a nice trip with a couple of days birding squeezed in despite wet weather and shortening days. 

Elton egret

Elton egret

Old Moor shovelers

Old Moor teal

Old Moor gadwall

Old Moor marsh harrier in the reeds!!

Old Moor egret

Old Moor red-legged partridge

I had a frustrating experience in Northumberland while visiting family in a little village called Matfen. It is a lovely little place with a village green which has a small stream flowing through it. There is also a pub, church and nice stone cottages. I checked the river out and lo and behold there is a dipper giving good views from the bridge. The gear was in the boot so I set up and then discovered the camera batteries were dead!!I tried phone scoping but as you can see it was not awfully successful - record shots!!

Phone shot of the dipper

Who would have expected a dipper on this river, I certainly didn't. 

I came back to a quiet WOW, but the grey wagtail posed nicely on the tern planks and the Kinnegar little gull was still around. I actually recorded 44 species but that included 19 at Kinnegar, so WOW only managed 25. The good news is that the feeders are up so tits and finches make the list.

Grey wagtail

Grey wagtail

Shelduck (+ teal)

Little gull

Little gull

The next task is to put up the garden feeders but it is still very mild and there are few birds about. The hedgehog has gone into hibernation as the food hasn't been touched for a couple of weeks. It must be the daylight which triggers this it is certainly not the temperature? I have not been back to thee coastal path since we got back, hopefully this week.

2021

146: Jack snipe

147: Great white egret

148: Red-throated diver

149: Snow bunting

150: Red-legged partridge

151: Marsh harrier

152: Willow tit

153: Little gull

NDCP

69: Razorbill

WOW

83: Grey wagtail

84: Song thrush

85: Little gull

Winter looms

 The year is moving on, summer visitors have mostly gone and winte

r visitors have started to arrive. The local patch is much the same as it has been for a few weeks and is still stuck on 69. WOW is at last pulling in some birds and this week provided raven and grey wagtail. We also had a colour ringed godwit, but our excitement was muted when we discovered it was ringed at WOW in June this year. 

The most exciting news was a non bird event in the garden when the trail cam picked up a badger. I went out to check the hedgehog feeder and discovered it had been turned upside down so I suspected a fox or a badger. Fortunately the camera picked it up. It has to come in from the garden behind, but no idea where it came from as I do not know of a sett in this area. It was around 5.25 in the morning so it was a bit late getting here. Some pictures of WOW. 

Lapwings

Shoveler

Godwit with bling

Snipe

Redshank

2021

146: Jack snipe

NDCP

69: Razorbill

WOW

79 Jack snipe

80: Little grebe

81: Peregrine

82: Raven

83: Grey wagtail

Rain at last

No recent posts due to no recent birding. I have been out and about but things are slow and RSPB Belfast was seriously dry, BUT at least we have rising water levels.  The patch added a little grebe at Kinnegar, a hunting peregrine passed through and took a dunlin, and a jack snipe dropped in beside half a dozen snipe feeding in the open, sat long enough for us to id it and then shuffled into the reeds and vanished.  The coastal path also has seen returning winter waders  but the garden is a bird free zone at present. With a bit of effort I have seen blackbird, dunnock, robin and chaffinch. Magpie and jackdaw are common but that really is that. Large flocks of eider are gathering again in Belfast Lough and the gannets and shearwaters have moved on. There was a spate of guillemots and razorbills feeding close in, but they have moved on.  Here's a selection from Belfast RSPB taken over the last week or two.

Lapwing

Meadow pipt

Meadow pipit

Look!! Water!!

Redshank

Magpie

Teal

Spot 5 waders and a gull

Curlew, knot and godwit

Mixed waders

Mainly curlew

Spot the godwit

Spot the dunlin

2021

146: Jack snipe

NDCP

69: Razorbill

WOW

79 Jack snipe

80: Little grebe

81: Peregrine

American megatick

Now and again the patch at WOW turns up a good bird. There are a few reasons for this. It is nicely situated alongside Belfast Lough, there are a range of habitats and it is well watched. Most birders will visit Kinnegar beach and lagoon on their way to WOW or vice versa. It is a magnet for waders and gulls so observers happily check out flocks and those whose idea of a good day out is to scope through 1000+ gulls can have a good time within easy reach of Belfast. Over the weekend we hit the jackpot when Stuart McKee found a Bonaparte's gull. It spent most time on Kinnegar beach, as well as roosting in the sewage works or in WOW. I finally found it on my fourth visit and it was hard enough scanning through 4-500 black-headed gulls, plus herring gulls, lesser black backs and sandwich terns. Last saw one here in Bangor in 1979, but also saw them on their home turf in Niagara in 1991. here are a few shots, for really good ones go to the NI birds web site here: https://nibirds.blogspot.com/

Despite falling water levels WOW is pulling in passage waders. This week we had our regular oystercatcher, curlew, lapwing, redshank, dunlin and black-tailed godwit, but we also had eight snipe feeding out in the open, nine ruff, two sanderling, three curlew sandpiper and two little stint. Kinnegar added ringed plover and turnstone. All in all I had over 30 species and as the feeders aren't up there were very few small birds on the list. No finches, tits, dunnock, robin or blackbird. Could hit 40 on a good day. Kinnegar lagoon and the sewage works holds most of the ducks as the reserve is too dry, it also had ten little egrets and two grey herons. Normally these are occasional visitors - usually single birds - but for some reason they are there in their droves. Presumably there is food to be had or they wouldn't be there.

Little egrets and mallard

Roosting curlew

Snipe and moorhen

Might have to cut down the predator perch!!

Teal each side of a dunlin with a tiny little stint in behind.

The local coastal path is still getting walked but nothing new has popped up. Winter waders have returned with redshank and turnstone, once I see a purple sandpiper I'll know winter has arrived. The garden is quiet so the list stays at 69 - I need a raven cronking overhead.

2021

144: Little stint

145: Bonaparte's gull

NDCP

69: Razorbill

WOW

77: Little stint

78: Bonaparte's gull