Gobbins boat trip

A late evening run to the Gobbins with Brian Meharg gave a lot of birds and a lot of scenic views. Despite a lack of sunshine it was good weatherwise, mainly dry and not too lumpy. This trip  is never "as expected". I have done it quite a few times and no two trips are ever the same. This year we saw all the usual species but added Manx shearwater and peregrine which are not guaranteed. Only one gannet but 25+ puffins. We also noticed two dead auks which were lifted from the water and brought back for scientific analysis to see why they died. They were not underweight and had no obvious injuries. It was fascinating to get a close up view of both birds in terms of shape, colour, bill etc.. I had the good camera but only a  55mm lens this time, but I am quite pleased with the results. Just for clarification the first shot was taken on a Gobbins trip in 2009, just to illustrate the varying weather conditions this trip can produce!! It is better than any of the 2026 shots.

There is a wee update on Cockle Island as of June 17th at the end.

2009 sunset with gannet

Blackhead lighthouse

Lesser black-backed gull

Setting sun over Islandmahee

Minesweeper off Bangor

Auks for Science

Razorbill

Guillemot

Puffin ledge, you need 600mm for this one

Herring gull

Guillemot

Muck Island

Muck Island

Cockle Island arctic tern update.

Things moved quickly since the last post and I will try and summarise it briefly.

• An otter was spotted on the trail cam.
• The Trust sent a team to erect a two strand electric fence and keep off notices (for humans, not the otter!). This caused major disturbance as the terns left their nests. Two cockle pickers were observed after the notices were erected and again this disturbed the colony.
• It is probable that some nests were lost.
• Good news is that the terns settled and chicks have been seen. 
• I'll update on future posts and do a wrap at the end of the breeding season.

2026

150: Corncrake

151: Manx shearwater

152: Peregrine falcon

Cockle Island, Groomsport

I went on  a visit  with Anthony McGeehan and Ronnie Doggart to see the arctic tern colony at Groomsport and find out what the National Trust (NT) aren't doing to help the terns. The Cockle Island tern colony has about 80+ nests but lacks an electric fence to deter predators and signs to warn people off. The NT have put a "raft" out to encourage the terns to nest but as you can see from the pictures it doesn't really do a lot.  At a pinch it could hold 6 nests and it is easily accessible to any predator wanting a look at it. Fortunately the terns have no interest in it at all. They have not bred since 2022 and the sandwich terns upped and left last year and nested at Belfast RSPB. It appears that despite being an SSI and hosting a red listed bird species, the NT are not that interested in what happens there although they do talk a good talk they do not follow up with actions. 

Cockle Island and "Tern raft"

Known to locals as the salmon farm!

No terns on it at all and easy access for predators

Tern nesting site 

NT trail cams

Arctic terns currently on eggs

Nice red-breasted merganser (F) in the harbour

If you have any links to the National Trust, Ards and North Down councillors or MLAs please bend their ear to try and get some action to protect the terns.  The biggest help would be an electric fence, but warning signs on the harbour, a rope cordon on the island,  and a few motion activated predator warning lights would also be a great help. Feel free to comment or email me if you think you can offer any help. We will hopefully have breeding success this year but all ideas are useful even though they might be filed away for 2027. 

Rathlin Island (again)

The year gallops on as does the birding calendar.  Rather than do one very long post I will go for a few shorter ones  to keep excitement levels high. First off we had two nights on Rathlin, which gave us two and a half days on the island. This coincided with that wee spell of very heavy rain showers so was not as pleasant as it has been in the past. We made it to the RSPB West Light Seabird Centre but had a very odd convection mist hanging round the stacks. We could see west clearly towards Ballintoy, but not to Ballycastle or to the stacks west of the steps. We couldn't see the peregrine perch or the great skua nest yet when we walked towards the harbour it was bright and sunny at Kebble Cottage. I added corncrake to the list in the usual field behind the pub and we had a nice walk round the Craigmacagan trail. 

What guillemots?

Fulmar nest

Rock pipit fledgling

So close I could have touched it!

No view of birds to the west

What peregrine?

Cleared at Kebble cottage?

Harbour

Corncrake country

Church Bay

East light from Craigmacagan

2026 
149: Puffin
150: Corncrake

Round Rathlin

This post is sponsored by Rafa and John Murdoch who provided a good camera and a 200mm lens. It was the same combination as the trip to Alaska in 2023 (Bangor West Patchwork Challenge: Alaska and the inside passage) when the card corrupted on the penultimate day. This time I was more careful so there are pictures. 

The best part of the trip apart from the birds is the ability to view the three lighthouses from the sea. 

Upside down west light

Lighthouse and stack

East light

East light and cattle

Rue Point

Farewell to Rathlin

Bird wise I managed 14 species - the only passerine was a hooded crow on top of the north cliffs. Clearly we go for quality rather than quantity although there are thousands of auks and gull along the cliffs. Here are a few pictures but if you want to see the good stuff you need to go on this Facebook page and scroll down to see the round Rathlin photos from May 21st. 

(2) JBirds - Birding by Boat | Facebook

Guillemots

Fulmar

Puffin

Razorbills

North cliffs

Kittiwake

Razorbills

Gannet

Grey seal

Herring gull in Ballycastle

Jackdaw seeking food

 in Ballycastle

Rook and Fair Head

One is very small and the other is very far away Dougal (If you know you know!)

I only added two to the 2026 list

148: Kittiwake

149: Puffin

More spring migrants

Busy gull island, note construction in the background

Quite a few birds on the patch lists but not too many pictures unfortunately. I'll go by patch and throw in the usual scenic views and add in what's about in WOW.

The feeders are down in the garden apart from suet balls as per RSPB advice. Something is eating the suet but as yet I haven't seen any birds? The coastal path added common tern, meadow pipit and gannet. The wind has been north or north east of late and this is keeping things quiet. Migrants are always at a premium on a north facing coast with no lakes or large areas of woodland and a steady northerly isn't helping. I eventually had a flyover swift, again later than usual. 

WOW has good water levels and it is starting to drop and expose some mud. There are over 500 black-headed gulls settling to breed as well as 5 pairs of Mediterranean gulls. Teal and wigeon have gone but we still have shoveler, tufted, gadwall, mallard and shelduck. Wader are around in small numbers as most of them have headed north to breed. I have added the expected summer visitors such as sand martin, house martin, swallow and swift. We also had a one day spoonbill, a short staying common sandpiper and an adult little gull. I finally tracked down chiffchaff by song. Sandwich tern numbers have been around the 20-30 mark, common terns peaked last week at over 60 and we also spotted one arctic tern. We await the deployment of the temporary tern island now that the terns have returned and most of the gulls are on nests. There are mallard ducklings and black-headed gull chicks and we "think" the pair of mute swans are sitting on eggs in the reed bed south of Hide 2.

As usual I picked up other birds off patch with a few trips out and about. The annual trip to Glenwherry added the expected cuckoo but also gave a brief sighting of a superb male hen harrier. We also enjoyed lots of singing skylarks, a flyover raven,  and a pair of wheatears.  A walk to the Commons  in Donaghadee produced a very unexpected whimbrel and the first gannet of the year. We also had a walk round the Belfast Waterworks on the Antrim Road where Merlin helped out with a list of common and expected birds including 2 ring-necked parakeets which are still around the area. We also had an interesting sighting of a fisherman in chest waders somewhere out in the middle!!

Waterworks scenic view

Yes it's a fisherman!

Oxford Island swallow

WOW shelduck

WOW mallard & Shoveler

WOW gadwall

2026

138: House martin

139: Spoonbill

140: Common tern

141: Little gull

142: Cuckoo

143: Hen harrier

144: Whimbrel

145: Gannet

146: Swift

147: Arctic tern

NDCP patch
56: Swallow

57: Meadow pipit

58: Common tern

59: Gannet

60: Swift

Belfast RSPB patch

70: Wheatear

71: Spoonbill

72: Chiffchaff

73: Swallow

74: Common tern

75: Little gull

76: Sand martin

77: Swift

78: Arctic tern

79: House martin