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

71: Spoonbill

72: Chiffchaff

73: Swallow

74: Common tern

75: Little gull

76: Sand martin

77: Swift

78: Arctic tern

79: House martin
70: Wheatear

The grand tour

 A bit like Victorian nobility jaunting round Europe, Tanya and I jaunted round Northern England. Not a lot of bird pictures, some scenic shots but lots of year ticks. 

We will just go chronologically starting with a red kite along the A69 near Castle Douglas. Northumberland was very family orientated but I was still following the local WhatsApp group and the spotted redshank was still at Bothal Pond. Nice little spot which also added two early swallows (April 4th). Following family stuff we had an afternoon at Washington WWT. I have not been there for a long time so it was basically a new adventure and we did the circuit of the wild bit away from the captive birds. Spring was in the air and Merlin was greatly in use as there was a lot of birdsong. We saw over 40 species including multiple chiffchaffs, 3 goosander, a self found spotted redshank, singing blackcaps, 5 stock doves at the feeders, 12 avocet on the wader lake and a nice comma butterfly. 

Cowslips were rampant at Brockholes LWT reserve

Comma

Visits to Hadrian's Wall and Alnwick Castle were basically bird free apart from a falconry display at Alnwick where Harris hawks and a Lanner falcon were the main attraction. I am ambivalent about captive birds of prey but the Lanner falcon could seriously shift!

Wall at Housesteads

Inner Bailey at Alnwick

The next stop was south to Bawtry to catch up with friends and we had a morning in the Idle Valley Country Park. I had not been there since 2019 but it was a warm sunny morning, birdsong was rampant and we listed 35 species including 5 cattle egrets, multiple chiffchaffs and blackcaps, first willow warblers of the year, a singing whitethroat which popped up nicely for a view  and a singing garden warbler which I actually picked up myself from the song, saw briefly and had  confirmed by Merlin. Oh happy day! Then on to Bolton via a birdless M62 and finally heard the local tawny owl from the bedroom window. Next day we had a frustrating walk with the dog as we heard three calling nuthatches but failed to get a good view of any of them. I next spent over an hour at the Elton Reservoir feeders with a brief walk between showers. This gave all the usual suspects at the feeders  including parakeets plus 2 jays hanging on to the suet feeder AND a heard and seen nuthatch. I have never seen jays at any feeders before and their feeding method seemed to be to hammer the suet as much as possible before they fell off and hopefully knock some suet to the ground for eating. A second visit to Elton for an evening walk gave sand martins, swallow and a nice reed bunting but not the hoped for swifts seen there earlier in the day. That was that, as family duties meant there were no more bird trips and no more year firsts.

Now guaranteed at Elton

Lurking jay

Awful photo on the phone through the windscreen but it is a jay trying to eat suet!

Back home  and a morning at WOW added wheatear, common sandpiper, willow warbler and blackcap to the lists. There were also at least ten Mediterranean gulls around and a recent count produced around 400 black-headed gulls and 30+ lesser black backs who are already predating mallard chicks. Surprisingly we found all of our seven wintering ducks including a couple of teal, but it is getting to the stage of finding something that is not a BHG. Finally a swallow over Bangor and a church walk round Ballymacormick Point added a singing sedge warbler in the gorse and a couple of house martins over Groomsport. 

Moorhen

Black-headed gull

Passing shoveler

Spot the Med gull

Spot the kestrel in Lancashire

Ballymacormick Point - somewhere in there was a sedge warbler.

2026 

124: Dipper

125: Red kite

126: Spotted redshank

127: Swallow

128: Avocet

129: Garden warbler

130: Whitethroat

131: Willow warbler

132: Cattle egret

133: Tawny owl

134: Nuthatch

135: Common sandpiper

136: Wheatear

137: Sedge warbler

138: House martin

NDCP patch

55: Lesser black-backed gull

56: Swallow

Belfast RSPB patch

66: Dunnock 

67: Willow warbler

68: Blackcap

69: Common sandpiper

70: Wheatear

It's April

 We are only home  six weeks from exotic foreign adventures (Northumberland and Bolton) and we are off again to the same places!! Easter in Geordie land and then a bit of child care in Bolton. Thought it a good idea post an update on what has been happening in the meantime.

The local patch has added a couple of expected visitors in sandwich tern and lesser black-backed gull, while the garden finches had a post all of their own. Other than that it's been a slow transition into spring with  the occasional cold wintry day. It looks like the classic spring migrants will be seen in England rather than Northern Ireland. 

WOW is also mired in winter with all seven winter ducks still present and very few migrants to quicken the pulse so far. We have added a few species . A male pintail spent a lot of time with its rear end up in the air and we finally added Mediterranean gull to the list in mid March. This week I finally found a dunnock -  it only took three months - and three sandwich terns flew in. Hopefully they will breed again this year rather than going to Cockle Island where high spring tides and predatory rats seem to have pushed them out. We might even get some of the arctic terns as well as they haven't bred successfully since 2022.

Godwit at rest

Poor shot of an uncooperative Med gull

Uncooperative pintail

That's better

Class of 2021 back again

Med gull standing up

As you know, the two patches don't provide all the birds I see, so there have been a few wee excursions elsewhere. A trip through the north quarries at Scrabo added raven and chiffchaff. JBirds - Birding by boat arranged an excursion through Lough Beg on a fine warm sunny afternoon and this was an excellent trip through an area I have viewed from land, so the chance to see it from the water was too good to pass up. I clocked up 37 species including an unexpected fieldfare in a tree at Toome, a green sandpiper along the Bann, sand martins overhead and the piece de resistance -11 glossy ibis in flight. As usual I have some nice scenic views but here is a link to the JBirds Facebook page where people with good cameras who know how to use them have posted their shots. 

JBirds - Birding by Boat | Facebook

This is the main page, you will have to scroll down to reach the Lough Beg trip on March 21st. there are lots of good shots of a wide variety of birds well worth looking at.  There are at least a dozen posts from different people on the trip, so keep on going and don't miss the sparrowhawk pretending it is an osprey which was seen on the morning trip. Kingfisher was also seen by a few people but didn't pose for a picture. I also added dipper on the Inver River at Larne as the 2026 list moves ahead ready for the migrant bonanza that is April and May. 

Primroses at Scrabo

Chiffchaff tree at Scrabo

Our boat on the Bann

Bridge at Toomebridge

Church Island from Lough Beg

New LIFER for me, can I add it to all my lists?

 

2026 

115: Water pipit

116: Mediterranean gull

117: Chiffchaff

118: Raven

119: Sand martin

120: Fieldfare

121: Green sandpiper

122: Glossy ibis

123: Sandwich tern

124: Dipper

NDCP patch

53: Guillemot

54: Sandwich tern

55: Lesser black-backed gull

Belfast RSPB patch

62: Starling

63: Pintail

64: Mediterranean gull

65: Sandwich tern

66: Dunnock (DOH!!)

Finch fest

The feeders have been buzzing of late, particularly the sunflower hearts, and I have had a wide variety of birds coming and going. The following pictures illustrate the interesting combinations observed. I have also had blackbird and magpie on, but when they appear everything else clears off! The odd slightly blurry image is caused by the feeders swaying in the wind or when a bird lands, and my simple digi-scoping kit does not cope well with this. 

Bullfinch

Blackcap & Linnet

Siskin (M)

Chaffinch, house sparrow & Siskin (F)

Linnets (F)

House sparrow

Greenfinch pair

Blackcap & Goldfinch

Goldfinch and a pair of siskins

No patch updates, but things are looking up as winter visitors are still around and summer visitors are on their way north - watch this space!

Back home

Before I update the local patches I have a final update on the last week in and around Bolton. I managed a visit to the feeders at Pennington Flash and added stock dove plus a nice great white egret. Moses gate CP had a Muscovy duck which may or may not be tickable, as well as three pairs of goosander  and Elton added a great spotted woodpecker and 5 ring-necked parakeets. I spent quite a bit of time watching feeders to try and add nuthatch and willow tit but dipped on both. It made me think about how I depend on a feeding station to add small birds quickly to a list. If the feeders at WOW are empty we are basically down 6 birds - 3 finches and 3 tits. I was aware that empty feeders at Leighton Moss, Cresswell and Druridge Bay cost me a few birds. If there are no feeders on a route, it is a bit more difficult to add the tits, finches and sparrows to a list never mind nuthatch and woodpecker. My local North Down patch would be much more difficult if I did not have garden feeders over the winter. Comments welcome on this topic.

Moses Gate CP  goosanders behind the swans

Muscovy duck

Parakeet at Elton

If the parakeets aren't there 6 finches would be feeding. They do intimidate smaller birds

While in the hide at Pennington Flash I bumped into Nigel from Backyard Aviary birds. He does a weekly YouTube video about his birding trips as he tries to get 280 birds in 2026. I quite like them and look forward to his weekly update. We had a good chat and I've added a link to his YouTube channel re his Manchester visit. 

UK’s Parrot Invasion! & the most colourful duck!

A return to WOW gave 28 species (no feeders!!) and I added starling and little egret to the list. The black-headed gulls are back in force -over 200 -  and the canes are up to try and prevent nesting on the smaller island. They don't work, but they do help to prevent predation from lesser black backs. We also noted two of our black-tailed godwits ringed in 2021.

Might put this in as an art installation for the Turner prize. 

Lime /green

Blue/yellow

I also added three species to the 2026 list this week. First a male siskin in David Miller's garden - got a tip off on that one. The photo below may or may not be the bird I saw! Next up I connected with the Portavogie black redstart at the second attempt and finally on a walk at Kearney I was watching pipits on the seaweed and trying to work out if the bird I was looking at was a rock pipit or a meadow when a water pipit landed beside it!! Totally unexpected but I had good views and decided I wasn't seeing things.  I had thought of heading for Portmore that day but Tanya wanted to go to Kearney, so right place right time. 😊

Carnalea siskin (DM)

Following a trip to Carnalea to add siskin to the list, four turned up on my feeders two days later!! I also had an amble along the coastal path and had 5 brent geese, a red-throated diver, 5 guillemots and one black guillemot plus 3 mallard on the pond at Stricklands.

Brent geese

and again

and again

I hadn't realised how beautifully camouflaged they are on a rocky coast. On grassy fields and sandy beaches they are obvious, not so here. 

2026 
108: Scaup
109: Muscovy duck
110: Great spotted woodpecker
111: Ring-necked parakeet
112: Stock dove

113: Siskin

114: Black redstart

115: Water pipit

NDCP patch
50: Rock pipit

51: Siskin

52: Mallard

53: Guillemot

Belfast RSPB patch
60: Ringed plover

61: Little egret

62: Starling