Patch update and a LIFER

It says patch update but it is mainly WOW with one bird on the North Down patch, an update on Cockle Island (again) and a stunning lifer in the Cooley Mountains.

We'll start local with an expected Manx shearwater  - or ten - off the coast near Bangor. 

WOW continues to deliver 30+ species of a morning. At present it has several hundred black-headed gulls, 150+ common terns and 80+ sandwich terns which are all in the process of breeding. We have confirmed breeding as well from coot, moorhen, mallard, tufted duck and shelduck. We also had a visiting roseate tern which gave quite good views if a bit distant and a male pochard also dropped in.  Ronnie got a "record shot" of the roseate so he gets the credit for that one. The temporary tern island is in place and work continues on D3. 

Roseate tern  (Ronnie Doggart)

Shelduck family, nest boxes, temporary island and piles on D3

Black-tailed godwit

Arctic tern

Shelducklings

Common tern

Mediterranean gull

Sandwich tern

The sandwich tern was ringed on Blue Circle Island in Larne Lough in June 2021 and this is the first re-sighting. An amble round Castle Espie added a singing reed warbler, a bird I normally get in England. 

A female red-footed falcon was showing well in County Louth in late May/early June. It's about 75 minutes away and I don't normally twitch birds, but it hung around and eventually I was tempted and I fell. We followed a google pin up into the Cooley Mountains, drove round a bend and there were a group of birders with scopes and cameras filling their SD cards as the bird moved between a fairy thorn, a fence and the ground. My problem was I had left my SD card in the laptop so after six shots the camera was full!! Apologies for  another record shot but it was a stunning bird.

A quick update on the Cockle Island arctic terns has good news and bad news. The good news is that there are chicks but the bad news is that the electric fence had fallen down in places and the NT chose to fix it in the middle of the breeding season. It was put up far too late in a bit of a hurry so it hasn't done the job. We live in hope!! Another two photos from Ronnie Doggart  show arctic tern chicks including one in a box kindly sponsored by Anthony McGeehan. 

Chick appreciating the shade from Anthony's box

Chick wishing Anthony had bought a second box. 

2026

152: Peregrine falcon

153: Red-footed falcon - Lifer  😎

154: Roseate tern

155: Reed warbler

NDCP patch
60: Swift

61: Manx shearwater

Belfast RSPB patch

79: House martin

80: Roseate tern

81: Pochard

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