First visit to WOW

The first shift in WOW was a cold but calm Thursday morning (8th) with a rising tide. The reserve had been completely frozen on Monday but was now only frozen round the edges. As per usual most of the interesting birds were over on the far side so photographs are more scenic. We hit 34 species on the reserve itself, and I added a further 17 around Kinnegar. The count was similar to what we had been recording before Christmas. We had shelduck, gadwall, teal, mallard and shoveler. There was a small wigeon flock but it flew out before I saw it. Waders included curlew, black-tailed godwit, redshank, lapwing and three snipe. Gulls were restricted to common, black-headed and herring gull. The feeders gave all four tits - blue, coal, great & long-tailed and three finches - goldfinch, chaffinch and greenfinch. There were all the usual residents in varying number including coot, moorhen, hooded crow, magpie, woodpigeon, greylag goose, pied wagtail, cormorant, robin and blackbird. The local buzzard put in an appearance and diligent work with the scopes turned up three song thrush, a stonechat and a redwing feeding on the bank below the fence on the far side. 34 species is above par for winter if the feeders are operational so we can't really complain.

Iced up WOW

Mallard

Moorhen

Shelduck Island

A look over the Lough on a reasonably calm sea added eider duck, great-crested grebe, goldeneye, guillemot and black guillemot. The usual 12 brent geese were grazing on the grass.

 Kinnegar  itself had an almost full tide and a few dog walkers, so the beach only added meadow pipit and  turnstone. The lagoon had a lot of waders, ducks and gulls- but not wigeon! I added mute swan, little grebe, tufted duck, bar-tailed godwit, oystercatcher, grey heron and lesser black-backed gull. There were a couple of rooks in the area but the icing on the cake was a jay feeding in the grass at the far end of the lagoon. 

What was also good was the fact that we had quite a few visitors including a gentleman from Gloucestershire who had never seen a hooded crow and was delighted to get good views. I thought it was worth a picture. 

Must pose for the English visitor

Blue tit near a feeder

The last couple of visits have added wigeon, great black-backed gull, red-breasted merganser, dunlin, linnet, sparrowhawk and knot.

2026
78: Razorbill

79: Knot

NDCP

42: Razorbill

WOW

51: Meadow pipit

52: Wigeon
53: Great black-backed gull
54: Red-breasted merganser
55: Dunlin

56: Linnet

57: Sparrowhawk

58: Knot

The North Down patch

Oh you lucky people, instead of once a month you get two in a week as I try to update the local patch which also includes a few 2026 birds I didn't see on New Years day. That includes this little beauty which pitched into the garden two days in a row.

Jay on the bird table

I didn't get jay on the local patch last year and it is a couple of years since I had one in the garden. A few days later three greenfinches turned up at the feeders. It is at least two years since I've had a garden greenfinch and the last one was a single male only seen once. It seems the cold spell has some benefits for the garden birder. The cold spell also encouraged a song thrush to feed in the garden and I then realised I had two of these, one in the apple tree and one on the grass.  These along with three blackcaps (2 female and a male) and three bullfinches (2 male and a female) were the standout birds in early 2026. The supporting cast were much as last year - chaffinch, goldfinch, linnet, robin, dunnock, blackbird, woodpigeon, collared dove, magpie, hooded crow, starling, herring gull, blue, coal, great and long-tailed tits. All obviously feature in the Birdwatch Ireland garden bird survey which is now in its sixth week - that means we are almost half way through the winter as it runs for 13 weeks. To date I have not seen jackdaw in the garden and my house sparrows have disappeared as well. Hopefully they will drop in during the next seven weeks. 

Greenfinch via the phone waved at the scope - the camera was on charge!

Camera shot

Blackcap (F)

Blackcap (M)

Song thrush

Coal tit

Linnet

Blue tit

Goldfinch & Chaffinch

Bullfinch

The coastal path and a walk towards Ballyholme  has added a few of the usual suspects - cormorant, turnstone, eider duck, common gull, black-headed gull, jackdaw, pied wagtail, oystercatcher, redshank, dunlin, ringed plover, purple sandpiper, shag, house sparrow, rook and a wren on the top pond in Stricklands Glen.  A walk to Carnalea added moorhen, great black-backed gull, lapwing, grey heron and a razorbill in Smelt Mill Bay. All expected apart from the razorbill. Currently puts me on 42 for the patch. I will wrap that up for now and do another post on the WOW patch which got off to a solid start with 51 species.

2026

65: Tufted duck

66: Blackcap

67: Bullfinch

68: Coal tit

69: Jay

70: Linnet

71:Rock pipit

72: Ringed plover
73: Purple sandpiper
74: Coot
75: Moorhen
76: Snipe
77: Black guillemot
78: Razorbill

North Down patch

42: Razorbill

Another year, another set of lists

Let's wrap up 2025 first. There were no additions to the 2025 list and nothing else on the North Down patch but WOW turned up a kestrel and a female great spotted woodpecker on December 11th and pushed the patch up to 99. Despite an extra visit to try and find one more bird it stayed there and I look back on the grey wagtail and the great white egret which turned up when I was in England, never mind my failure to find a sedge warbler in the spring!! Not much in the way of pictures either, too dark or too far away I'm afraid, so have another shot of a woodpecker from late 2023. 

2025: 153 (154 if we count the ruddy shelducks at Kiltonga)

North Down patch : 63

WOW: 99

So we march on into 2026 and the annual yomp round Strangford Lough starting at the Flood Gates at dawn.  

First an apology for the lack of photos to break up the text. We just didn't bother!! A cold day (4/5 degrees centigrade and a brisk north wind) and the tide was pushing in so birds were being pushed up towards us. We got good views of lots of species (but unfortunately not golden plover or knot). Most numerous bird was lapwing, followed by redshank, dunlin, curlew, bar-tailed godwit, black-tailed godwit, turnstone and oystercatcher. We also had brent goose, shelduck, mallard and pintail in good numbers. There were four gull species present - black-headed, herring, common and great black-backed. Passerines flitted around the seaweed and adjacent farmland - pied wagtail, robin, blackbird, song thrush, rook, jackdaw, magpie and hooded crow. Just before we moved on the obligatory little egret dropped in and we spotted a greenshank tucked into a corner. We moved south to Annes Point  and saw woodpigeon en route but by that time the tide was well in and there was very little on the salt marsh apart from a pair of red-breasted merganser and a singing wren in the scrub. Just north of Greyabbey David executed an emergency stop when we saw two whooper swans in a field with 20+ greylag geese. Whilst checking for pinkfeet (negative) a female sparrrowhawk zipped past. We added starling and mute swan to the list before we reached Kircubbin to scan the seaweed. By this time the tide was full in and it was a bit exposed and baltic in a car park which had clearly suffered from recent storms. We added a pair of stonechat, collared dove, lesser black-backed gull, eider duck and meadow pipit before heading south again to Abbacy Road, Bishop's Mill and Shore Road for the 1145 ferry. We finally added teal and wigeon to the list and observed a high tide roost of 12 little egret and 10 grey heron. Goldfinch, greenfinch, dunnock, mistle thrush and house sparrows were noted before we moved onto Shore Road and noticed a single bird on the wires and stopped to see a beautiful male yellowhammer which was joined by a pair of reed buntings. The stubble field below them erupted as about 200 chaffinches flew into the hedge cover nearby. They dropped into the stubble several times and disappeared but despite extensive looking we were unable to see any other species. The ferry crossing added cormorant, shag and a single guillemot barrelling north into the Lough. Castleward Bay was in full tide as well and looked a bit bleak but the scope pulled in a large shoveler flock, 5 gadwall 2 little grebes and 2 great-crested grebes. On to the Quoile pondage for lunch in the hide and a bit of a bummer as the reed cutting machine was in operation!! 

Birds were scarce and far away but we added goldeneye and one redwing in an adjacent field. Towards the yacht club end David spotted a pair of pochard. This was a common bird in the reserve 40 years ago but we cannot remember the last time we saw pochard on the reserve. Passerines were conspicuous by their absence and the feeders were mostly empty apart from blue and great tits. We finally saw a buzzard and a small flock of long-tailed tits and  found tufted duck on the river section as well as these cute little ducks which turned out to be silver appleyard miniatures and not countable!! 

They may be in the same category as the Kiltonga ruddy shelduck in being released/dumped. By this time we were heading north in fading light but despite stops at Killyleagh, Whiterock and Castle Espie we were unable to add to our tally of 65 species. We were short on passerines and they head early to roost in winter. Interestingly the 65th and last species on the list was tufted duck at 1547 at the Quoile. We spent a further 90 minutes on the road with nothing to show for our efforts. Might be a lesson we could learn here and spend more time at some spots instead of rushing on to Castle Espie in fading light looking for a final tick. This year it was moorhen, last year coot and in previous years we have unsuccessfully chased collared dove or house sparrow. 

I will wrap this up here and do another post on the garden and North Down patch in a few days when I have some pictures from the garden feeders and I get a walk along the coastal path without the risk of slipping and falling. 

2025

65: Tufted duck