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.
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| Godwit at rest |
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| Poor shot of an uncooperative Med gull |
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| Uncooperative pintail |
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| That's better |
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| Class of 2021 back again |
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| 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.
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| Primroses at Scrabo |
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| Chiffchaff tree at Scrabo |
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| Our boat on the Bann |
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| Bridge at Toomebridge |
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| Church Island from Lough Beg |
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| 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!!)
