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!!)