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

It's been a while!

Suddenly realised it has been well over a month since the last blog. Had no idea the year was galloping on. We're off on our travels again so thought it was a good idea to do a round up of what has happened since April. It's a bit long, so grab a coffee!

Firstly the garden and coastal path have added a few expected additions including a bullfinch in the garden - the first this year! I have also added swallow, common tern, meadow pipit, greenfinch, swift, linnet and house martin. 

WOW has also added a few expected birds - swift, house martin, swallow, common tern, arctic tern, wren, ruff and an unexpected kittiwake. The common tern numbers have reached 220 and there are 1000+ black-headed gulls and at least 5 pairs of Mediterranean gulls. Waders are scarce and while there are still 5 duck species numbers are greatly reduced. Unfortunately bird flu has appeared again mainly among the black-headed gulls and as I write this the reserve has been closed. 

Gadwall

Shelduck

Shoveler

New camera being installed

Don't stop or you will sink

Blizzard of gulls

Black-headed gulls, Mediterranean gulls and common tern on nesting platform

Pair of tufties, 

Egg thief - story below

New tern platform in place.

Terns taking to the temporary platform which was pulled out on Tuesday

Kittiwake

Black-headed gull chicks

The egg thief shot is from the back of John Fraser's camera. The two tufted ducks, came ashore and the female laid an egg. No nest, no fuss, then they ambled off and left it making no attempt to defend or brood it. The hooded crow was in very quickly to grab it and fly off. 

The 2023 list has slowly ticked up, boosted by a trip to the Antrim Hills and Rathlin. I added swift, common and arctic tern at WOW, a cuckoo in the Antrim Hills, whitethroat at Orlock, sedge warbler at Lough Beg and Rathlin added corncrake, puffin, great skua, water rail and wheatear. 

Cuckoo (phone shot)

Rathlin hawthorn

Corncrake country

I'll do another post with some nice landscapes from Rathlin and the Gobbins. Not so many bird shots as I don't have the good camera, then it's back to Bolton and a mega holiday involving passports. 

2023

133: Swallow

134: Swift

135: Common tern

136: Whitethroat

137: Arctic tern

138: Cuckoo

139: Sedge warbler

140: Corncrake

141: Puffin

142: Great skua

143: Water rail

144: Wheatear

NDCP

57: Sandwich tern

58: Swallow

59: Common tern

60: Meadow pipit

61: Greenfinch

62: Swift

63: Linnet

64: House martin

65: Bullfinch 

WOW

75: Starling

76: Swift

77: House martin

78: Swallow

79:Common tern

80: Arctic tern

81: Wren

82: Ruff

83: Kittiwake

Rathlin Island

We had a couple of nights on Rathlin which gave another nine firsts for the year. As well as hearing corncrake on all of the three days we also visited the seabird centre and walked round the new Craigmacagan trail, which is quite handy to Church Bay and is a superb walk of 2km. It has a lot of habitats in a small area - farmland, grassland, gorse, peat, coast and lake. Highly recommended if you have an hour or two before the ferry or fancy a loop walk to or from Rue Point. Here are a few shots from Craigmacagan.

The map

Bird's foot trefoil, primrose and bluebells at the same time?

More bluebells

Craigmacagan Lough

East light

The birds seen included sedge warbler, whitethroat, meadow pipit, skylark (singing), linnet, common gull, oystercatcher and stonechat plus corncrake along the road on the way back. You pass quite close to a common gull colony with nesting birds, please do not go near it i.e. stay on the path and do not wander onto the beach. You are bird people you know better than Joe Public!!

The seabird centre added all the expected seabirds, plus great skua and a golden hare which gave distant views from the car park. 

Fulmar

Guillemots on the stacks

Upside down lighthouse

2022

134: Manx shearwater

135: Kittiwake

136: Corncrake

137: Razorbill

138: Puffin

139: Great skua

140: Sedge warbler

141: Whitethroat

North Down

57: Gannet

Belfast RSPB

70: Gannet