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
