Another patch lifer!!

Not often you get a lifer on your patch like the grey phalarope we spotted last year, but this year it has happened again at WOW when an American golden plover dropped in for a couple of days. They do pop up on the north coast every so often but don't usually stray south. Having said that, any wintering golden plover flock is always worth a close look just in case. Only difference for this patch lifer is that it had been spotted by someone else and reported on the NI birds website. It was always on the far side and frequently went missing behind the grass, but when it appeared it was clearly different from your run-of-the-mill goldie. With lower water levels there has been a good run of waders through WOW - ruff, common sandpiper, sanderling, whimbrel and an immature little ringed plover. Like last year the abundance of small fish has meant good numbers of cormorants, (11) grey herons (15), and little egrets (13) as well as the now regular kingfisher. WOW also provided my last swift of the year on August 8th. A look down Belfast Lough added guillemot and gannet as well as an unexpected great northern diver which flew up as I was getting the scope on it, looped round and flew east towards the open sea. Apologies for the blurry photos of the American golden plover - it was the best I could do!! 

Male ruff

Female ruff

Other than that things have been quiet. England gave good views of nuthatch on Richard's feeder in Bolton and marsh harrier at Leighton Moss plus two great white egrets.  We normally travel overnight to Liverpool but the daylight sailing gave me a "little" bonus from the ferry as we approached the Mersey estuary in the shape of two little gulls.  

The coastal path finally provided a rock pipit but has been noteworthy this year for what it hasn't produced - curlew, lapwing, mallard, grey wagtail, swallow and house martin which I have always regarded as nailed on certainties on the patch. I haven't give up on curlew, lapwing, mallard and grey wagtail but there has been no sign of swallow and house martin which used to nest in the area and were regularly seen in previous years, but this year nothing and I have been desperately looking for flyovers along the coast. I haven't seen or heard a raven either, again I would normally have heard one over the garden by now. 

2024
147: Sedge warbler
148: Little gull
149: Whimbrel
150: American golden plover  LIFER 😎
151: Little ringed plover
152: Sanderling

NDCP
57: Common tern
58: Rock pipit

WOW
80: Greenshank
81: Great northern diver
82: Gannet
83: Guillemot
84: American golden plover
85: Whimbrel
86: Little ringed plover
87: Sanderling

The kingfisher edition

 WOW turned up two kingfishers which stayed around most of the day - and the next one as well. I can honestly say I have not had as prolonged, close views of kingfisher ever. They chased each other round the reeds, sat on posts, preened, washed and fished. Up till then we thought the highlight was the common sandpiper preening on the trestle right in front of the window, or the two ringed common terns we spotted, but we were proved wrong when the two kingfishers turned up. Kingfishers are occasional visitors to WOW, usually in August/September when the youngsters are chased out by the parents. They do not usually stay long and very rarely give good views. There are fish in the reserve but nowhere they can safely breed so they usually move on. The deeper pools have given them a chance to fish and they are catching small fish. Hopefully they will be a more regular feature at WOW. Let's start with the common sandpiper on the trestle which was there for 15 - 20 minutes.

The kingfishers pitched up later and were still around when I left after an hour plus of watching them. They also showed well over the weekend and were enjoyed by quite a few folk who posted photos on the RSPB WOW Facebook page here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/RSPBBelfastWOW

This week the male kingfisher was still doing its stuff and we had a couple of ruff  and a greenshank. There was a third ringed common tern which has been forwarded to the relevant people. The two terns from last week came from the Blue Circle island in Larne Lough and the South Wall in Dublin - ringed as a chick in June 2021.

Ruff

Ruff

Alcedo athis

Ringed tern, white PNP - best I could do!

Off to sunny Bolton for 10 days, looking to add to the 2024 list if I am lucky. 

2024

147: Sedge warbler

NCCP

57: Common tern

WOW

78: Kingfisher

79: Sedge warbler

80: Greenshank

Summer lethargy

Decided to leave this post until I had been this week in case I got any nice pictures. So sod's law kicked in and we had a mega day with two kingfishers which stayed for an hour or more. I decided not to butcher this so they are getting their own post. So enjoy the blog and wait eagerly for the next one - the kingfisher edition. Here is a picture to whet your appetite.

Feel constrained to keep the blog ticking over but don't really have a lot to report.  I have been to WOW quite a bit but it is very quiet at the minute as the autumn migration hasn't really kicked in yet. I have had a couple of walks along the coastal path, but again very quiet apart from a passing common tern. I also had a few days in Co Donegal and added chough to the year list but could not find a dipper at all despite checking out a few likely rivers. We are due over in England for a couple of weeks of essential child care so there is always a chance of the odd tick around Elton, by the end of the month the return migration will be well under way and WOW and the North Down Coastal Path might throw up a few goodies.

The work at D3 has finished for the present and the gate is complete. The following photos show that the new road points straight at the trees so we can expect them to go in the winter. The plans show a 3 metre wide path to Hide 2. There is some hope that some trees behind Hide 2 might survive to provide a shelter belt there but it is all down to the harbour Commissioners. RSPB have been translocating some rarer plant species which have colonised the site in the last 30 years, so it is not all bad news. 

Here are a few of the birds spotted recently, others were too far away!! The little egret is a first year bird which stayed briefly until it decided there wasn't enough to eat. There are at least two pairs of arctic terns but they are difficult to find at times. Common sandpipers have been around for about three weeks. There have been as many as four, I only ever saw one but I also added a passing ruff and a grey wagtail dropped in briefly. We still managed over 30 species last week despite not having feeders up, so no tits or finches. However still recorded house martin, sand martin, swallow and swift and three tern species - arctic, common and sandwich. Little tern and roseate have been recorded this summer, but not by me. 

Arctic tern

Common sandpiper

Little egret

Little egret

2024

145: Ruff

146: Chough

NDCP

57: Common tern

WOW

76: Ruff

77: Grey wagtail

Summer update

To quote the legendary Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd, "All movement is accomplished in 6 stages, but the seventh brings return" In this case the blog is in three stages, starting with WOW which continues to produce the odd surprise amid a lot of new families. The biggest surprise was the feral barnacle goose I mentioned in the last blog, but there's always something to look for like the single knot which kept us guessing for a bit. Finally got a sandwich tern on the reserve, in fact there were 60+ which is a bit unusual. Also added Manx shearwater and meadow pipit to the NDCP list with a walk along the coastal path

Shelduck family

Shoveler starting to eclipse

Black-headed gull chicks

Tufty pair

Common tern

Knot

Med gull v black-headed gull

Good year for BHG chicks

The second stage is a twice postponed trip to the Gobbins and Muck Island, with all the expected gulls and auks. No stunning pictures, just nice scenes. Listwise I only added puffin and kittiwake, but I still managed 23 species and we found a peregrine nest with two chicks and not an adult in sight. Most odd and we are still searching for an explanation. A later boat trip did find an adult so all is well. 

Sandwich seeking herring gull

Breeding auks

Yes the weather was good.

The views were good as well

More guillemots

How did we get that shot?

Even closer!!

The third stage was the trip across to Bolton to catch up with he family and the chance to visit the odd bird reserve now that I am more mobile and pain free. We had a trip to Burton Mere again and an amble round Elton Reservoir. Burton Mere gave stunning views of a great white egret and added spotted redshank and reed warbler  to the list as well as singing Cetti's warbler, chiffchaffs and loads of avocets.  Elton was relatively quiet with only singing willow warblers but it was dry enough to walk round the north side without needing wellies and that was nice. The feeders had a willow tit along with the usual multitude of goldfinches. All in all a very pleasant morning with  the thermometer at 24 Celsius. 

Elton reservoir

Burton Mere

Great white egret

2024

139: Whitethroat

140: Kittiwake

141: Puffin

142: Spotted redshank

143:Reed warbler

144: Manx shearwater

NDCP

55: Meadow pipit

56: Manx shearwater

WOW

75: Sandwich tern

Changes at WOW

The long awaited new cruise terminal on D3 is finally under way. Planning permission runs out in July this year so they had to make a start or re-apply. Unfortunately it will impact on WOW despite the RSPB going through the application with a fine toothcomb to try and mitigate the effects. The bottom line is that the land is owned by the Harbour Commissioners and they can do what they want with it. RSPB can ask and advise but at the end of the day they call the shots.

The entrance to the new terminal is at the corner nearest to WOW and this means we will probably lose the belt of trees once the breeding season is over. The plans allow for a 1.6m path to Hide 2 but we are hopeful we might get a bit more. Access to the bottom gate will be via the terminal car park and there will be no access to the Lagan - only as far as Hide 2. The link below will take you to the planning portal, then search for Airport Road Belfast D3 if you want to look at the 99 documents which are there. The most recent ones from this year are results of surveys and impacts including the breeding guillemots and the relocation of two important plant species which colonised the area. I struggled to find the maps or I would have put them on!!

Northern Ireland Public Register (planningsystemni.gov.uk)

Diggers in place

We will lose the trees on the left.

The other main change is the temporary tern island which was put in place and had terns on it within 24 hours. There are a couple of pairs of arctic terns around, but try finding them!! Other than that the breeding season continues with shelduck, mallard, coot and black-headed gulls all with young and all in danger from the patrolling lesser black backs. I counted 120+ one week. The reserve is an excellent place on a dull damp day to sort out your swallows, martins and swifts. On bright sunny days they are absent but if it is damp and cloudy the place is teeming with all four species and you can brush up on your ID skills or try and teach newcomers the differences between them. Since my last post I have added little stint and house martin to the WOW list plus a totally unexpected barnacle goose-the first one I have ever seen here in 26 years of visiting. Probably feral but it flew in and flew out so it is on the list!!

Barnacle goose

Spot the new island

The North Down patch has been static since April as I have not been able to walk there. I finally managed to get there on Saturday and it was a breath of fresh air to be back. No stunning birds but really nice to walk, sit and breathe the sea air again. 

View with flag iris

What's not to like?

Not really a lot of change in the lists apart from the whitethroat seen at the Flood Gates in Newtownards. I had time to sit with merlin again and it picked up quite a bit including a distant song thrush and a willow warbler which I had missed.

2024
137: House martin
138: Little stint
139: Whitethroat

NDCP

54: Lesser black-backed gull

WOW

72: House martin

73: Little stint

74: Barnacle goose

Post surgery malaise

Well, we're done and dusted and making good progress on the hip surgery. Happy to sit behind a scope but still too early to go looking for exotic birds. I can't drive for 6 weeks and although Tanya is happy to scoot round Bangor, Ards and East Belfast, Portmore Lough, Glenwherry and Oxford island are a bridge too far. The garden has produced linnet and bullfinch and flyover swifts. WOW has also provided swifts and common terns as well as a pair of nesting Mediterranean gulls and a couple of arctic terns. There was also a very distant wood sandpiper last week. We agonised over it and ruled out lots of waders but I called it in to NIBirds as a "possible" and Bob Watts hot-footed over and confirmed it. Good photos were at a premium but there is one here:

https://nibirds.blogspot.com/2024/05/bird-news-thursday-16th-may.html

Probably the most interesting "sighting" was when the Merlin App said it had picked up a mistle thrush from the back garden. I haven't seen one of these on the patch in the last two years and despite looking round the area I couldn't see one, so it will remain a mystery. I fired off a few shots last week just to keep the blog ticking over so here we go. The three ducks were sitting in front of the observation room and there were about 20/30 terns scattered around the reserve, one of which came over to pose. 

Shoveler

Mallard

Gadwall

Med gull

Common tern

Arctic tern

2024

132: Swallow

133: Swift

134: Common tern

135: Arctic tern

136: Wood sandpiper

NDCP

54: Lesser black-backed gull

WOW

67: Swallow

68: Swift

69: Common tern

70: Arctic tern

71: Wood sandpiper