England and Covid

Just returned form a child-minding trip to England, where we contracted Covid after two years of avoiding the beast. This clearly limited birding as we had to self isolate in Bolton and also on our return home. We managed a couple of strolls around Elton  Reservoir  before we locked down, but were unable to do planned visits to Pennington Flash and Leighton Moss for mouth-watering goodies. The Bolton garden was well watched as it was pleasant enough to sit outside and watch the resident birds go about their business. I saw blue tit, great tit, long-tailed tit, chaffinch, goldfinch, greenfinch, bullfinch, dunnock, wren, robin, blackbird, song thrush, blackcap, woodpigeon, house sparrow, collared dove, carrion crow, jackdaw, magpie, jay, black headed gull, lesser black backed gull, herring gull and great spotted woodpecker. There was some lovely bird song as well, a couple of timed I dozed off in the garden to the song of multiple blackbirds. 

The two walks at Elton early on gave swallow, little ringed plover common sandpiper and willow warbler for the list as well as blackcaps and chiffchaffs singing. On a cold blustery Friday a circuit produced no singing warblers, Six days later they were everywhere. I could have justified a solo early morning walk last weekend but unfortunately I was just too tired and washed out to make an early start. What I did get during a restless night was a calling tawny owl close to the house.

I'm going to use the absence of photos to try and add in a couple of videos from the trail cam as we now have hedgehogs back and  badger and fox passing through. If the videos do not load I will repost the links.

On a more positive note I was back at WOW for the first time in three weeks and we had a good number of birds including a few year firsts and patch firsts listed below. At least there are a few bird pictures.

Common sandpiper

Shelduck

Med gull being photo-bombed by black-headed gulls

2022

120: Swallow

121:Common sandpiper

122: Little ringed plover

123: Willow warbler

124: Tawny owl

125: Sand martin

126: Whimbrel

127: Common tern

North Down

52: Grey wagtail

Belfast RSPB

62: Mediterranean gull

63: Sand martin

64: Sandwich tern

65: Common tern

66: Common sandpiper

67: Whimbrel

Spring migrants trickling in.

 Things are moving at last on the coastal path as sandwich terns and lesser black-backed gulls return. I also saw the local grey wagtail, while the coastal path added a curlew and a  meadow pipit. There have been changes at the bottom of the garden, not fairies, but tree surgeons who removed four large conifers  in the garden behind ours. and suddenly there is light and space. Small birds seem unfazed, we will see how the magpies pigeons and doves react later in the year. Before and after shots follow.

WOW has been good without producing any exciting new birds. There is a mix of winter waders and ducks still present with nesting gulls and passage waders. We have had fun with ringed black-tailed godwits. 24 were ringed last year in April and we have seen 9 of them in the last two or three weeks. We assumed they stayed local but were amazed to find some of them have been reported in Norfolk, Lincolnshire, Lancashire and North Wales. The ones below spent their time on this side of the Irish Sea - we think!!

This is LB-O(N=)

This is BN-O(=)

LB-O(=) Seems to have spent the winter in and around Belfast Lough, having been seen twice. BN-O(=) has also been seen around the Lough with three re-sightings.. With the godwits coming right up to the window it is fairly easy to read the rings, not as easy to get a clear picture in a feeding frenzy of 150+ godwits. The long staying ruff also comes over to feed and is colouring up nicely. There are 5 Mediterranean gulls, two pairs and a single. 

Ruff

Ruff

Med gull pair

Godwit jigsaw

They do like their millet

I'm adding in some of John Mason's pictures, first because his camera is far better than mine and secondly because I did see some of these birds but couldn't get good shots. He is able to get nice flight shots which is beyond my digi-scoping set up. Maybe I need a good camera?

Grey heron

Little egret and cormorant

Kestrel

Portmore Lough glossy ibis

Gannets at St John's Point

Stunning bird!!

Clea Lakes great white egret

Treecreeper at Rowallane

I did see the great white egret and the glosssy ibis. I also saw a treecreeper, but not that one! Gannets have eluded me so far but they are moving north to Ailsa Craig and it won't be long until we see them in Belfast Lough. 

 

2022

117: Treecreeper

118: Sandwich tern

119: Chiffchaff

North Down

47: Wren

48: Curlew

49: Meadow pipit

50/; Lesser black-backed gull

51: Sandwich tern

52: Grey wagtail

Belfast RSPB

62: Mediterranean gull

Godwits with bling

 WOW has been really good over the past couple of weeks. As well as all the usual suspects we have had pintail, goldeneye, grey wagtail, Mediterranean gulls and ruff. We had 9 species of duck and 6 species of waders. There is also birdsong in the reserve and things are looking and sounding very springlike. We have had at least 4 different godwits with rings. The first two spotted had been ringed at WOW in April 2021 when the reserve was still closed due to lockdown. We re-sighted one of these plus two new ones. Hopefully we will find out their history in the fullness of time. 

Blue/black & triple orange

Colouring up nicely

Grey wagtail still around

Green/blue and triple orange

Two of these guys

Headless shoveler

I finally found a curlew on the coastal path on a very low tide and also managed a water pipit near Portavogie. A quick look for chiffchaffs at Oxford Island failed but did turn up some nice pochard and 40+ great crested grebes including some nifty head shaking and dancing. 

The garden is slowly emptying of birds and the feeders are not being topped up daily, more like weekly. The female siskin popped in today and the blackcap was there last week but has not been seen recently. Hopefully back to Germany fuelled up by expensive suet pellets, fat balls and kibbled peanuts. Today we had singing dunnock, wren and blackbird so things are on the move. 

2022

116: Water pipit

North Down

50: Curlew

Belfast RSBB

62: Mediterranean gull

Return to Islay

Before I cracked a rib I  had signed up for a boat trip to Islay. I decided I would still go as I was two weeks from the accident and things were easing. I knew I couldn't walk a lot but reckoned the boat trip would be ok and the bus was fine. That meant a lot of hide sitting but sure I'm a birder so I could do that. Things panned out much as I thought, the car, boat and bus were ok and I got to the first hide at the RSPB Loch Gruinart reserve which was not showing a lot of life. The main attraction on Islay are the Barnacle geese and there weren't a lot to see from Hide 1. I decided to try for Hide 2 but it was a bridge too far and I ended up back at the centre and spent the rest of the time there observing the fields and the feeders hoping for a piece of predator action. Despite this lack of mobility I did manage 44 species and added barnacle geese and golden plover to the year list. The best was saved for last when a barn owl flew up from the roadside as we were driving back to Port Ellen for the boat. 

This was my fourth trip to Islay in the last eight years. Previous trips were as follows and the latest two have a link to the blog post. The Oa trip in September 2014 was before I started blogging. 

Islay and Jura in July 2021

https://bangorwestndcp.blogspot.com/2021/07/island-hopping-2-islay-and-jura.html

https://bangorwestndcp.blogspot.com/2021/07/jura-revisited.html

Islay, Loch Gruinart October 2016

https://bangorwestndcp.blogspot.com/2016/11/islay-2-and-ton-up.html

https://bangorwestndcp.blogspot.com/2016/10/the-magic-of-islay.html

The Oa RSPB reserve in September 2014

If you read this blog you will know that I like lists so I had a look at the lists from previous trips to see what the star birds were. The Oa turned up golden eagle, hen harrier, chough, peregrine and twite. In 2016 the star bird of 37 species was barnacle goose and in 2021 sea eagle hit the top. Two of the three trips had a storm petrel off Rathlin. 

Late evening view over the fields

Closest I got to barnacles

Greenland white-fronted goose

Magical evening light

Fortunately there were a lot of very good photographers on the trip and there is a dedicated Facebook page where boating birders post their work. The link is here:

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

John Mason posts on this site, and he kindly let me add a few of his shots from the trip including the chough at Ardnave. This was the walk I wanted to do but couldn't. Hopefully the next time I go I will be able to do the walk and see these brilliant birds. These last four pictures are all John's.

2022

113: Barnacle goose

114: Golden plover

115: Barn owl

North Down 

49: Wren

Belfast RSPB

62: Mediterranean gull

Has spring sprung?

Early March usually throws a few bright sunny days at us and then plunges us back to winter. This year has been no exception. Winter birds are still with us and summer arrivals are still in Africa. The garden produced a siskin which is par for March and there are still at least three blackcaps squabbling over food. 

I submitted my Birdwatch Ireland garden bird survey which had no real surprises. Blackbirds (9), goldfinch (12), chaffinch (9) and linnet (9) topped the poll, while I managed single sightings of sparrowhawk, goldcrest, wren, siskin, house sparrow and song thrush.  I also had bullfinch and greenfinch sporadically The format is different from the RSPB one hour blitz. It lasts for three months and you record each week the highest number of each bird species observed. The count resets on Monday so each week is a clean start with something to look out for. In total I recorded 27 species from December to February. 

Female siskin

Ditto

Blackcap (M)

Blackcap(F)

Maximum count of these guys was 12

I have not walked the coastal path since my return from England due to falling in snow in Bolton and cracking a rib. Not recommended if you have never done it. The doctor says I should listen to my body and my body told me not to be daft and act my age!! I can sit in a hide and drink coffee but walking is still a bit painful. Hopefully I'll manage short walks in a week or two. 

The upshot of this enforced inactivity is that the North Down patch has not moved much, neither has the 2022 list, so it is all down to WOW for a bit of excitement. Water levels remain high as it has been a bit wet and it is too risky to lower it and risk it drying out - I'm glad I don't have to make the decisions. This week we had all sorts of excitement with a goldeneye showing well. They winter in the Lough but no one can remember ever seeing one in the reserve. There were also 2 ruff, 2 little grebes and a wide selection of ducks, waders and gulls, including a stonking Mediterranean gull throwing it's weight around the islands and threatening the 558 black-headed gulls which are in to nest. I managed 37 species with no feeders up for tits and finches. Two greylag at Kinnegar were also an addition to the list. We also had a monster ship sailing out. This Russian owned tanker was in for repair and was causing questions to be asked as to whether it was allowed to be here. Today it cut short the debate by sailing out. 

Goldeneye

Large boat

Yes the wee boat is a Stena ferry

Med preening

Med posing

Lord of all I survey

2022

111: Black grouse

112: Mediterranean gull

North Down 
49: Wren

Belfast RSPB
59: Pintail

60: Greylag goose

61: Ruff

62: Mediterranean gull