Winter hangs on

Despite the date of late March winter is still with us as we have had a bit of snow and cold temperatures for Northern Ireland in March. The patch lists are ticking over with a few winter birds still around and some residents which have been missed so far. The local patch added a flyover raven and an offshore guillemot - both expected on the patch  at some stage in the year. WOW keeps turning up a few species which I hadn't managed so far - grey wagtail, little egret, kingfisher, pintail and the first genuine migrant in the shape of a Mediterranean gull. There are now six knocking around so we hope that breeding will occur again this year. There are still winter ducks and waders but they will gradually move on as the black-headed gulls move in to nest. We had around 600+ gulls this week starting the mating/nesting rituals and staking their claim on the two islands. We are rapidly reaching the stage of trying to see what is NOT a black-headed gull. One of the Mediterranean gulls was ringed and it turned out to be a Dutch bird ringed in 2015. It was seen twice in England in 2015 and earlier this year in Munster and it suddenly pops up in WOW and is looking like it might stay and breed. We have also had re-sightings of three black-tailed-godwits ringed at WOW two years ago. We were all terribly excited!!

First Med gull spotted on March  9th

Dutch Med gull

With a friend

There were of course a wide variety of other birds present. so here is a selection. 

Grey wagtail

Teal

Coot

Godwit

Elsewhere I had a trip up to Lough Neagh and finally connected with the male smew at Gawley's Gate. I trust you are not expecting a stunning photograph. It was a long way away and I have attached a "record shot" which is a photographers way of saying, "Here is a rubbish shot of a bird to prove that I saw it" 

There is a small white dot below the second post, that is the smew.

A very pixelated zoom shot of said smew. 

As usual there are better shots on NI birds when it was a lot closer to the shore. In my defence it drifts offshore if there are swimmers around, and there were! We popped down to Reedy Flats and connected with the greylag geese flock which also had 6 Greenland white-fronted geese and two barnacles. No need to go to Islay then. (Spoiler alert!!)

Twite (Ivor Greer)

A trip to Bushmills added kittiwake and glaucous gull along the coastal path between Portrush and Portstewart to the year list and a nice view of a twite at Magheracross viewpoint. Ivor thought it was worth a phone shot through the windscreen, I told him he was wasting his time, but he wasn't!! 

I also felt obliged to visit the Ward Park waxwings which have been around for over a month, not a tick of any description - just a lovely bird or three. 

2023

118: Nuthatch

119: Smew

120: Greenland white-fronted goose

121: Barnacle goose

122: Mediterranean gull

123: Kittiwake

124: Glaucous gull

NDCP

54: Raven

55: Guillemot

WOW

65: Grey wagtail

66: Pintail

67: Kingfisher

68: Little egret

69: Mediterranean gull

Irish garden bird survey

Discrete post to update the Irish bird survey which runs for 13 weeks from December and finished last week. It's not as intensive as you think as you simply note the maximum number of each species observed in the garden in each week.  I usually give it a 30 minute blast early in the week and then every time I am in range I have a look to see if I can add a new bird or update a total. The main differences from last year were as follows:

1. Goldfinch numbers were well down, this year I never had more than 4
2. Linnets vanished after the first two weeks. Last year they were there every week. 
3. Bullfinch, siskin, redpoll and bullfinch were completely absent.
4. I had a song thrush in and out this year. 
5. Two hooded crows were regular visitors.
6. Five house sparrows dropped in once. 
7. Certainly 3 blackcaps - a male and 2 females on one occasion. 

The regular visitors (maximum in brackets) were as follows - Blackbird (9), magpie (2), woodpigeon (5), starlings (8), chaffinch (4), dunnock (3), robin (2), jackdaws (5), rooks (2). I also had all four tit species, a jay, a sparrowhawk, a redwing, a fieldfare, a wren, a goldcrest and one morning walked in and saw a heron standing by the pond looking for frogs no doubt.

I actually quite like doing this exercise as there is always something to look for when you glance down the garden or sit with a coffee to see what is happening.  I have attached a few pictures to brighten the blog up, some old and some new. This week we returned form England to a sea of yellow as the daffodils and tete-e-tete are all in bloom and we still have crocuses and snowdrops. 

Camelia

Past their best snowdrops

Crocuses and tete-a-tete

Tete-a-tete crocuses and daffodils

"Christmas" rhododendron

Blackbird and crocus

Blackcap

Goldfinch

Song thrush

Hooded crow

Chaffinch

Dunnock

A trip to England

Essential child care gave the opportunity for a long weekend in Northumberland and our now traditional dawn to dusk birdathon. Then on via the scenic route to Bolton and we were able to squeeze a bit of birding in between playgrounds, Burger king and Minecraft.

Red kites over the road at Gatehouse of Fleet was a good start on the way across. A trip to St Mary's Island at high tide gave purple sandpiper, grey plover and sanderling. Saturday dawned bright and sunny but the forecast rain and cloud arrived around 11.00 and made for a damp cold finish to the day. With my pal David - he of the good camera and the rustic bunting in his garden - we followed our traditional route starting at Linton Lane and going via QE2 Country Park to Woodhorn, Lynemouth, Snab Point, Cresswell and Cresswell Pond. Linton Lane had two marsh harriers and very good views of grey partridge sitting under a hedge. We usually see them disappearing quickly into cover. The highlight at Cresswell  was an early avocet. Apparently they usually arrive late March. We have never seen one on our February visits before.  We also had a good selection of ducks and waders including 2 ruff and 6 snipe out in the open as well as large flocks of pink-footed geese.  We then went via Widdrington (red-legged partridge) to the Druridge Bay Country Park for lunch (and bird feeders) before checking the sea for red-throated divers and common scoter. Then north to Hadston Scarrs, Hauxley and Amble. We spent 15/20 minutes ambling round Amble harbour as we realised we had not yet seen a pied wagtail. In rain and gathering gloom we gave up, walked back to the car and there was a pied wagtail on the footpath beside the car!! Other highlights included at least 6 albino pheasants, in fact there were pheasants everywhere. We reckoned they must have all been newly released. I also added a kestrel to the year list - it is at least 6 months since I saw one at home as well as Canada goose which always needs a trip to England. We ended up with 70 species which is what we hope for before we set out. Bearing in mind the deteriorating weather we were happy enough. All in all a good day with cracking views, good birds and good company. 

The attached photographs are mainly David's, I have noted the ones I took in case it isn't patently obvious. I ended up phone scoping the waxwing as I omitted to lift the camera - apologies for the dodgy shots. 

St Mary's Island (Derek)

Pink-footed geese

Cresswell Pond

Mixed waders

Avocet

Snipe

Lapwing (Derek)

Derek's snipe!

Derek's avocet, dunlin & curlew

Grey partridge

Long-tailed tit

The scenic route to Bolton goes via Langdon Beck and a black grouse lekking area so it became 115 for the year. Bolton added nuthatch on the feeder, tawny owl calling around the house and a single waxwing 5 minutes from the house. Known locally as the Bolton one (or Bolton Wanderer) it has been around for about 10 days and has two berried trees all to itself in a housing estate so it might be around for a while. I took the grand-children to see it and they were mildly impressed by its cool Mohican.

The new dormer gives a good view of the garden and the feeders. I have tried several times to put a wee arrow to show where the feeders are but Blogger has defeated me. If any readers know how to do this please let me know.  The feeders are hanging above the wee green bush just to the left of the poplar tree at the end of the fence. The nuthatch uses the tree to approach the feeders and I have seen woodpecker, jay and treecreeper on the tree as well. This time I managed a few shots of birds at the feeder. The tawnies call from the wood behind, heard but never seen. 

Overview

Collared dove at the niger feeder

Magpie

A very fast nuthatch flying right!!

Great tit

A few Bolton wanderer shots to close and then it is back to WOW and the coastal path for 6 weeks.

2023

102: Wren - should have been added on January 17th!

103: Red kite

104: Grey plover

105: Sanderling

106: Pink-footed goose

107: Canada goose

108: Marsh harrier

109: Kestrel

110: Red-legged partridge

111: Grey partridge

112: Pheasant

113: Avocet

114: Ruff

115: Black grouse

116: Waxwing

117: Tawny owl

118: Nuthatch

NDCP

53: Grey heron

WOW

64: Cormorant

Half term report

Off to England next week so decided to do an update of the two patches before I go. 

WOW has been ticking over steadily and this was the first week I did not find a new species for the year.  I finally got a cormorant and am still missing starling! This year we are getting lots of snipe with a high count of 36. There have also been up to 200 lapwing. The reserve has settled into a late winter pattern and in a couple of weeks we will see the black-headed gulls staking their claim to nest sites. We already have a bit of birdsong and the shelduck are displaying - spring is rolling in. Here's a few photos.

Shelduck with feeding buzzard behind

Snipe

Curlew with snipe up behind

Coot and moorhen id challenge

Mallard

Shoveler

Teal

The North Down patch has seen a few expected species finally on the list - heron, goldcrest, mallard, grey wagtail, house sparrow and finally a jay. I didn't see one last year and one popped into the garden briefly last week. The Irish garden bird survey is nearing its end so that means winter is almost over. I'll post a summary next time but here's a few pictures to be going on with.

Blackcap(M)

Blackcap (F)

Blackbird, there have been as many as nine.

Elsewhere we have had a few grand days out which usually involve a drive, picnic or lunch, nice walk, coffee and home via a takeaway meal. These are often themed round available birds and recently have included Newcastle (common scoter, black redstart, great northern diver), Randalstown (goosander, treecreeper) and Reedy Flats in County Armagh (golden plover, hen harrier).  

Phone shot of a goosander on the River Maine

Hopefully we will get a few goodies in Northumberland and Lancashire and Richard's garden might turn up a woodpecker and a nuthatch.  Watch this space.

2023

92: Razorbill
93: Peregrine
94: Common scoter
95:Black redstart
96: Great northern diver
97: Jay
98: Golden plover
99: Hen harrier
100: Goosander
101: Treecreeper

NDCP

46: Razorbill

47: Goldcrest

48: Sparrowhawk

49: House sparrow

50: Mallard

51: Jay

52: Grey wagtail

53: Grey heron

WOW

60: Red-breasted merganser

61: Great-crested grebe

62: Black guillemot

63: Peregrine

64: Cormorant