Late December at Castlerock 2019

I've just noticed I didn't post this one - here it 10 months later

With a dodgy forecast mid-morning on the 7th and nobody else keen to head out, I opted to go for a shorter early morning session to try and catch some more Snipe and the Jack Snipe that keep have eluded me thus far. I set up a six net 'V' in the corner of the marsh before first light and waited for the Snipe to return from their nocturnal foraging in the fields. While I was there I stuck up a wader net along the shore hoping that some of the Sanderling might bundle in under darkness.  

Kingfisher

The wader net was a waste of time with a big falling tide, the net was soon well away from the waters edge and didn't come close to catching anything. I did come close to catching a few Snipe on the shore with my torch but without a landing net, it was tough - one bird I had managed to get down on one knee beside it but it flew off when my hand was within 30cm.

Sparrowhawk

The catch of Snipe was poor with just a single bird and a Reed Bunting. When walking through the marsh it was clear that there certainly weren't any great numbers around with just 6/7. I've counted up to 69 Common Snipe and 5 Jack Snipe in this marsh so hopefully numbers will climb as the winter goes on.

Snipe

The weather held up and was actually quite nice all morning so I left the nets a little longer to see if anything else was around. On approach to the net I noticed a dart of blue and a bird of prey in pursuit on the inside of the 'V'. The Kingfisher veered left and was caught while the female Sparrowhawk continued to where she bounced out of one net and into the other at the tip of the 'V'. I was able to run and catch her before she slipped out of this one too. Not your regular duo to be caught in a net!

The Snipe marsh

The feeding station amongst the scrub at Castlerock has really been bringing in the birds with counts of over 100 birds present on different occasions with flocks of up to 55+ Greenfinch, dozens of Goldfinches, dozens of Linnets and a few other visitors. Chaffinch numbers still remain very low with just two or three individuals and the Fieldfare are still absent with just two present on the last visit.

The feeding station

On the 15th with yet another dodgy forecast, I waited until the rain finished around 8am before I headed over to the site. The weather was then very sunny and bright but still chilly. The catch was very slow with only a handful of birds in the 3 nets over the first couple of hours. The bright sun then moved around the horizon and the nets were finally shaded and birds began to enter the nets around the feeders. I was short on time so had to pack up but the birds were very active and a big catch was on the cards if I had kept the nets open. In the end I caught 29 new birds and 2 retraps, including 22 Greenfinch.

Castlerock Golf Club -  7th December - 15th December 2019

                         New      Retrap

Blackbird           1

Blue Tit             

Bullfinch            2        

Chaffinch          1

Dunnock           

Goldfinch          3             1

Greenfinch       22

Kingfisher         1

Linnet               

Reed Bunting    1

Robin                 

Snipe                 1     

Song Thrush      

Sparrowhawk    1

Wren                                1

Total                                         

The Greenfinch numbers are very pleasing and the catch of 22 on the 15th marks our largest ever single day catch. By the looks of it on social media, the Greenfinch has had a bumper year across the UK after decades of decline - fingers crossed.

Greenfinch

Early Spring

We kicked off the spring ringing along the Lower Bann on the 6th of April at Portstewart Strand with a focus on the gorse scrub and a couple of short nets in the remaining Sea Buckthorn/Elder scrub.

Stonechat

The catch wasn't a big one with 13 new birds and 7 retraps with the best bird being a retrap Bullfinch from May 2015.

                            New     Retrap
Blackbird               1
Bullfinch                              1
Chaffinch               1            1
Dunnock                              1
Linnet                    5
Meadow Pipit        4
Reed Bunting                       1
Stonechat               1            1
Wren                      1            2

Total                     13            7
   

Reed Bunting

The following weekend the weather was very windy yet again so I decided to dust off the spring traps and visit Ballintoy Harbour and see if I could retrap some of my Rock Pipits. I had passed by in recent weeks and only noticed 1-2 ringed birds amongst the 50+ present, although this number was declining.

Ballintoy Harbour is a great spot with lots of small rocky islands, bays, basalt cliffs just behind and usually has big piles of seaweed on the shore which are great for shoreline birds. The site is also used as a film location for Game of Thrones as Pyke, on the Iron Islands.

Wheatear

I arrived early doors but didn't have much luck in the first 45 minutes with just four Rock Pipits knocking around the spot I had chosen and a Pied Wagtail that constantly walked back and forth over the traps. A Wheatear then swooped in and was caught within 2 minutes.
It didn't take long then to add a second bird with a Rock Pipit taking a fancy to a meal worm. I left shortly after with my fingers frozen in the biting north wind and the first lot of tourists arriving.

Rock Pipit

We've also been back out on a couple of spots on the local rivers with a trainee from the Belfast & Down Ringing Group, who happens to live locally, to target some of the river species. We had a bit of luck with the capture of a Kingfisher and a couple of retrap Dippers

Kingfisher (JC)

Dipper (JC)

I came across this drake Mallard which had been knocked down on a nearby road during our time on the river. Unfortunate but he was a proper stunner.

Mallard (RD)

With my two heronries in the Bann Estuary now classified as extinct it leaves me with just the one to check for the UK wide BTO survey, which is located near the Donnybrewer Levels close to City of Derry Airport. The colony has moved from a mature Scots Pine plantation (following 95% harvesting) into the adjoining Sitka Spruce plantation which is probably 22-23 years old (I remember the mature forest being just a field which makes me feel old at the age of 30).
Some more trees have blown down beside where the herons nest so a few nests may have been lost as I could only locate 9 nests this year. I also found three dead young chicks which is more than usual - it has been a very windy early breeding season. I would estimate I found at least 29 egg shells under the nests (2,3,3,3,4,4,5,3,2) but I presume that not all shells will be removed from nest or make it to the forest floor.

Dead Grey Heron chick

Grey Heron eggs

The heron colony is in a very dense conifer plantation which is very hard to move through and see up to the tree tops - a good strong stick for whacking branches and spider webs is essential!

The dense conifer plantation is full of Woodpigeons and I noticed a number of hatched eggs under their flimsy stick nests but also came across the unhatched egg.

Woodpigeon egg

River Tripple Crown

With the persistent weekend winds keeping the nets down at the Bann Estuary I decided to try a little river ringing. In recent years we have kept much of the river ringing for training purposes plus the continuation of Ken's study of the Irish Dipper.

I headed over to the River Rhee on Saturday the 23rd of March which is our regular hotspot for Dipper, Grey Wagtail and Kingfisher where we have caught a number of the years.

Dipper

I had an instant capture of a retrap Dipper which I had originally ringed on the 26th of March 2016 before another bird bounced out of the net twice- I  keep the bottom shelf quite tight to ensure the bag of the net doesn't droop into the water with the weight of a bird but at the same not too high to allow the birds to fly under easily.

Kingfishers (female top - male bottom)

Next up was a pair of Kingfishers in the net, again one slipped out but the male came back down and was captured on the second pass.

Grey Wagtail

A always find Grey Wagtails the most difficult to capture and today was no different as they always notice the net - flying over, around, walking under it and evading capture. I got lucky with one towards the end of the session but it's partner wouldn't join it.

Wood Anemone

Early July

Since the last update we have been ticking along with the various projects and had particular success with the Sand Martin ringing at Grangemore.  As mentioned in the previous post the Irish Open Golf Tournament was being held at our main ringing site so we had to steer clear for a few weeks as they turned it into a mini city and hosted over 92,000 people.

Two weekends ago we did visit 2 to Grangemore in perfect conditions and caught another 145 new Sand Martins, retrapping 19 from visit 1 and the previous year.  The productivity of the colony looks to be fantastic this year and we ringed 91 juveniles amongst the catch.

The following evening I did a quick visit to Macfin for the first time this year.  My main interest here was to catch a number of retrap Sand Martins from previous years, so I was pleased to get 12 out of a catch of 33 birds.  Two of these were adults from 2014, one of which was recovered in Anglesey, Wales in the autumn of 2014 and now has been retrapped by us again in 2016 and 2017. 

Elsewhere around the estuary in the past week I did net restricted visits at Portstewart Strand and Grangemore.  The PSS catch was very disappointing and no warblers were caught when two days previous there had been Willow Warblers everywhere.  I heard only two through the morning so perhaps the first wave have moved south - I know the first trickle have started to pass through the coastal bird observatories of the UK. 

Juvenile Lesser Redpoll

The Grangemore visit was targeting Sedge Warblers so I had placed 3 nets across the main ditch that splits the marsh.  The catch of 13 Sedge Warblers were very good considering the minimal amount of habitat covered and it was good to see lots of fresh juveniles (adult pictured below).  That takes us to 20 for the year at the site so far with probably more to come over the next six weeks. 

Sedge Warbler

Portstewart Strand/Grangemore                            
                                New       Retrap    

Blackbird                 1            
Dunnock                  1               1            
Great Tit                  1
Lesser Redpoll        2                                      
Linnet                      2           
Meadow Pipit          2    
Reed Bunting          1      
Robin                       
Sedge Warbler       16                         
                                  

Totals                      26               1                    

Back on the 5th we had out first attempt at Storm Petrel ringing for the year.  The conditions weren't quite what we has expected and we got rained off after an hour but we did catch the first Stormie of the year plus a BTO control. 

 

Storm Petrel

 

The control ring sequence looked familiar to birds we have trapped before so a quick message to the Calf of Man Bird Observatory confirmed that it was one of their birds ringed on the 13th of August last year.  This is the seventh bird we have traded with the CoM, four of theirs to us and three back the other way.

The forecast looks decent for early next week so we hope to get back out and catch a few more.


We have had two short spells back out on the rivers with a couple of C permit holders who were seeking to get some experience ringing over rivers and to handle some new species.  We had a decent total catch of 3 Kingfishers, 2 Dippers (1 a retrap) and a Grey Wagtail.
 

Kingfisher

John and Ken did a bit of ringing around the university last week with a catch of around 30 birds.  The catch was made up mostly of tits but did include some quality with Blackcap, Willow Warbler and a retrap Sedge Warbler from last year.


We would also like to take the opportunity to thank the National Museums Northern Ireland (NMNI) and specifically the Centre for Environmental Data and Recording (CEDaR) who have kindly given us funding of £756 from the Environmental Recorders Group Fund.  With this money we have been able to purchase some new nets, poles and rings which will greatly help with our various projects!

NMNI Website - https://nmni.com/home.aspx
CEDaR - https://nmni.com/cedar


We are heading down to the west shore of Lough Neagh tomorrow morning to do a bit of reedbed ringing in the hopes of catching a few Acro warblers.  We are probably some 30 miles north of the northern range of breeding Reed Warblers in Ireland so they are a species we never catch but should be on the cards tomorrow.  I'll possibly update on that soon but no doubt it will take me a few weeks to a month on current form! 

Dark-green Fritillary - nice feature of our Bann Estuary ringing sites in July

May/June Ringing Update

Sand Martin season is back upon us and the first visit to Grangemore has kicked things off in style.  Pre-holiday I had noticed a number of new burrows on the main sand bank, a new colony of around 15 pairs on the golf course at Portstewart Strand across the river where they were excavating sand and 3/4 pairs had recolonized the sand banks at the Barmouth, so numbers in the estuary were looking up.
On arrival last Wednesday there were over 70 birds perched along the fences above the bank with many juveniles amongst them and a further 50 flying around the site.  David and I quickly got the nets up in front of the burrows and immediately caught a dozen birds flying out.  The conditions were actually very breezy but the bank was perfectly sheltered on the outer bend of the smaller Articlave River.

Over the next hour or so we caught an impressive total of 135 new birds and 12 retraps.  Given the quantity of birds we were not recording biometrics and simply ringing, ageing, sexing and release.  The totals were 61 males, 48 females, 35 juveniles and three were unsexed adults.  This total is greater than the three visits last year combined so it could be a very big year.  I did count the number of likely active burrows but I don't have a notion what that was now - maybe c85-100!  The retraps were mostly from the colony from the previous year but one was one of the birds that has moved from our other colony 12.6km away which we caught here last July.  Another was the single bird I had caught in the reedbed close by a few weeks ago.  The first visit to Macfin is due very soon and any trainees are welcome to come along (c150 pair colony).

Juvenile Sand Martin

Following the visit to the Sand Martin colony we still had a few hours to spare before lunch so we decided to do some river ringing, which was a first for David.  We opted for one of the better spots where we regularly catch both Dippers and Kingfishers and the odd Grey Wagtail.

With the 6m net up across the river it wasn't long before a female Kingfisher came up river at full speed but unfortunately managed to flip out of the net within 5 seconds.  We had to wait another 10-15 minutes before some Dippers appeared down river and one duly flew in the net but the other thought better of it.  The male Kingfisher was being very vocal just up river for 10 minutes before it to dropped into the net. 
A decent morning and some great experience for David handling 2 new species and 149 birds!

Kingfisher

Back on the 19th of May I spent a morning checking the 75 nest boxes in the wood in the Glens of Antrim (after a quick look a few weeks previous) and things have improved after the initial year of the scheme in 2016.  This year there were 17 active nests with 9 Blue Tit, 7 Great Tit and a single Coal Tit nest.  The nests were at very different stages with some of the Blue Tits on eggs and the early Coal Tits had already fledged some young.  I didn't ring all the chicks as some were too large and ready to burst or too small.

Healthy Blue Tit brood ready to fly the nest

When I entered the wood I had picked up the distant utterings of a Wood Warbler so I spent 10 minutes following the trail and tracked down the smart displaying male.  This was a first for me and a very uncommon bird in Northern Ireland with no breeding records for the past few years, only 2-3 sightings in that period and probably the only pair in Northern Ireland (a female was located a few weeks later).

The Great Spotted Woodpecker is continuing its charge across Ireland and reached the Glens of Antrim last year.  The study wood is ideal habitat with large old trees and some dead standing trees and has had a female for over a year.  There were quite a few vocal calls (chiuck chiuck (kind of)) but I didn't have a chance to track them down.  I had given another birder the heads up about the Wood Warblers and he managed to find a GSW nest with two chicks, so brilliant news for the wood!  I did pay a visit on my return from holidays but the chicks appear to have fledged.  I'm not sure how the male has been so evasive as I'm not aware of any sightings.  When there, I also checked half the boxes and all occupied nests fledged their young bar one which still contained a brood of Blue Tits which were suitable for ringing.  


Last year a pair of Tree Sparrows took up residence in a nestbox at Grangemore but unfortunately failed at the egg stage.  This year things had improved and we had two active nests, one with three eggs and another with two.  I had left the follow up visit for a little longer than I hoped and found that the nest with 3 eggs had fledged and the other nest had a well developed chick and a cold egg.  There are around a dozen boxes scattered around the abandoned small farm so hopefully the box uptake will continue to improve.  I have checked to see if they will attempt a second brood but seemingly not.


We have made two visits to Portstewart Strand in the past 6 weeks and although things have been relatively quiet the first wave of juveniles are flitting between the bushes.  I hope to visit again this coming weekend as we will be kept off site for the following two weeks as Portstewart Golf Club are hosting the 2017 Irish Open which is going to be massive with tens of thousands of spectators!  Himalayan Balsam has started to take root at the site so I spent half an hour trying to remove all the plants before they seed.  I pulled 529 plants, some a few inches high and am hoping that I got the lot but the river will continue to deposit more seeds given that it drains almost two thirds of Northern Ireland.

529 Himalayan Balsam plants

Portstewart Strand 26/05-17/06/2017                           
                                New       Retrap    

Blackbird                 1            
Dunnock                  4                2
Chaffinch                 1                                         
Linnet                      11              
Meadow Pipit           1              
Robin                       2
Song Thrush            2
Stonechat                 1                        
Willow Warbler        3              
Wren                        2               1

Totals                      28             3                    

Juvenile Robin

When I was away John paid a visit to the River site at the University and caught around 20 birds which included five adult Blackcaps and half a dozen juvenile Blackbirds.  He has also been hunting out bird of prey nest sites but again the Long-eared Owls have beaten us to it with a few juveniles perched amongst the trees.

Long-eared Owl chicks   (copyright of John Clarke)

Reed bed tester

Kingfisher

Unfortunately the planned ringing on the north shore of Lough Neagh was cancelled today, so rather than waste a public holiday with decent weather, I tested out a new(ish) site.  I had been looking forward to the trip to Lough Neagh to catch good numbers of Sedge Warblers (of which we generally catch few), plus to get to grips with Reed Warblers, which is a bird I've yet to see in the hand.  Reed Warblers are still relatively scarce in Northern Ireland and Lough Neagh is probably at the northern end of their range in Ireland. 
Well, with Acro's in mind I thought I would test out a few new spots in the Bann Estuary that I have been eyeing up for quite a while, particularly for Sedge Warblers.  The habitat in the marsh at Grangemore (where we also have a Sand Martin colony) is fantastic and is a network of wet meadow, flooded channels, small reed beds, a tidal stream, patches of brambles, surrounded by some of the oldest dated sand dunes in Ireland.  I arrived around 06.30 and was greeted with the sound of two reeling Grasshopper Warblers, a flock of 60+ Linnet, half a dozen Sedge Warblers, 10+ Stonechats and a single Whitethroat.

For the keen eyed you will notice two nets in the two strips of reeds below and blog regulars will recognise the main areas of scrub at our Portstewart Strand ringing site across the river.



I put up one 18 and one 12 metre net in the small patches of reeds above and a further 40 metres in a larger patch of reeds by the edge of the stream. 

Sedge Warblers were the dominant feature of the morning with the first 10 birds being of this species.  The 40m net produced the best round with 2 Sedge Warbler, 1 Stonechat, 1 Reed Bunting and a Kingfisher, which flew in as I was extracting a bird below.  The total of 12 new Sedge Warblers was really pleasing and probably close to the number I have caught in the past 3/4 years.  It got even better as I caught a control Sedge Warbler with a BTO ring meaning it will have been ringed elsewhere in Britain or Ireland.  The Kingfisher was also a nice surprise as the reeds were on dry ground, plus it is the first I have seen/heard in the patch this year!   

  Grangemore 12/07/2016                                 

                                   New       Controls          
             
Kingfisher                   1

Reed Bunting              2

Sedge Warbler           12              1         

Stonechat                    1

Wren                            1               

                   

Total                           17               1             

Sedge Warbler (British control - Adult female)

The site certainly has great potential and I would suggest I caught only a fraction of the Sedge Warblers on site, not to mention the countless others that may pass through from other areas of the estuary.  We will hopefully squeeze in another visit or two before the warblers head back south. 

Stonechat (Juvenile)

Sedge Warbler (Adult male)

Sedge Warbler (Juvenile)

Portstewart Strand 30/07/2015 - Kingfishers - Goldfinch Control Details

This morning I arrived on site at 06.45 in fair conditions.  It started overcast, with winds around 5mph from the NW and it was 11°C.  The cloud broke and it heated up through the morning, with temperatures hitting 18°C on departure at 12.00, in full sunshine.  I did get caught out with one short shower but it didn't last long.  I operated the Gorse nets and East Ride. 

A juvenile Lesser Redpoll minus the red

In terms of singing birds it seemed to be quiet but there were more fledglings chirping in the scrub.  The usual flocks of Lesser Redpoll, Linnet and Starlings were flying about to and fro, with a few Goldfinches also.  The Sedge Warblers seem to have finished breeding and are now starting to move around the site.  Again the flies were a real problem with hundreds of house flies following me about.  I'm not sure how I stick it out as they really drive me mad. 
Todays entertainment came in the form of a Red Fox trying to catch roosting gulls and waders on the far side of the estuary.  It came very close to 3 Lapwing (the first since Spring) but for the next hour or two, it had little success.  It was the standard butterfly selection on offer plus some Cinnabar moths added to the mix.  The Orchids are mostly finished now, but the Sea Aster is in full flower along the estuary shore and the blackberries are nearly here.  

The Belgian Sedge Warbler

The catch was steady through the morning with the gorse nets taking the majority of the birds, which has become the norm.  The best bird of the morning goes to the control Sedge Warbler bearing a Belgian ring.  This is my first foreign control and the second non-local control for the ringing site.  I had a little trouble reading the writing on the ring but I was confident I could read Brussels/Bruxelles.  Hopefully the number of Warblers will increase over the next month as the locals start to move about and the passage migrants stop over.  


Ringing Totals 30/07/2015

                                        New        Retrap        Control         

Blackbird                                            1

Blackcap                            2 

Bullfinch                             1              1

Dunnock                            3              3              

Lesser Redpoll                   5     

Linnet                                 5

Meadow Pipit                     2

Reed Bunting                     1

Sedge Warbler                   2                                 1                

Willow Warbler                  2                                                    

Wren                                  2

 

Total                                25                5               1 

 

 

 

Kingfishers

 

Yesterday (29/07/2015) I met up with Ken and Nick who were doing a bit of river ringing on the River Rhee near Macosquin.  After all the heavy rain, the rivers and streams were high and quite discoloured.    The target species were Dipper, Grey Wagtail and Kingfishers and it was a Dipper that appeared first but it bounced from the net.  The next bird stuck and it was a female Kingfisher, which was a first for Nick.

We then moved up river to another location and again caught one Kingfisher; this time a brilliantly blue male.  It's not often that Kingfisher is the only species caught, with Dipper being much more common. 

 

Kingfisher (female)

 

I often find that the river species move about in high water to find food.  In general the Dippers were absent and I presume they move upstream to find shallower water in which to feed.  We didn't see any Grey Wagtails, which seem to find their way to ponds, puddles and other standing water.  The Kingfishers on the other hand seem to move off the main over-deep rivers and come into the smaller rivers and streams, which helped us today. 

 

Kingfisher (male)

 

 

I have also received information from the BTO about a Goldfinch that I controlled in the garden back on the 3rd of March 2015.  The bird had been ringed at the Calf of Man Bird Observatory, on the Isle of Man, on the 16th of April 2014.  The distance moved is 164 km, 321 days apart.  Of the three Goldfinches controlled in my garden, this is the second from the Calf of Man BO.

 

 

 

The conditions look favourable tonight for a Storm Petrel session and we should be in peak season for birds passing the shore at Rinnagree Point.

  The guys in Donegal did persevere into Sunday and attempted to ring at Malin Beg and were rewarding with another Leach's Petrel, although only another 18 Storm Petrels.