Return to Lough Neagh - 2019

After the great success of our Lough Neagh ringing site in recent years we were very keen to get back on the shore and open the nets. Making best use of the bank holiday weekend and a good weather, we decided to go for the first visit on Saturday 13th of July. John and I were short on helpers and lost three people the day before but we were joined by two fairly new trainees in Abbie and Rich K.

Sedge Warbler

In the last few years, the first rush of birds is usually underway as we are setting the nets, so we decided that an earlier start was needed. We set off form Coleraine at 04.30am, arriving at the parking area around 05.30am, on site 30 mins later after the walk in with the gear and then a further 30 minutes to get the 7 nets (run of 4 & 2) opened.

The catch was another busy one with 119 new birds including another 76 new Sedge Warblers, 10 more Reed Warblers and our first two Grasshopper Warblers for the site.

                                      New         Retrap
Blackcap                          3
Grasshopper Warbler      2
Reed Bunting                  7                1
Reed Warbler                 10
Robin                              1
Sedge Warbler               76               1
Willow Warbler            19
Wren                               1

Total                              119              2     

                                                                         Reed Bunting

Visit two took place a few weeks later on the 27th of July. We had planned for this morning with a team of 11 assembled but the weather changed & we had to bring it a day forward, leaving it with just myself, Steve, Abbie and also Joe, who had travelled all the way from Donegal.

As usual with the site, the onslaught of birds began at once and two nets were closed early and further two furled temporarily. The birds die off completely by 10 am.

The result was a big haul of 220 new birds which included 20 Reed Warblers, surely an Irish daily record. The 167 Sedge Warblers ought to be up there for a record catch also.

            

                                       New         Retrap
Blackcap                          15
Chiffchaff                         2
Dunnock                          3
Grasshopper Warbler      1
Reed Bunting                  3
Reed Warbler                 20
Robin                              4
Sedge Warbler              167              
Willow Warbler            19
Wren                               1

Total                              119                  

We didn't catch any retraps and given that we have previously ringed 782 birds in 6 visits here, the birds are clearly moving through the site

Yet again we managed just the three visits despite all our hopes and talk! Visit three took place on the 25th of August where we had a good team assembled with John, Ken, Jim Mc, Abbie, Rich K, James O and Nathan giving us a team of eight. With extra hands we increased the nets and covered four net sites with nine nets. It was a bright hot day which seemed to effect the birds. It was the first time at Blackers Rock that we haven't had a big movement of birds early doors and instead there was a steady trickle right through, until we took down the nets. There were much fewer birds seen and heard but there were still lots skulking amongst the reeds. We were only really catching birds in the shaded parts of the nets, often just a few feet on some.
It was another healthy catch of 154 new birds, a BTO control Sedge Warbler and a single retrap Blackcap, although we would have liked 300+!

                                       New         Retrap
Blackcap                          6                1
Blue Tit                        7
Chiffchaff                        3
Goldcrest                         1
Grasshopper Warbler      1
Reed Bunting                  12
Reed Warbler                 25
Robin                              7
Sedge Warbler              80
Swallow                         3              
Willow Warbler            11
Wren                              2

Total                              154                  

I've totted up the totals and put them in the table below. It was somewhat similar to last year in that the middle visit (27th July) produced the biggest numbers with more Sedge Warblers and the final visit (25th August) produced the greatest species diversity. 491 new birds compared to 2018's 464.

Sedge Warbler - 323 (1 BTO control, 1 retrap)

Reed Warbler - 55

Willow Warbler - 34

Blackcap - 24 (1 retrap)

Reed Bunting - 22 (1 retrap)

Blue Tit - 7

Robin - 6

Chiffchaff - 5

Grasshopper Warbler - 4

Wren - 4

Swallow - 3

Dunnock -3

Goldcrest -1

Total - 491 new birds

Although we had a great team of 8 for visit three, the first two visits (visit 1 - 13th July) were limited by only having four people present, particularly on visit 2 with two trainees, a C and A dealing with 220 birds which could have been much more. Weather was again difficult and there was a full month between the 2nd and 3rd visits and it twice put off plans of ringing on two consecutive days.

Reed Warbler numbers again peaked at the end of August, maybe they are even better in early September? The catches on the 27th July and 25th August were each record daily catches for Northern Ireland, probably Ireland also. The guys at Traad Point at the north of the Lough have caught 58 Reed Warblers throughout the c10 CES visits so a bumper year for Reed Warbler in the north.

Willow Warbler numbers were almost double this year while Reed Bunting numbers were quite a bit lower after the exceptional catch of 53 new birds on the 11th of August last year. Sedge numbers seemed like they might be a little lower this year after visit one but we caught a record catch of 167 on the 2nd visit, 70 more than our next best days catch.

Just the one control in the form of a Sedge Warbler bearing a BTO ring - it hadn't travelled far, having been ringed at Traad Point CES 10 miles up the shore but pleasing all the same as its our first exchange of birds.

No doubt we will get anther 2-3+ recoveries of birds heading south or on the way back north next spring. We only caught two inter-year retraps and one same year retrap, so we are still missing much of the local breeding population.

Bigger and better next year! (if the Irish weekend weather allows it).

Acro Warblers on Lough Neagh 2018

After our exploratory visits to our new site on the west shore of Lough Neagh in 2017 we were full of anticipation to get back in amongst the reeds this summer.

In 2017 we made two visits to the site producing 197 birds with 30 Reed Warblers, 121 Sedge Warblers, 17 Blackcaps, 10 Willow Warbler, 1 Sparrowhawk 2 Chiffchaff, 1 Wren, 2 Blue Tit and 6 Reed Buntings (which seems rather strange after 2018).

To refresh your minds on last years visits, please follow the links below:

https://causewaycoastrg.blogspot.com/2017/09/end-of-summer-update.html

https://causewaycoastrg.blogspot.com/2017/07/acros-galore.html

Reed Warbler

The total of 30 Reed Warblers was massive in an Irish and Northern Irish context given that the average catch of the species in NI between 2007-2016 was 3 birds per year and that there hadn't been more than 4 Reed Warblers caught in one year in the initial nine years before 17 in 2016. In the south they have averaged around 25 birds per year for the past 10 years. Certainly for the north, much of the change is down to effort and increased ringing around Lough Neagh once again - in 2015 there was no ringing in the area, one site in 2016, two sites in 2017 and two in 2018. In 2019 we should see this number climb further with certainly three, possibly four sites up and running, including two Constant Effort Sites with Portmore Lough being brought back into action after decades of no ringing - this site has produced over 1000 Sedge Warblers in certain years in the past and 1/2 Reed Warblers when they were much rarer back in the 1970's/1980's.




In 2018 we made three visits to the site on the 22nd of July, 11th of August and the final visit on the 25th of August producing 126 new birds (+2 controls), 182 new birds and 165 new birds respectively. Sedge Warbler numbers were pretty consistent across the three visits with 98, 97 & 84 respectively with Reed Warblers increasing across each with 10, 12 and 19. 

On the third visit there were noticeable gatherings of hirudines (and Swifts) feeding over the reedbeds and wet woodland so once the deluge of Acrocephalus (acros) warblers had subsided we had a go at tape luring some, successfully catching 15 Swallows and 3 Sand Martins with many more landing on top of the nets and poles and avoiding capture in the bright sunshine. I've never visited the Lough in the evening or at night but undoubtedly there must be some massive hirudine roosts forming all around the lough in autumn and our site seems better than most for potential habitat.
Through lack of extra hands we still haven't fully explored the potential of the backing wet woodlands but we did catch 26 Blackcap, 19 Willow Warbler and 4 Chiffchaff in short spells but a concerted effort would produce much more and perhaps a secret pair of Garden Warbler - the habitat is perfect (we may have as few as 50 breeding pairs in Ireland, generally around the Lakelands of Fermanagh, Leitrim, Roscommon and Cavan).

The combined totals of the three visits were:

Blackcap                      26
Chiffchaff                      4
Reed Bunting              83 (2)
Reed Warbler              41 [1 NW England control]
Robin                            2
Sand Martin                  3
Sedge Warbler            279 (1) [1 French control]
Swallow                        15
Willow Warbler            19
Wren                             1

Total                            473 (3) [2]

Reed Bunting

The biggest surprise of the year was the numbers of Reed Bunting around and the number caught. On the second visit an incredible 53 were caught (for not being a roost catch this is spectacular), an impressive 21 on visit three and a very decent 9 on visit one. Given that we only caught 6 in both visits combined in 2017 this is a massive change and 2019 might let us know what is normal! 


Having gone through the first autumn migration without a recovery from the 180 ringed warblers we were really quite surprised, particularly for Sedge Warblers which are readily controlled in the habitats they stopover in on migration. We were then even more surprised that we avoided any recoveries on the return journey north. 
The first visit of the season produced the goods with two controls, a very nice French ringed Sedge Warbler and a BTO ringed Reed Warbler which was even better in our minds! The Reed Warbler had been ringed at Middleton nature Reserve at Heysham Bird Observatory in Lancashire. Interestingly one of the ringers there, Pete Marsh, used to ring on our stomping grounds in the Bann Estuary back in the early 1970's and he reported that the Reed Warbler had arrived in a fall, including birds ringed elsewhere with 2 Sedge Warblers ringed in France and another in Belgium - did they all head to Ireland also?
A week after we received the details of our French control Sedge Warbler, we received news that one of our Sedge Warblers from this year had been recovered on the way south in France.

Sedge Warbler Movements (green) and Reed Warbler (light blue)

The Reed Warbler was originally ringed at Middleton Nature Reserve, Heysham on the 04th of May 2018 and controlled by us 79 days later at a distance of c151 miles.

The Sedge Warbler was originally ringed near La Rochelle on the west coast of France on its way south on the 11th of August 2017. It then spent the winter in sub-Saharan Africa before returning to Northern Ireland to breed for the first time, 345 days later, at a minimum distance of 1087 km but in reality this will be much more.

Our recovered Sedge Warbler was a juvenile ringed on the 11th of August this year and was recovered in Dourges in NE France 17 days later at a minimum distance of 790km. Normally we would expect these birds to stick to the west of France on their way to Africa but that's part of the beauty of the study of migratory birds.

Sedge Warbler

Limitations and Restrictions
As a ringing group, all of us are located 70-90 minutes away from the site, so regular visits and very early starts are difficult to enable the full monitoring the site deserves. The walk into the site is also over a mile long striding through reeds and wet grassland and not the easiest with all the equipment but the shear volume and quality of birds makes it very worth while. Getting sufficient pairs of hands in 2018 was our biggest restricting factor in regards to the number of nets we can use and also keeping the limited number open - at times the birds enter the nets faster than they can be extracted, let alone processed so the nets are closed until all birds have safely processed and released before reopening. Early morning seems to be the key time for the movement of birds with birds pouring through before tailing off before 9am, with basically no birds being caught around 10am. Normally on arrival the birds are in full flow and we've caught up to 17 birds in two joined nets in the process of erection which only takes a couple of minutes.
Cost is also a consideration when ringing such volumes of birds, the current price per bird for an A ring is 25.2p, so for the 449 ringed in 2018 equates to £113.50 + a further £5.07 in AA rings. Thankfully I have been able to source some funding sources over the past 4/5 years to pay for some of the rings, most notably to the Centre for Environmental Data & Recording (CEDaR) who covered the cost of 1000 A rings for 2018, but having never charged our T's & C's (and no plans to do so) there is still a financial burden into the £100's each year for myself and John. A CES would help us get a real understanding for the local breeding population of the site and take away the financial burden but unfortunately we couldn't commit to the effort at the moment!

..... but after all that, we do hope to increase our studies at the site next year to increase our understanding of the breeding birds on site, the turn over of birds in 24 hours and potentially investigate the sites potential in the evening (= overnight camping!).
If I get some time over the winter (on top of everything else I take on and pile up) I may take a look at the patterns from previous recoveries of the migration routes taken by be Sedge Warblers with the UK and Ireland to and from Lough Neagh of which I think there are three main routes - via NW England (possibly more so spring?), direct line through Wales out of SE Northern Ireland and NE Ireland and some to SE Ireland before making the leap to SW Wales and SW England.

The fresh wing (lower) of a juvenile Sedge Warbler and worn wing of an adult (upper)

A big thank you to John Clarke, Steve Fyffe, David Stirling, David Galbraith, Ken Perry, James O'Neill and James McDowell who were present at one+ of the visits and to Godfrey who gives us access to the site and is always on hand to assist. 

Acros Galore

John and I headed off to the western shore of Lough Neagh on Sunday 16th July following a kind invite from the local gun club who had recorded a number of singing male Reed Warblers, which, as I had mentioned in the previous post, have a restricted distribution in N Ireland.  The site is a former island which has reconnected to the shore after the draining of Lough Neagh decades ago and has since become a huge reedbed with surrounding ASSI Wet Woodland.  Access isn't the easiest and requires a mile+ plus walk to get to the 'island' but fantastic habitat the whole way down.

We didn't arrive at the ringing site until after 8am but we soon set about erecting two 18m nets in a likely spot close to lough shore.  It was clear that it was a going to be a good session as we had managed to capture 14 birds before we had actually opened the nets fully!  After 3 hours we packed up and headed for home but had caught a massive 83 Sedge Warbler, 13 Reed Warbler, 6 Reed Bunting and 2 Willow Warbler.  The catch 13 Reed Warblers is probably a record for a single day catch in NI and 83 Sedge Warblers is by far our biggest.  The vast majority were birds of the year including 79 of the Sedge Warblers.  A 6am start would have easily produced double the numbers.  We were surprised not to get a control amongst the big catch but there is a good chance of one or two being recovered on the way south.

Reed Warbler

The gun club have recorded up to 6 singing male Reed Warblers in the direct vicinity so there is probably a sizeable population across the greater area.  An estimate of 1000+ Sedge Warblers wouldn't be far off the mark for the same area. It was also a great spot for wildfowl watching with plenty of Tufted Duck, Pochard, Gadwall, Mute Swan, Great Crested Grebe, Moorhen, Little Grebe, Mallard on the water and a Black-headed Gull breeding colony on the offshore island.

Reed Warbler

On Monday the 17th John, Ken, Nick and I had the second go at catching Storm Petrels this summer in good conditions.  We had the net open between 23.30 and 01.30 and managed a catch of 9 birds.  There didn't seem to be too many more Stormies about but we will hopefully hit better passage in the coming weeks.  An extra bit of interest was the capture of a Common Pipistrelle bat early on which is a fairly regular occurrence - potentially the same bats/family each time!

Storm Petrel

 

Myself, Ken and Nick

 

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)

Easter Ringing

On Easter Monday, John and I visited Portstewart Strand bright and early in the hopes of connecting with the first summer migrants.  The forecast wasn't quite on the mark and we had to wait in the car, on arrival, for a shower to pass.  The winds were 15-20mph from the north west, which is fine for basically all our net rides, as they are generally only affected by wind from the south and east, along the exposed estuary shore. 

Sparrowhawk

There is still a wintery feel around the estuary with Whooper Swans passing through, groups of Teal, Wigeon and Red-breasted Mergansers on the water, flocks of Goldfinch and Linnet continuing to visit the feeders, a single Redwing dropping in to 'East Ride', plus it was only 4 °C. 
There were a few new birds about including c150 Black-tailed Godwit, a new female Stonechat, a Sparrowhawk and the Bullfinches and Robins have returned from wherever they disappear to for the winter.      

Bullfinch

It was a good session, with the feeders continuing to produce the majority of  the birds, plus a few nice birds in Sparrowhawk, Reed Bunting and Redwing.  That takes us up to 19 different species ringed so far this year at the site, in less than a month, so a good start to better last years 29. 

Ringing Totals - PSS 28/03/2016                                     
                                      
                                      New       Retraps          

Blackbird                        2               

Blue Tit                            1               1                   

Bullfinch                                           1                

Goldfinch                        2               1                                                  

Linnet                              8               1                                             

Redwing                          1                    

Reed bunting                  2                 1

Robin                               2    

Song Thrush                                     1

Sparrowhawk                 1                              

Total                                19              6        

 

Saturday looks to be the next suitable slot for our next visit and is open to anyone who would like to come along.  The first spring summer migrants are bound to be by then.... probably!

 

Also check out the new tab above - 'The Birds' for images of the species ringed by the group in the past 4/5 years in Northern Ireland, Donegal and Mayo. 

 

Reed Bunting

 

Late Autumn into Winter

After such a dry and calm spell through early/mid autumn, late autumn made up for any short comings on the expected and it has been abysmal.  We only managed one session in the last few weeks of November and the conditions for that were breezy.  We kicked off the winter ringing yesterday morning at Portstewart Strand, which will be the last visit to the site in 2015.

                                       Skylark                                JC

Steve was successful in his recent C permit application and now, armed with a couple of nets and a bunch of rings, I'm sure he will be very active over the winter.
To help him get set up with his first ringing site, John, along with Thom headed out west, to Steve's family farm near Gortin in central Tyrone, on Sunday the 22nd of November.  John had first visited the site back in March and did a little tester ringing, catching a number of Chaffinch and tits.
 As I mentioned earlier it was a bit breezy and damp at times but still workable and safe.  They set two nets - one through a hedgerow and another in an area of woodland. 

 

                      Treecreeper              JC

There were large numbers of Fieldfare and Redwing feeding on haws through the hedgerows which resulted in four Redwing being caught.  The catch was decent for the conditions and coverage and it could prove to be a decent site for Steve to work.  The hedgerow net caught the majority of the birds, with the woodland net only chipping in with a couple of birds after 11.30.


Ringing Totals 22/11/2015                                      
                                      
                                       New        Retrap           

Blackbird                        2               

Blue Tit                           4              

Coal Tit                           1               1                             

Great Tit                         3               2           

Redwing                         4                    

Treecreeper                    1                                                                            

Wren                               1                

Total                               16              3              

 

Yesterday, John and I took the morning off work and we had a last bash at Portstewart Strand for the 2015 season.  We has hoped to get the last session in before the end of November but the weather put a stop to that.  The conditions were favourable with complete cloud cover and light winds.  The wind did pick up to around 10-12mph for a couple of short spells but generally stayed around 3-4mph. 
We arrived around an hour before sunrise and set a couple of nets each in east and west rides plus further nets through the open gorse rides and the alders. 
It was very quite overhead with little to get excited about.  As usual there seemed to be quite a few Blackbirds and Song thrushes calling pre dawn, followed by the Dunnocks, Robins and Wrens.  There weren't many finches on show now that the feeding station is gone and the berries are all but gone.

                                                Reed Bunting                                                JC

The catch for December was good with some quality birds including a possible wintering Blackcap, two Reed Bunting and one Redwing. We also caught another Skylark, making it our 5th this year, adding to the three last year.  From 2013 back to 1975 there had only been 88 ringed in Northern Ireland, the last one coming in the year 2000. 


Ringing Totals 03/12/2015                                      
                                      
                                       New        Retrap           

Blackcap                         1

Blue Tit                           2

Bullfinch                         1               

Chaffinch                        1              

Coal Tit                                             2                             

Dunnock                                           3

Goldcrest                                          1           

Linnet                              5

Redwing                          1

Reed Bunting                  2

Robin                                                2                                                          

Skylark                            1

Song Thrush                   2                                                                                                                      

Total                               16               8              

We have been given permission to use a similar site on the other side of the estuary, at Castlerock Golf Club and we plan to do a little work there soon, to make some net rides.  The benefit of this site is that the Sea Buckthorn plants are female (supposedly) and are berry laden.  The concentration of birds tends to be much higher here into late winter because of the fruit and it usually has a few Fieldfare and Blackcap knocking about. 

A new project we will be initiating over the winter period is setting up a couple of new nest box schemes on the north-east coast of Northern Ireland, following the completion of Kens long-term studies on titmice at the University campus in Coleraine.
We have already gained permission for one woodland and we will be searching for another ideal location.  The hope is to provide tempting accommodation for Redstarts and Pied Flycatchers that pass along the east coast in Spring before they flit over to Scotland where they breed in Dumfries and Galloway. 
It is an ambitious plan given that Redstarts last attempted to breed in 2011 (and failed) in County Kerry and before that, 2003.  Pied Flycatchers haven't bred (proven) since 2003 in County Wicklow and before that 1999.
They have bred along the north east coast before, including a pair of Pied Flycatchers in a nest box in Breen Oakwood in 1985.  This was the first successful breeding attempt recorded in Ireland and in the same year, two pairs attempted to breed in boxes in County Wicklow, but failed.  Nest boxes had only been installed in Breen Oakwood in 1984, following 120 boxes being installed, two years previous across three oak woodlands in Wicklow.  So the idea works anyway!    
There is a lack of substantial habitat in Northern Ireland which the species favour, but also, with the absence of Woodpeckers and veteran trees, there are insufficient nesting holes.  The limited holes that do exist, are occupied by resident breeders such as Blue Tits in early spring, before the RS and PF reach our shores. 
To combat the problem of early occupancy by titmice, we plan to use the tried and tested method of placing nest boxes in groups of four/five.  The idea is that Blue and Great Tits are quite territorial and will not nest in close proximity of their own kind, thus leaving one or two boxes unoccupied for the target species to inhabit.  We may also remove the front of a few boxes and place them in more concealed locations to attract the likes of Robins or Spotted Flycatchers. 
It is project that is unlikely to be successful but you certainly have no chance if you don't try!