Late April - 1st May 2017

Again we have been pretty busy at the weekends and not had a great deal of time to get out ringing but I have managed two visits to Portstewart Strand and ticked off a few other bits and pieces.






The majority of the local breeding birds are back on territory in the Bann Estuary with the Grasshopper Warblers and Sedge Warblers joining the mix and now only Whitethroat are missing (although they are few and far between anyway).  There has been pretty decent late passage of Wheatears following the lack of birds in early spring and this peaked on Monday when there were 13+ Greenland Wheatears present.  I didn't have any traps but luckily this fine looking male found its way into the exact same spot in the furthest net as the single Wheatear did last year!

Greenland Wheatear

Many of the year round residents i.e. Bullfinch, Robin and Wren are well into their breeding cycle, perhaps incubating and have been pretty inconspicuous and not been appearing in the nets.  Blackcap, Willow Warbler and Reed Bunting have been the main species caught with a combined total of 12 ringed plus another returning Willow Warbler originally ringed in 2015.  

Blackcap

Chaffinch

Reed Bunting pair

Each year we normally visit a few of the local Dipper nests and ring the chicks, generally in the c20 boxes Ken has put up.  I took the opportunity to visit a few of the natural nests and was late on a couple with the chicks having fledged already but I did find two with ringable broods - 4 and 3.   

Dipper chicks

Dipper nest

A few weeks back I headed out to Copeland Bird Observatory for a work party day to fix up some of the traps and to set up the tern decoys and boxes.  There were a few birds moving through and the ringers on the island (for the week) had a decent catch of Willow Warblers and a few Wheatears and kindly let me ring a Stock Dove.  Stock Doves are very scarce in Northern Ireland and The Copeland Islands are probably only one of a handful of places you can find them.

Stock Dove

While the weather has been nice but windy I grabbed the opportunity to visit Grangemore and sort out some new net rides amongst the reeds and make some 'bridges' to cross the main drain that bisects the site.  I'm hoping the effort will greatly increase the number of Sedge Warblers we ring this year. with the added bonus of a few extra Grasshopper Warbler and Reed Bunting.
  

Last Sunday I led a Dawn Chorus walk through a woodland in the Glens of Antrim for work and we had a decent turn out and were treated to a sighting of a female Great Spotted Woodpecker, which are still very rare in NI.  The woodland would be perfect for a breeding pair or two so watch this space over the next few years.  We have 75 next boxes throughout the woodland so I took a chance to check 15 boxes and found occupied nests with eggs of Blue Tit, Coal Tit and Great Tit, ringing the sitting females.  We will do the proper look around in 2/3 weeks time and ring the chicks.   



We are hosting a public bird walk and ringing demonstration at Portstewart Strand from 9am on Saturday morning (tomorrow), so if anyone is interested you are welcome to come along. 



First Week of May

The fine weather has finally arrived in Northern Ireland with temperatures hitting 25°C over the past few days.  The fine southerlies have delivered a few more birds with the first Spotted Flycatchers and Swifts of the year, plus a big fall of Wheatears (mostly Northern), with birds seemingly everywhere.  Whimbrel have also been a feature with probably a few hundred birds passing up the river to the North Coast. 
We managed a couple of time restricted ringing sessions before work on Friday at Portstewart Strand and the River Site and a further session at Portstewart Strand on Sunday.  Ken is off on his travels again, leading a group of local birders on a weeks birding in the Czech Republic close to the German border in Bavaria. 

Wheatear

The ringing was pretty slow for all three sessions but particularly for the combined, longer session on Sunday, with some 600 feet of nets.  There were a couple of nice birds for Portstewart Strand with the sites first Wheatear (Northern) and two Sedge Warblers (only three birds and a Belgian control caught last year).  Female Blackcaps have also arrived, with 5 caught in the same net at the River Site and two from PSS.  A combined total of 20 new birds and 14 retraps isn't what you expect at this time of year but it should improve as the freshly fledged birds hit the nets. 

Sedge Warbler

Portstewart Strand 05/05/2016                                 

                                   New       Retraps          

Blackbird                                    2                                                  

Blackcap                      1

Blue Tit                                       1

Bullfinch                                     1

Dunnock                                     1

Meadow Pipit              1                       

Robin                                           2

Sedge Warbler            1

Willow Warbler           1                

                   

Total                            4             7      

Portstewart Strand 03/05/2016      
                           
                                  New       Retraps          

Blackbird                    1             2                                                  

Blackcap                     2

Linnet                          1   

Robin                                          1 

Sedge Warbler            1                

Wheatear                     1               

                   

Total                            6             3      

River Site 03/05/2016    
                             
                                   New       Retraps                                                        

Blackcap                      5

Bullfinch                      2            

Dunnock                      1             2      

Robin                                           2

Willow Warbler            2                

                   

Total                            10            4      

The weather is to remain good for the coming weekend but with the winds switching to northerlies.  We unfortunately weren't able to utilise the conditions at the start of this week and may have missed quite a few birds, going by the numbers passing the Irish Sea coasts and the south coast of Ireland - including a few scarcities/rarities.

I'm off to Copeland Bird Observatory for the weekend, although the stiff northerlies will probably halt any migration but at least it is set to be dry! 

Copeland Bird Observatory 2nd - 4th October

After our routine pre-CBO 'chippy', John, Ken, Steve and I were ready to jump into the RHIB and set sail for Lighthouse Island.  We met up with Island regulars David, Philip and Ian at the harbour in Donaghadee, who were accompanied by Olli, on his first trip.  As forecast, the winds were very light and the sea was flat calm for a change.
On arrival on the island, we set about readying the nets and traps.  With 6 ringers on hand we set a few extra nets than the norm, covering most of the north and east of the island.  In total we set 10 mist nets, with the 4 in situ Heligoland traps, the crow trap, plus 7 spring & potter traps.     

Lesser Redpoll

When setting up it was evident there were a few birds knocking about and we caught a couple of Blackcap, Goldcrest and Song Thrush before sunset around 7pm.  After dark, a few us headed out in search of a few Manx Shearwaters but with little hope.  It is very late in the season and the majority of the chicks should have fledged and be on route to the southern hemisphere.  Luckily we managed to find 12 new chicks within half an hour and the following night added 5 more. 
  The CBO team along with Oxford University were successful in retrieving 3 geolocators from adult birds over the summer.  These had been attached 3/4 years ago when the birds were chicks in their burrows.  It is not known exactly what young shearwaters do from their first migration south until they return to the breeding colonies 3/4 later.  Hopefully the data can be extracted and it will shed some light/confirm peoples thoughts in what they do!  For updates on the project, follow Copeland Bird Observatory on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/copelandbirdobservatory?fref=ts

Linnet

The next day, we were up before dawn (two of us anyway!) to open the nets and get ready for the mornings ringing.  Again the conditions were ideal and the birds started trickling out of the bushes and into the mist nets.  The birds consisted of Blackbird, Blackcap, Dunnock, Goldcrest, Robin, Song Thrush and Wren.  It wasn't long before the finches got moving with flocks of Goldfinch, Lesser Redpoll and Linnet moving around/over the island plus c30 Skylark.  With the help of tape lures we picked up 73 Lesser Redpoll and 11 Linnet, before closing the nets early afternoon.  A Hooded Crow found it's way into the crow trap for a second time, following its initial foray in April.  The sea remained quite for the most but totals of 1000+ Razorbill, 500+ Gannet, c40 Eiders, c50 Harbour Porpoise, a few Red-throated Diver and other bits and pieces kept Ian content.  The Grey Seal breeding season is in full swing with at least 40 seal pups spotted at the Observatory and on the near side of Mew Island, with probably many more around the rest of Mew and Big Copeland.  The bulls (males) were also getting very frisky, as the females come in to season. 

                                            Grey Seal pup           (© Steve Fyffe)

  Adult Grey Seals

On Sunday morning the conditions were perfect, with next to no wind and a good covering of cloud.  The initial net rounds showed there had been an arrival of Chiffchaff, with 14 ringed in the first few hours.  The catch was similar to Saturday but with an added Wheatear from the 'Heli Trap' at first light, a Woodpigeon from the 'Thicket' net and a Meadow Pipit in a spring trap.  Again the finches got moving with Linnets (including a flock of c50), hundreds of Lesser Redpoll, plenty of Goldfinches and a single Chaffinch.  The Lesser Redpolls surpassed the previous days totals and this corresponded in the ringing totals, with 103 new birds.  The sea was again pretty quite but 3 Great Skua, c100 Curlew and a few extra Black Guillemot was something.  No Hirundines were noted all weekend.

Wheatear

Chiffchaff

 



Overall it was a very enjoyable weekend with lots of birds ringed and some good weather.  Unfortunately we couldn't produce one of the Yellow-browed Warblers, that have pouring down the coasts of the UK and Ireland, that we were hoping for. 


CBO    Ringing Totals         02-04/10/2015

                                        New        Retrap           

 

Blackbird                         1                4                   

Blackcap                          6                1                            

Chiffchaff                       14  

Dunnock                          3                             

Goldcrest                        27               2

Goldfinch                         1                                      

Hooded Crow                                    1

Lesser Redpoll              175  

Linnet                              14

Meadow Pipit                   1

Manx Shearwater           17               2

Robin                               13              5                                                                                

Song Thrush                    4                                                                            

Wheatear                         1      

Woodpigeon                    1

Wren                                4                1                                

 

Total                               282             16        

 



A bird laden Pond 60' net

 



 

Other bits and pieces from the weekend included Peregrine Falcon, Sparrowhawk, up to 7 Buzzard, a possible Harrier spp., Stock Dove, Water Rail, Moorhen, Oystercatcher, Redshank, Snipe Turnstone, Grey Heron, Guillemot, Kittiwake, Black-headed Gull, Common Gull, Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull Fulmar, Rock Pipit, Pied Wagtail, Magpie, Jackdaw, Raven, Rook, Cormorant, Shag, Teal, Mallard, Starling, Reed Bunting, Pheasant, Small-tortoiseshell and Red Admiral. 

 

 

Home time at 'East Landing'