Sand Martins - Visit One 11/06/2016

This morning I had planned an early start to visit both Sand Martin colonies but there was continuous drizzle from 7am, so I didn't head out until after 10.  This, plus the fact I was on my own, I opted to visit the main colony at Macfin alone.  The conditions were ideal for ringing with it being mild, calm and very dull with the low cloud. 
My first impression was that the colony seemed quite quiet but it soon livened up once the 12 metre net went up.  In previous years I would use a 6m extension net but a part of the sand bank face has collapsed and no longer houses any burrows.  The numbers are probably similar to previous years with something around 150 pairs.

Sand Martin

The shape of the curved bank is quite awkward to get a net in and means the net sits below and roughly 3 metres away from the face in places.  It isn't all bad as it allows the birds to access the burrows while the net is up but it does result in many birds flying over the net.  A total of 65 birds were caught today with 46 being new birds and one of those was the first juvenile of the year.  Of the 19 retraps, 13 were from 2015 and 6 from 2014.  All but two of the birds were caught on the inside of the net as they depart their burrows.  As I was on my own I didn't have time to fully process the birds so they were simply aged, sexed, ringed and released. 

I had been very disappointed to only catch 8 retraps last year, following 144 new birds caught in the first year at the site.  Today was much more pleasing as I recaptured 19 birds from previous years and being only the first visit, we may yet reach sufficient numbers to start a RAS.  Next year may be an ideal time to begin with potentially 272 birds bearing rings before this year, and todays totals taking the total to 318. 

I unfortunately don't have time to visit the Sand Martin colony at Grangemore but I will visit it at the start of July when I return from Croatia - when I will also do visit two to Macfin.
The blog will be quiet over the next 3 weeks but the others should hopefully be busy ringing.  I'll be back and at it in July with an update and hopefully news of more terns, gulls and the first Storm Petrels of the season. 

First juvenile of the year

Inch Island - Terns and Gull

On Wednesday morning, Ken, Steve and I headed up to Inch Wild Fowl Reserve in Donegal to study the breeding Sandwich Terns for the 31st continuous year.  We met up with a team of four from the Irish National Parks and Wildlife Service and were also enjoyed by Adam and Gary from the Northern Ireland Black-headed Gull Study.  The weather has been brilliant with temperatures hitting 30°C in recent days but torrential rain on Tuesday afternoon had us a little worried, as, this is often a major killer of chicks during prolonged periods.  It turns out that it hadn't been too bad around Inch and the day itself was dull, calm and warm - perfect conditions!

The really dry weather presented us with a new problem and that was really low water levels, in what is already a relatively shallow lagoon.  The Islet itself was now probably 150% larger, although much of that was thick, sticky mud/clay.  We had to do quite a bit of manoeuvring to get the boat in position to ferry people across the short crossing which was now only roughly 75 metres.  Andrew did a great job getting us across safely and would probably be quite nifty on the Gondolas in Venice! 

Sandwich Tern

I had mentioned the success of the previous visit in a recent post and the great year continues.  The small islet was covered in chicks and nests with Sandwich Terns, Common Terns, Black-headed Gulls, Tufted Ducks, Mute Swans and Mallard.  The majority of the 200+ Sandwich Tern eggs on the last visit have now hatched with around 30 left to go.  The Common Tern colony has increased further with many new nests, again mostly with three eggs.  Only a handful of the eggs have hatched but should be out for the final visit in a couple of weeks.  The Black-headed Gulls are the most numerous bird on the island and I would hazard a guess at a of 500 pairs, probably many more.  They are at many different stages with birds already fledged, to eggs yet to hatch and everything in between. 

The greeny/brown areas the newly exposed parts of the Islet because of the low water levels

The trip was a great success with another 154 Sandwich Terns ringed, taking the total up to 334 and the first 10 Common Terns.  Adam and Gary have a colour ringing project for Black-headed Gulls in the North and have picked up metal ringed birds from Inch as part of their study.  They came armed with colour rings and added 70 new birds to the study with 66 of those being new birds and 4 from the last visit when 43 were ringed.  The majority of the birds colour ringed were well developed chicks, close to fledging.  The colour rings are orange with a four digit alpha-numeric black inscription.  The first digit is always the number 2 then three letters after e.g. 2ABC.  Please keep an eye out for these birds and for more information check out: http://bhgullsni.blogspot.co.uk/ .


You can follow updates from Inch Wildfowl Reserve on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/inchandfoyle/?fref=ts

We plan to do the first visit to the Sand Martin colonies on Saturday before I head to Croatia for three weeks.  I'll try and post an update on that before I head off on Sunday.  Looking at other first visits around the UK it looks like the Sand Martins have bred early with come catches of up to 30% juveniles already! 

Portstewart Strand - Sunday 5th June

The fantastic weather continues in Northern Ireland (nearly two weeks with a one day blip!) with today being the hottest day at 26°C.  John and I headed down to Portstewart Strand hoping that the first fledged birds would be out given the good conditions of late.  We arrived on site just before 7am and limited the number of nets and did not use East Ride.  Conditions were calm, warm, with partial cloud initially, changing to full sunshine by 10. 

Linnet

The estuary itself was very quiet with the only waders noted being 3 Lapwing.  The Shelducks have had a better year than last, with at least three groups of chicks (9, 7 , 7), although that is from c64 adult birds! 
The nets in the open caught the majority of the birds including a new species for the year in Starling.  The only Starling ringed last year was caught in the same net around the same time.  There are 100's of Starlings marauding around the site currently and we were almost inundated with about 50 but thankfully they passed over the top of the net and just the single bird got caught (a second bounced).

  The cleared area of scrub is recolonising quickly!

The ringing was fairly slow but we did encounter the first youngsters of Meadow Pipit and Robin plus an extremely young Dunnock which was released unringed. 


River Site 05/06/2016                                 

                                   New       Retraps          
            

Dunnock                                       2              

Linnet                         2

Meadow Pipit             2

Robin                          2                                

Sedge Warbler                             1     

Starling                       1

Willow Warbler           1                 

Wren                           1                2

                   

Total                            9                5             

We also took the opportunity to check up on a few of the nest boxes and single Blackbird nest I have been watching over the past week or so.  I was looking forward to the Tree Sparrow nest but unfortunately the five eggs are cold.  I watched the box for a while and there are still a pair of Tree Sparrows around but not interacting with the box.  The Blue Tit nests are all doing well and we ringed  9 chicks in one nestbox, which is just across the river from PSS.  The four Blackbird chicks in my garden are doing well and were also ringed, plus a second brood of House Sparrows with two chicks.

Blackbird

House Sparrow

As I mentioned in the last post, we have had a bit of recovery news.  The first bird was a Meadow Pipit that we had ringed as a bird of the year on the 13th of September 2015 at Portstewart Strand.  It was recovered 242 days later as a road casualty, 8km along the coast in Portrush.  The location details are not clear as the member of the public had simply given the name of the town, but I'd presume it was breeding locally in one of the local dune systems. 

The second bird was a colour ringed adult female Black-tailed Godwit which had originally been ringed at Kaldaðarnes, Árnessýsla, S Iceland on the 17th of June 2014.  The bird is quite the traveller and has been observed a number of times over the past two years. 

OY-WWflag 17.06.14 Kaldaðarnes, Árnessýsla, S Iceland

OY-WWflag 29.07.14 Frampton Marsh, the Wash estuary, Lincolnshire, E England

OY-WWflag 05.08.14 Frampton Marsh, the Wash estuary, Lincolnshire, E England

OY-WWflag 28.08.14 Frampton Marsh, the Wash estuary, Lincolnshire, E England

OY-WWflag 10.11.14 Welney, Ouse Washes, Norfolk, E England

OY-WWflag 11.01.15 Welney, Ouse Washes, Norfolk, E England

OY-WWflag 14.01.15 Welney, Ouse Washes, Norfolk, E England

OY-WWflag 26.04.15 Arnarhóll, Flói, Árnessýsla, S Iceland

OY-WWflag 13.07.15 Frampton Marsh, the Wash estuary, Lincolnshire, E England

OY-WWflag 29.08.15 Freiston Shore (RSPB reserve), The Wash, Lincolnshire, E England

OY-WWflag 31.10.15 Freiston Shore (RSPB reserve), The Wash, Lincolnshire, E England

OY-WWflag 03.12.15 Welney, Ouse Washes, Norfolk, E England

OY-WWflag 20.12.15 Welney, Ouse Washes, Norfolk, E England

OY-WWflag 30.12.15 Welney, Ouse Washes, Norfolk, E England

OY-WWflag 17.03.16 Fen Drayton Lakes RSPB, Ouse Washes, Cambridgeshire, E England

OY-WWflag 02.04.16 Portstewart, Bann Estuary, Northern Ireland

The bird has since been recorded back in Iceland on the 24th of May 2016.  I wonder if it cut across mainland Britain somehow or passed along the south coast of England?

Black-tailed Godwit movement

Poplar Hawk-moth

Summer Season - Terns, Gulls and Nest Boxes

John hosted two trainees at the University River Site on Bank Holiday Monday.  The conditions started off overcast but the cloud soon burnt off leaving a hot sunny morning.  They had a decent session, catching the first fledged birds of the year in the form of two Robins.  Two Sedge Warblers were also a nice catch as they don't breed that often at the site and we usually only manage half a dozen each year in total.

Sedge Warbler

River Site 30/05/2016                                 

                                   New       Retraps          

Blackbird                    1                                                                                 

Bullfinch                     2                1               

Dunnock                     1                1              

Lesser Redpoll           1

Robin                          2                1                

Sedge Warbler           2     

Song Thrush                                 1

Willow Warbler          2                 1 

                   

Total                          11                5             

Ken and a team of five (three from the National Parks and Wildlife Service) made the first follow up ringing trip to Inch Wildfowl Reserve in Donegal on Tuesday, following the initial visit back on the 10th of May to gauge the number of nests, eggs etc.
The team  had a successful day and ringed 180 Sandwich Tern chicks, which is only 9 birds shy of last years total with the second visit to come in a week or so.  There had been around 400 eggs counted on the first visit so, all being well, there should be many more fledged birds on the final visit.  They also managed to ring 43 larger Black-headed Gull chicks.  Andrew took the opportunity to count the Common Tern nests and found 57, the majority with 3 eggs.  If the fantastic weather and lower water levels continue and the local predators stay at bay, we could be set for one of the best years for the Common Terns.  The most productive year at Inch was back in 1999 with 86 chicks ringed.

For some videos of the trip check out the Inch Wildfowl Reserve on Facebook -  https://www.facebook.com/inchandfoyle/


Over the long weekend I managed to get around the rest of the general nest boxes scattered around the estuary and in Castleroe Wood.  The boxes in the estuary haven't had a great uptake with just one pair of Blue Tits at each of three.  I did manage to get at least one pair of Tree Sparrows with eggs and a second partially complete nest.  It is a decent start for the target species and they will hopefully use the boxes further and increase. 
Castleroe Wood has improved on the dismal year in 2015 when only 27% of the boxes were occupied.  So far this year it looks liked c40% are occupied, which is still down on the norm of c75% in the wood.  I ringed 24 Great Tit chicks, 3 adult females plus two adult female Blue Tits on this visit.  The Blue Tits are well behind, mostly still at the egg stage but they should be ready for ringing this weekend.  I did find 4/5 Spotted Flycatcher territories around the wood, 3 with vacant open faced boxes but no interest in them as yet.     

Blue Tit

Ken also checked his boxes back on the 26th of May in the University campus and ringed 39 Blue and Great Tit chicks.  This scheme is part of a study on the preference of tree species for nesting, comparing c30 species, so it will be interesting to hear the initial results from year one! 

John has been keeping an eye on an accessible Long-eared owl nest in the University campus over the past few weeks but we have missed the opportunity and the chick has fledged already.  It is still nice to see the birds in such close proximity and that they continue to fledge young every year. 

Long-eared Owls by John Clarke

I have received news of one of the colour ringed Black-tailed Godwits and of a local movement of a Meadow Pipit, so I'll try and update on those next time!

Patch Birding on the Bann Estuary

I've been birding around the Bann Estuary for a few years but it was only once I signed up for the Patchwork Challenge in 2015 that I put in some proper effort.  It's actually great encouragement to put in more time, record full lists and look at everything, (sometimes with a second look) where, in the past, I would maybe turn a blind eye to the likes of gulls.

The patch in a broader context

The estuary is located on the north coast of Northern Irleand at the mouth of the Lower Bann, wedged between the beaches at Castlerock and Portstewart Strand.  There is a pretty decent spread of habitats; predominately sand dunes, beaches, mudflats and open sea but with a nice mix of reedbeds, dense scrub and a small Ash Woodland.  Most of my attention is focused on the central estuary and scrub from my main ringing site on the Portstewart side and the bird hide on the south bank.  Some sites, such as the difficult to access Ash Woodland at Kilcranny get one visit a year to tick off a few species.  You really get to know your patch the more you work it, so I now know the only spots to find the likes of House Martins and Tree Sparrows or the single pair of Spotted Flycatchers. 
Most of my observations are made while ringing at Portstewart Strand and it is a great excuse to be on site pre dawn.  The nets have also chipped in with two NI rarities in the last two years with Lesser Whitethroat and Yellow-browed Warbler, which otherwise would have been missed. 

As with many patches, common species can be quite a challenge, so if I pick up Coal Tit or Long-tailed Tit I'm rather pleased.  Some obvious omissions from my list and from what I have gathered from historic records are Collard Dove, Dipper, Jay, Treecreeper and Moorhen - although I have seen all five just outside the patch.  Coot is another example, with just one available recorded observation in over 60 years!

From historic records and my own observations I have accumulated a total of 220 species for the site, with 127 sightings of my own.  As mentioned above I haven't found any records of some very common species like Dipper, Jay and Moorhen but I would suggest they have been seen many times. 
There are some nice species in the historic records with Alpine Swift, Avocet, Barred Warbler, Collard Pranticole, Foster's Tern, King Eider, Nightjar, Richard's Pipit, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Temnick's Stint to name but a few. 

Yellow-browed Warbler

As for the 2016 challenge, I kicked off my visits in mid January and I have had fairly consistent coverage with about 30 visits in some shape or form - 13 of those while ringing. 
January started pretty well with a few good species to tick off early in the year with Fieldfare, Little Grebe, Merlin, Siskin and Turnstone, which are all fairly uncommon.  I spent my first day Sea Watching at the end of February and added Razorbill, Guillemot, Black Guillemot, Kittiwake plus a patch tick Red Throated Diver - Gadwall was another nice species for the month.  March was a bit of a slow burner with only six new species but one was a Great Crested Grebe, which I had seen last year but somehow overlooked it!  Spring kicked into gear on the 2nd of April with the arrival of the first Chiffchaff, Greenshank, Sandwich Tern, and Wheatear plus an Iceland Gull.  The final two days of the month added Fulmar, Grasshopper Warbler, House Martin, Sedge Warbler and Knot (only my second record).  The 30th also brought a personal tick in the form of a breeding plumage Spotted Redshank, although it had been found the day before.  Surprisingly I didn't get my first Blackcap until the 1st of May, with a Cuckoo on the same day. The best day of the year on the patch was on the 22nd of May when I picked up four new species for the year, including two patch ticks - Garganey (drake), Scaup (female) plus a Little Egret (only one sighting of 3 birds last year) and a female Whitethroat which appeared in the nets.  The final visit of May included a few hours trawling through Kilcranny Wood and I picked up the usual Spotted Flycatchers in the same spot, plus some Long-tailed Tits but I still can't get myself a Treecreeper!

Now we are at the start of June, I am pretty pleased with my position, sitting only 7 species behind my species total for last year.  I am also now at the point where I reckon I have ticked off the majority of the species I expect to get with the exception of Common Tern, Kingfisher and Water Rail, so anything else will be a bonus and you never know what they might be!  The summer tends to be pretty quiet on the estuary, plus I am heading off for three weeks in June, so I don't really anticipate anything new until things get moving in August.  From there I can hopefully kick on and hit my 120 species goal plus a nice bird or two in the nets would be nice!    

As an added bonus I have also picked up five colour ringed birds so far this year with two Sanderling (Greenland & Iceland) and three Black-tailed Godwits (Iceland & two to be confirmed but look to be French and Portuguese).  This follows on from last year with a Scottish Oystercatcher and one Icelandic and one French Black-tailed Godwit.  There have also been a number of metal ringed birds, particularly Sandwich Terns (probably from Inch, Donegal) but I've not been able to read these. 

Anyone wishing to visit the site or wanting some information feel free to get in touch through the Causeway Coast Ringing Group Blog - http://causewaycoastrg.blogspot.co.uk/

Check out:
http://patchworkchallenge.blogspot.ie/ 
http://patchworkchallenge.blogspot.ie/2016/05/coastal-ireland-minileague-april-2016.html

Nest boxes and PSS 22/05/2016

On Saturday morning, with the weather looking a little bit hit and miss, John and I headed over to the Glens of Antrim to check out our latest next box scheme.  There are a total of 75 boxes, of which 15 are open faced.  The boxes have been purposefully placed in clusters of five to ensure vacant boxes are available to potential migrants from Africa looking to set up home.  With this in mind and being the first year of the scheme, we weren't expecting uptake to be that great. 

Blue Tit

We managed to find all 75 boxes, which is a good start, but I had mapped them with using a GPS and if you find one, you know there are 4 others close by!  The boxes are generally separated into the lower woodland and upper woodland, with a difference in height of some c75 metres.  In the lower wood we found 3 of the 30 nest boxes occupied, all with Great Tits - 5 eggs, 4 eggs and 3 one day old chicks.  In the upper woodland Blue Tits were a little more prevalent with three occupied nests with 10 eggs, 8 eggs and 8 eggs.  There were a further two Great Tit nests, both with 5 eggs.  In general the occupied nests were well spread, with the exception of two Blue Tit occupied boxes in the same tight cluster. 

Example of boxes and placement

We didn't hear any of the target species in the woodland but we did locate five Spotted Flycatcher territories with 9 birds noted.  All the nests in the woodland are very late and I would suggest they are probably at least 16 days behind that of the nest at Portstewart Strand below.  I may pay another visit in the first week of June and see if there is any change!

More information on the project is available on this previous post - http://causewaycoastrg.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/springs-around-corner.html

A view down the lower glen, with the conical Ailsa Craig visible in the centre and Sanda Island to the left

On Sunday morning I opted to make the most of the fine conditions and headed down to Portstewart Strand.  I wasn't overly optimistic, being in the lull between the end of migration and the first juveniles appearing, so I gave myself another couple of hours in bed.  Conditions were very sunny, so I stuck to the net rides amongst the scrub, which are now in full leaf and create a bit of cover. 

Whitethroat ♀

The birding was pretty decent as I added four new species for the year, two of those site ticks.  The new birds for the site were a drake Garganey and a female Scaup.  Given the time of year, I spent a bit of time attempting to turn the Scaup (Greater) into a Lesser Scaup... but not this time.  The other new birds for the year were a Little Egret and a female Whitethroat that appeared in the nets mid-morning.  Both species are pretty uncommon in the estuary with just one record of each last year involving 3 and 2 birds respectively. 

Scaup ♀ (I'll get a proper camera eventually...)

The ringing was limited with only sixteen new birds ringed plus a couple of retraps.  Included in the new birds were 9 well developed Blue Tit chicks from one of the four nest boxes on the site.  As mentioned before the Whitethroat was a nice catch and it was the first for the site.


Portstewart Strand 22/05/2016                                 

                                   New       Retraps          

Blackbird                    1                1                                                                 

Blackcap                     1

Blue Tit                       9               

Bullfinch                     1                1               

Dunnock                     1                1              

Lesser Redpoll           1

Song Thrush               1

Whitethroat                1

                   

Total                          16                3             

We are approaching the busy summer season when a few of the seasonal projects kick into gear.  The Sand Martin colonies first visit will be coming up mid June with further visits at the start of July and the final visit in mid July.  Storm Petrel season starts in July, running through to the end of August.  The Sandwich/Common Tern colony will be visited at the start of June to count nests/eggs with follow up visits a few weeks apart to ring the chicks.  The autumn will also see a few attempts at catching roosting Swallows in the estuary.  The remainder of the next boxes will be visited and revisited if necessary.  All that plus our general mist netting will keep us busy right through until autumn migration when our focus will once again return to Portstewart Strand. 
Helpers are always welcome so give us a shout if you are interested. 

Copeland Bird Observatory 13-15th May

On Friday evening I headed out to Copeland Bird Observatory with a new ringer and his partner.  The sun was shinning throughout and clouds were a rare sight.  The wind was a mixed bag but generally from the north and pretty strong, restricting the number of nets.  The island looks great at this time of year when the wildflowers are at their peak and the bracken has yet to unfurl.  It was probably as dry as I have ever seen the island following the great spell of warm weather and no rain for around a week. 

The bright blue skies and the predominately northerly winds brought little in the way of migrants with just a couple of House Martins and Swallows on Saturday and a single Sedge Warbler on Sunday.  The best bird of the weekend was a male Shoveler, potentially only the fourth record at the observatory.  Red-throated Diver was a new species for the year. 

Carrion Crow

The general mist netting was relatively quite with a couple of new birds in Blackbird, Rock Pipit and Wren and a number of retraps of Blackbird, Reed Bunting, Robin and Wren.
The crow trap; baited with bread, dog food and battered cod and chips (salt and vinegar of course), produced the goods, including a new species for me.  On the Saturday afternoon we managed to catch 3 Hooded Crows, which was a nice catch.  Sunday morning got even better when we caught a further 8 Hoodies (1 retrap), a Lesser Black-backed Gull and 2 Carrion Crow.  The Carrion Crows were a first me and only the second and third ringed at CBO in the 62 years of operation, while only one was ringed across Ireland between 1975 and 2015.

 

Reed Bunting

The new Puffin colony at the observatory seems to be going from strength to strength with at least 24 birds milling about on the water below.  Most of the birds appeared to be paired up with plenty of courtship displays and there were a couple of birds entering burrows! 

Dodgy shot of the Puffins on the phone through the bins

On Saturday a team from the Observatory arrived on Mew Island to ring the Eiders.  They had a successful trip with over 50 birds processed, 21 of those being new birds.  All birds were sitting females and it bodes well for the local breeding populations. 

Hooded Crow

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! 

April into May

The weather was pretty dismal over the weekend and despite having four days off, I only managed one shortened visit to Portstewart Strand.
On Sunday morning I led a Dawn Chorus walk with work on the east coast in Cregagh Wood, Cushendun and despite the heavy rain and breezy conditions, 20 people made an appearance at 5am!  The weather conditions dampened the birds performance and we didn't connect with the Great Spotted Woodpecker I had heard there on Thursday afternoon (only my second in Ireland).   The walk finished off around 7am and I headed for home in improving conditions.  At around 8am I made the decision to head down to the dunes at Portstewart Strand and chuck a few nets up. 

Over the long weekend I managed a bit of birding around the estuary, in between the showers, and managed to get the patch list for the year up to 100 species.  On Friday I picked up Fulmar and Grasshopper Warbler, Saturday I got a new species for me - a Spotted Redshank (in summer plumage) plus Knot, House Martin, Sedge Warbler and on Sunday, while ringing, I heard a number of Blackcaps plus a calling male Cuckoo.  I am nine species a head of this time last year and very hopeful of topping the 112 species I managed last year. 
I also picked another two colour ringed Black-tailed Godwits and will post the details once I receive them.

Blackcap

By the time I had opened the limited nets it was around 9am and I wasn't overly expecting a great catch.  The wind really picked up around 11am, so I closed up.  There were certainly lots of birds around but I only managed five new birds and a retrap.  The quality of birds was decent with the first two Blackcaps of the year at the site, plus two new Willow Warbler, a Goldfinch and a retrap Willow Warbler from last April. 


Over the weekend I also spent a bit of time trying to catch up with a possible Belted Kingfisher reported from the previous Friday, which took six days for the news to be released.  The bird had been reported in the local area in between the patch and my house, so I was very keen to catch up with it.  I made 3/4 visits and even kayaked a few miles along the river but could produce nothing more than three Common Kingfishers.  The bird hasn't been relocated after the initial possible sighting. 

Copeland Bird Observatory 22-24 April

Steve and I headed out to Copeland Bird Observatory for our first visit of the season along with three others.  The forecast had put the trip in doubt with the strong northerly winds potentially making the crossing dangerous but thankfully it went ahead, with just a bit rock and bounce on the way over.  The cold strong arctic winds suggested that there would be very little on the move, so we weren't expecting much bird wise.  The forecast did prove true and we had strong winds throughout with just two quieter spells early on Saturday and Sunday mornings but at least it stayed sunny!

Sunrise over Mew Island

We were pleasantly surprised with the birds on offer with one of the first birds spotted being a Long-eared Owl, which scared the life out of Steve as it flushed from the bracken as he walked past.  The LEO resurfaced the next morning around 30 seconds after a ringtail Hen Harrier floated past.  A total of 52 species were recorded with corvids being the main movers with c80 Hooded Crows, 5 Carrion Crow, c18 Jackdaw, 1 Rook and the resident pair of Ravens and Magpies.  Passerine migrants were slim on the ground with a couple of Willow Warblers, a quick sighting of a Wheatear, a Song Thrush, a few Swallows, Sand Martins and House Martins plus a few Meadow Pipits and some mixed finches in Lesser Redpoll, Linnet and Goldfinch.  Sandwich Tern, mixed auks and Whimbrel were the only obvious migrants at sea.  

Jackdaw

With the winds coming from the north/north west, we focused the nets on the more sheltered east and south of the island and used the four Heligoland traps and the Crow Trap.  We got up at 05.30 on both Saturday and Sunday mornings and opened up the nets and traps with the first birds hitting the nets after 7am. 

Rock Pipit

Catching was pretty slow and died off around 10am.  The best bit of action was the capture of 6 Linnets together in the Gully Trap, although another 6 managed to fly out the front on approach.  The second British Goldfinch control in as many weeks at the Obs was nice and will probably be birds ringed in the last year because they were both Z sequences. 

CBO ringing totals 23-24/04/2016

                                  New       Retraps          

Blackbird                                    4                                                  

Goldfinch                    7              1 (control)                                                                     

Jackdaw                      1

Lesser Redpoll           3             

Linnet                          8                               

Reed Bunting             2               2                          

Robin                                           1

Rock Pipit                   2               1

Song Thrush              1

Willow Warbler          2                

Wren                                            1

                   

Total                          26              10          

The breeding season on the island has begun with the first Greylag goslings out, the Herring/Lesser black-backed Gulls on eggs, Jackdaws nesting in the buildings, a hatched Woodpigeon egg and a Swallow seen collecting mud.  The other birds have paired up, such as the Black Guillemots, Eiders and Reed Buntings plus the first couple of Puffins have been sitting on the water below the new colony.   

One of 35 odd pairs of Black Guillemots on the Observatory Island

Our next trip is planned for the weekend of the 13th to 15th of May, so hopefully the weather is a little kinder.  There are still places left over the coming months if anyone would like to stay at the observatory, plus a number of day trips coming up - check out http://www.thecbo.org.uk/ or https://www.facebook.com/copelandbirdobservatory/?fref=ts for more information.   


On Friday morning Ken and Tyrone held a ringing session in Kens garden and caught a very nice mix of 14 different species, including the first Blackcaps of the year.  The weather was sunny, calm and pleasantly warm.  The nets were focused around the feeders with an extra net set on the woodland edge.

Willow Warbler

The feeders are still attracting a number of finches including Chaffinch, Goldfinch and Lesser Redpoll and boosted the number of birds caught.  The exterior net also helped catch species not often caught around the feeders including the Goldcrest and Willow Warbler.  A total of 38 birds were processed and show a mix of general winter and summer birds. 

Kens Garden  22/04/2016                                  
                                  Processed            

Blackcap                          3

Blue Tit                            2

Chaffinch                         8

Coal Tit                            1

Dunnock                           2                                                                  

Goldcrest                          1

Goldfinch                         5                                                                      

Great Tit                           2

House Sparrow                1

Lesser Redpoll                 5            

Long-tailed Tit                 4                           

Robin                               1                      

Willow Warbler                1          

Wren                                2  

                   

Total                               38                 

John had a quieter session at the River Site on Saturday morning with a handful of birds but he also caught his first Blackcap of the year and caught a returning Willow Warbler that had been ringed at the site in the previous year.