Portstewart Strand 14th &18th October

On Saturday morning I was out by myself with the others off on a day trip to Copeland Bird Observatory in the hopes of seeing the recent Yellow-browed Warblers, Wryneck and anything else that might appear.
I again restricted the number of nets but it was quiet with not a huge amount about.  I caught a total of 31 new birds which was boosted by the capture of 14 Linnets, plus 4 early Blackbirds and 2 Song Thrush by the winter woozle tape.

Linnet

One of Long-eared Owls was again out and about until 07.22 and the regular juvenile Peregrine was busy terrorising the waders with a total of 51 species sighted.


On Wednesday morning John and I were out again for a couple of hours before work in what appeared to be ideal conditions. The birds started to move and call early on including the first 3 Redwings of the autumn but around 8am thick mist rolled in and killed off any activity, particularly in the open. We did catch one of the Redwings and a new trickle of Goldcrests and a couple more Song Thrushes but little else. A Merlin and a single Twite were present around the 'gorse nets' but not caught.  A number of Whooper Swans were grounded on the estuary in the mist with over 50 throughout the morning.

Redwing

As we were departing at 10.30 the mist started to clear and things would have livened up again but unfortunately be had to be in work. The total was a rather tame 12 new birds but there was a little bit of quality in the species at least.


Portstewart Strand 14+18/10/2017                            
                             New         Retrap
Blackbird               4                1               
Bullfinch                2
Chaffinch               1
Goldcrest               7                1       
Dunnock                3                1    
Linnet                   14
Redwing                1 
Reed Bunting        2    
Robin                     2          
Song Thrush         5

Wren                      2

Totals                    43               3         

Fly-by Whoopers and the incoming mist

John visited the University River site on the 12th for the first time in a while and had a good catch for the site with c25 new birds. He had a good run of Blackbirds and Goldcrests with a few other bits and pieces.




The patch birding in the estuary this October has been great and I added a further four ticks over the weekend and another two on Wednesday morning. On Saturday morning I picked up a flock of 13 Pink-footed Geese which dropped in to Grangemore. These were a full patch tick for me and still a vary scarce bird in NI.
On Sunday I spent a bit of time around the bird hide and there was plenty more activity on the water with a Red-throated Diver (large red throat patch), 4 Eider, 13 Red Breasted Merganser in front of the hide and a large influx of Black-headed Gulls (500+) which included a patch tick Mediterranean Gull, a species I failed to get in 2016. I then picked up a black duck species whirling about the estuary at full speed which didn't look like an Goldeneye. Thankfully anther birder present had a large camera and was able to snap a record shot to show a fine Tufted Duck, my first in the estuary since 2012. I then headed over to Grangemore to see if the Pink-feet were about to get a closer look and managed a couple of record shots. On route I also ticked a single Twite, sighted only my second Kestrel of the year and had 4 Brent geese overhead.

Pink-footed Geese

On Wednesday the ticks were the Redwings and the nice male Merlin, with a single Twite present amongst the Linnets. I am now three species ahead of my record year in 2016 and I am hopefully of adding a few more new species before the year is out!  Of the 158 species I have seen in NI this year, I've seen 126 of those in the estuary!

Merlin

Yet another storm is due this weekend, this time Storm Brian, so chances are slim of getting out, perhaps a short window on Saturday morning!

Portstewart Strand 10th October

John and I squeezed in a quick visit before work today (10th) with the lure of some nice birds about in the south and west of Ireland. It rained throughout the night and stopped around 6am leaving a damp and dull morning. The rain started again as we were packing up around 10am so we really made the most of the short window.

It was much the same as in recent visits with a slow start and more activity in the open saltmarsh. The catch was also very similar but it did produce another new species to be ringed at the site - a Yellowhammer. This is only the second time I have seen Yellowhammers along the dunes following a sighting of two birds back on the 17th of October 2015.

Yellowhammer

Portstewart Strand 10/10/2017                            
                             New         Retrap
Blackbird               3                1
Blue Tit                  1
Bullfinch                1
Chaffinch               2
Goldcrest               3                2
Linnet                     1
Meadow Pipit        14
Robin                      1            
Song Thrush          2
Stonechat                                 1
Yellowhammer      1
Wren                       1

Totals                    30                4      

The Yellowhammer is also a new species for my 2017 patch list and one that I had missed last year. I can find them easily (ish) a little outside the patch but my old spot in the hedgerows around Kilcranny doesn't produce the goods anymore. I'm only three species behind my 2016 total and have equalled last years score with very achievable Redwing and Kingfisher to come.

Yellowhammer

Portstewart Strand 06th & 8th October 2017

On Friday (06th) John, Ken and I were joined by a couple from France who had last ringed with us back in 2015 when they were studying at the University of Ulster. They have both since gone on to complete their undergrad degrees and now a masters in Ecology & Water Chemistry and are enjoying a bit of time touring around Ireland. The conditions were perfect with hardly a breath of wind and good cloud cover.

We set most of the nets pre dawn and had one 'WinterWoozle' tape playing in the hopes of some winter thrushes. On checking the first net, we had caught couple of thrushes and normally I extract the biggest birds out of the net first but an interesting Sylvia warbler caught my eye in the top corner. As I lowered the net I could see that the bird was certainly not a Blackcap and was in fact the first ever Garden Warbler I have seen in Northern Ireland, so unsurprisingly a new species for the site. The only other one that we have caught in NI was a bird at the River Site at the Uni by Rick some four/five years previous.

Garden Warbler

Bird numbers were more numerous this morning but a little less diverse including 300+ Meadow Pipit, 100+ Skylarks, c20 Reed Bunting, another half dozen new Stonechats, 10+ Song Thrush and 20+ Chaffinch. Other birds around included the ever present hunting Peregrine, the first Little Grebe of the autumn, a second Great Crested Grebe and 24 Whooper Swans.

Reed Bunting

The nets amongst the gorse did well, chipping in with two more new Stonechats, five Reed Buntings and five Meadow Pipits. We did attempt to catch some Skylarks as the small flocks passed mid-morning but we need a proper net set on the open ground and a bit of luck.


Portstewart Strand 06/10/2017                            
                              New         Retrap
Blackbird               3
Blue Tit                  1                  2
Bullfinch                1                  2
Chaffinch               7          
Dunnock                1                  1
Garden Warbler    1
Goldcrest               2                  1             
Meadow Pipit         5
Reed Bunting         5
Robin                      1            
Song Thrush          3                 1 
Stonechat               2
Wren                       3                  1  

Totals                    34                 8     



The forecast for this morning (8th) was looking like a no go and I hummed and haad with the idea when my alarm went off but I decided to go for it after a short snooze on the alarm. As I set off from home there was light drizzle and I was regretting getting out of bed but by the time I got to the coast there was no rain in sight and it remained that way all morning. The sky was very dark and heavy and suppressed the bird activity until mid morning when things got moving. With the risk of rain I went for just the two nets in the deepest cover in the scrub and then after an hour put up one of the nets amongst the gorse and a two shelf over the saltmarsh.

The ringing was really slow to start with just a retrap Blackbird and two new Robins until around 9am. Things visibly picked up as it brightened with many more birds flitting about and a few more in the nets. A couple of the other net rides might have caught well had I erected them! There was apparently nothing uncommon around and no sign of any warblers but I was pleased enough with the catch after the poor start.

Chaffinch

Portstewart Strand 08/10/2017                            
                              New         Retrap
Blackbird                                  1
Bullfinch                3                  1
Chaffinch               6                  1                          
Linnet                     7
Meadow Pipit         6
Robin                      2                 
Stonechat               2

Totals                    26                 3    


That afternoon, John went for a stroll through the dunes and picked up the first Redwings of the autumn and heard a Phylloscopus warbler calling in the scrub but it remained unidentified. We rarely ring past 11 and don't think we have ever gone beyond midday but we could be missing plenty in the afternoons!

Portstewart Strand 30/09/2017

Well after all the debate over the weather and getting the greenlight I arrived at Donaghadee Harbour on Friday evening only to find out the boat to Copeland Bird Observatory was out of action and it would be at least Saturday morning before it would be fixed. It was a little too far for me to travel back to the north coast and return again the next morning so I gave it a miss but five of the group of eight did make it out. It is a real shame as the conditions would have been great on Saturday morning for ringing, with Sunday much windier and wet. We have had great problems this September getting to the Observatory with the preceding two weekends also not possible and this is peak time for many of our common migrants and also our peak time for rarities.

Stonechat

Saturday (30th) morning wasn't completely lost to me as I headed down to Portstewart Strand with John in what felt like a proper autumnal day and the first day where the mist net poles get too cold to touch! There was a little breeze first thing but this was to ease gradually. It did ease at times and completely disappeared only to return stronger within 10 minutes - strange!


The Long-eared Owls are still hanging about amongst the scrub and we are now up to three birds. One narrowly missed the 6m net at west ride as it was coming in to roost.
The number of new birds trapped was down on recent visits but we are retrapping more of the birds ringed in the past few weeks.


Portstewart Strand 30/09/2017                            
                              New         Retrap
Blackbird               2
Blackcap                5                  1
Bullfinch                2                  2
Chaffinch               1          
Dunnock                2                  3
Goldcrest               1                  1
Goldfinch               1
Great Tit                 1                 1            
Meadow Pipit         2
Robin                      1                 2
Song Thrush          5 
Stonechat                                   1
Wren                      1  

Totals                    24                 11    

I've had a sit down this week and updated all the ringing data and bird logs and had a look at our return so far. We were really slacking early season with only 92 new birds ringed between April and the 12th of July but this was generally down to effort. We are roughly 180 new birds short on our total for the site in 2016 and around 320 short on 2015. We have also handled seven less species this year but we still have around two months to improve the situation.

On the positive side, it is already our best year ever for Blackcap and Goldcrest and I would imagine we will catch a few more before the season is out.

We are planning a visit on Friday and possibly Sunday morning, and after a few days of strong westerlies we don't really know what to expect. We are shielded by Donegal so it is unlikely that any American passerines will make it our way but at least one has before! 

Great Crested Grebe

The PatchWork Challenge total is now up to 118 species with the addition of a Great Northern Diver. The first Whooper Swans, Greylag Geese and Great Crested Grebe of autumn have been sighted in the past week with the Brent Geese arriving the week before.