Sites

The Bann Estuary

The Bann estuary sits at the mouth of the longest river in Northern Ireland, the Lower Bann, which drains Lough Neagh in to the Atlantic Ocean. 

The estuary is the focus of the majority of our ringing projects with a number of spots utilised.  Our main ringing site in the estuary is Portstewart Strand on the eastern (northern on the map) shore - more information is available on the Portstewart Strand tab.

Grangemore

Directly across the river from Portstewart Strand lies Grangemore which are the oldest dated dunes in Ireland, managed by the National Trust.  The site is intersected by a small meandering river that has shaped the surrounding land forming drained Oxbow lakes, a large marsh, reedbeds and an exposed sand bank utilised by Sand Martins.  The area is fantastic for breeding birds and also a key winter roost site for waders which use the tidal Oxbow Lakes at high tide.    
Generally the ringing focus is on the Sand Martin colony and breeding warblers in the marsh.  Mist netting waders at night is something we have adopted more recently and have some good success.
As of 2016 we have moved our main Swallow roost catching site to the reedbeds here which is already producing dividends. 

Castlerock Golf Club

This site is also on the west bank of the river and very similar to Portstewart Strand in that the net rides run through Sea Buckthorn scrub, although on a much smaller scale.  It is much closer to the mouth of the river and supposedly has mainly female Sea Buckthorn bushes.  Whatever sex they are, they are always laden with berries in winter and very popular with winter thrushes, Bullfinches, Chaffinches and wintering Blackcaps.  Access is a little less more difficult so we don't visit as often.


University of Ulster Coleraine

The university campus is one of the biggest sites that we use and it is divided into three main subsites:

The River Site

As the name suggests, it is located beside the river (Lower Bann) and for its small size, it has a nice mix of habitats.  The main part of the site is recolonising woodland (which is maintained) at the edge of farmland, which switches from silage to arable.  At the edge of the river there is a 30m wide reedbed but generally it contains very little in terms of breeding birds.  The main purpose of the site is to target migrating birds passing along the river from spring to Autumn.  The site produces general woodland species but also Mistle Thrush, Reed Bunting and 7 Warbler species including a Garden Warbler in September 2012, which is a real Northern Irish scarcity. 

  
Ken's Garden

Ken's Garden is located directly beside the university campus and is heavily fed for most of the year.  The garden attracts hundreds of birds every day and consistently produces catches of 50+ birds.  The most frequent species are Chaffinch and Goldfinch but it also gets nice numbers of Blackbird, Bullfinch, some Blackcap in winter and larger species such as Jackdaw, Rook and Woodpigeon.   

Cromore Road

This site is an area of recolonising woodland in flower rich meadows at the edge of a small wood.  The site is divided by a mature hedgerow, where we set the majority of the nets.  The rest of the site is a network of open long grass, dense patches of saplings and brambles.  The target species are the breeding Grasshopper and Sedge Warblers, so we only ring here in the summer months. 
The trees are growing and spreading at quite a rate that the breeding warblers are being forced to the periphery of the site and eventually will move to pastures new. 

Kens nest box scheme of 313 boxes on the campus came to an end in 2015, after 15 plus years.  The majority of the nest boxes have now been relocated, with only c35 boxes remaining, to continue a study on tree species preference for titmice.  The boxes had been great help with Kens RAS projects for Blue and Great Tits and a multitude of other titmice research projects.  The boxes are also occupied by Coal Tit, Treecreeper and Wren.

The small stream through the campus has breeding Dipper and Kingfisher and the wooded areas have breeding Buzzard, Long-eared Owl, Sparrowhawk and also a LEO winter roost.



The Loughan

The main ringing location in Loughan village is Richard's suburban garden that sits on the banks of the Lower Bann river and is located across from a wooded Island.  The garden is utilised mainly during winter with the use of feeders.  So far there have been 32 species caught in the garden including House Martin (5), Jackdaw, Jay (7), Magpie (8), Moorhen (3), Pied Wagtail (7), Sparrowhawk (2), Treecreeper (3), Tree Sparrow and Woodpigeon.  It generally gets decent numbers of finches in late winter, with totals of 450+ Goldfinch (plus 3 controls), 75+ Lesser Redpoll and 125+ Siskin over the last few years.
There can be up to 6 House Martin nests on the house and one pair of Pied Wagtails.

There is also a small stream that meets the river 50 metres downstream, which has breeding Kingfisher, Dipper and Grey Wagtail, with Common Sandpiper sometimes utilising the stream mouth.  5 Kingfisher were ringed in 2014.

           Kingfisher           © RD

Macfin

A large Sand Martin colony located within 50 metres of the Lower Bann.  The large sand bank contains roughly 150 nest holes. The shape and height of the bank make setting nets quite difficult.  We opt for a single 12m metre in front of the main face which sits roughly 3 metres away from the bank in the centre of the curve.  It does allow many of the birds to access their burrows and they are subsequently caught on the exit.  Catches of 100-150 new birds are expected each year.

 The main bank of the Sand Martin colony

Rinnagree Point

This is our Storm Petrel ringing site situated between Portstewart and Portrush.  It is a short 18m grassy spit sticking out from the rocky coastline.  We do not have any breeding colonies close by, so the birds we catch tend to be immature/non breeders.  They only appear along the coastline in any numbers through July and August.

Gateside

Located just outside Portrush, this site is in an area of arable farmland beside a dry reservoir.  Generally the target species here are Tree Sparrows and Yellowhammer.  The site is only utilised in winter with the use of feeders, but it also has some nest boxes for Tree Sparrows.


Nest Box Schemes

We have a variety of nest box types, distributed across the 'North Coast', targeting a range of species.  The majority are regular closed face boxes with 28-35mm entrance holes, with a few opened faced and larger boxes for birds of prey.

- Castelroe Wood - 30 regular closed and 6 opened faced nest boxes.  Target - Blue Tit, Great Tit and Treecreeper

- The Ulster Campus University - c35 regular closed face boxes.  Target - Blue Tit and Great Tit.

- The wood in the Glens of Antrim -  60 closed and 15 open faced.   Target -  Redstart, Pied Flycatcher and Spotted Flycatcher (Long shot for the Pied Flycatcher and Redstart).

- Bann Estuary - c15 closed and 5 open faced regular.  Target -  Tree Sparrows and Pied Wagtail.

-  Gateside - c10 regular closed faced boxes.  Target - House and Tree Sparrows

- Kestrel Boxes - 30 distributed across Binevenagh and Springwell Forest
                             (yet to be occupied by Kestrels)

- Barn Owl Boxes - 5 distributed in between the 'triangle' area of Coleraine, Portrush and Portstewart
                                 (yet to be occupied and unlikely a that).

- Dipper boxes - c20 distributed around the local rivers around Coleraine