Northern Ireland Local Patch (17 Viewers)

[nepp]

Got out on Monday for the first time in a while. Saw the Wilsons Phalarope at the Barmouth and then tried for the Ospreys at Lough Beg. The cattle gave no problems but probably due to increased activity on the water with the Bank Holiday, the Ospreys did not show. I did however get some nice Stonechats on the way in

Well done on the phalarope Tully. I haven't been able to make it to the Bann so I hope it stays around for a bit longer.
There's a Semi Palmated Sandpiper at RSPB Belfast. I viewed it from the hide inside the fertiliser compound. It is with the dunlins( although much smaller and whiter below) and 2 curlew sandpiper. There are also 2 sanderlings which were keeping separate this evening plus one little egret.

 

[DEREK CHARLES]

Hello Everyone,

Well Done Tully on the Phalarope. I missed the Ospreya also although they probably are still there. They move around and often frequent the south end which is visited less frequently.

Good to see Norma has joined the ranks of the full time twitchers! I however could only make it after work. It was nearly dark at 6.30 in Belfast so the video grabs are poor quality. It was that dark the Coolpix would not work at all!

Regards

Derek

 

[DEREK CHARLES]

Batch 2!

 

[DEREK CHARLES]

Finally!

 

[DEREK CHARLES]

Hello Everyone,

A few better pics of Semi P and Curlew Sadpipers.

Regards

Derek

 

[DEREK CHARLES]

Just the usual few pics from the weekend. Decided to put a few gulls in this time!

Regards

Derek

 

[DEREK CHARLES]

And a few more. No gulls this time

 

[nepp]

addicted

Derek
I see you are addicted to this digiscoping lark. Is it the Nikon you are using for most of the pictures? How much tweaking do you do?

I like the picture of the lesser black backed gull.

I was at St John's Point yesterday. There were others there who were pretty sharp at picking up the birds. Although it was quiet I saw 3 Great Skua, a razorbill, a guillemot, 3 puffins, lots of gannets, 2 sandmartins, a couple of manx shearwater and finally a storm petrel (spotted before I arrived).

 

[DEREK CHARLES]

Hello Norma.

The last 3 sets of pics were all taken with the Nickon Coolpix 4500 either at the RSPB Reserve or Dargan Bay. I was lucky on Saturday morning that the sun was shineing and the birds were very close, both are big factors in getting good quality pics. I do not edit them in anyway (except cropping) although i have bought the software to edit them.

I have also started videoscopeing and am very pleased with results although stills will always be slightly worse quality than pics taken with Coolpix.

Well done at St Johns , you were slightly unlucky that the wind wasn't a bit stronger. Great Skuas are always great birds.

Regards

Derek

 

[Tully]

Great to see the pics Derek. Finally got the Ospreys at Lough Beg on Sat morning, but precious little else bar a Stonechat due to a wildfowler on the shoreline. Moved on to Belfast harbour where I extended my short life list by three, Common Sandpiper, Curlew Sandpiper and the Semi-P. It was quite distant so without your equipment no pic was forthcoming. Did manage the attached tho'
Cheers

 

[DEREK CHARLES]

Hello Everyone.

Had an eventful weekend saw a Dotteral and a Buff Breasted Sand and went down to Wicklow and seen the Great Spotted Woodpecker.

Usual set of pics.

Regards

Derek

 

[DEREK CHARLES]

Heres your second lot!

 

[DEREK CHARLES]

Final set

 

[rdspalm]

Magilligan

I was at Magilligan this afternoon looking for skuas. Eventually saw one Arctic Skua up close. Plenty of Gannets and Cormorants.

Regards,

Richard

 

[Roger&out]

Got down to Myroe to see the Dotterel on Saturday and also saw 2 of the Buff-breasted Sandpipers. Lots of other waders including 2 Bar-tailed Godwits, 100+ Black-tailed Godwits, about 15 Curlew Sandpipers, and 2 Knot. Also got my first Brent of the Winter (sic) with about 49 in 2 groups.

Had some lovely views of an adult male and what was probably a juvenile Merlin.

Rgds Roger

 

[nepp]

I was in england at the weekend...altho not specifically birdwatching.
Firstly in Lancashire at the Marshside Reserve just North of Southport the first birds I saw were 42 pink footed geese.
At Martin Mere was a juv Marsh Harrier.
Later I was in Dumfries so took a quick trip to Caerlaverock hoping to see something interesting but only saw 3 ruff, and teal in eclipse. There are also wigeon and a few pink foots but I didn't see them. Lots of swallows and house martins still about.
Near Castle Douglas we visited the red Kite feeding station at a local hill farm. They are fed everyday at 2pm and if there aren't too many visitors watching outside the hide (you are invited to go inside) the kites fly in for food. We had 12 yesterday but the day before there were 28! Each bird is double tagged on the wing so you should be able to see the year of hatching by the colour.
It's pretty special to see them flying so acrobatically.

 

[DEREK CHARLES]

Wheatears and Ring Billed Gull!

Derek

 

[Roger&out]

Hi folks,

was in Scotland at the weekend depositing our daughter at University and managed to get a run out to a place called Musselburgh, just east of Edinburgh. Had only a short time but it proved very fruitful. The highlights were Common and Velvet Scoter, Long-tailed Duck, Slavonian Grebe and Red-throated Diver -an adult with an immature. There were also Scaup, Teal, Wigeon, Gannets, Great-crested Grebe, and gulls of all varieties, although none of them unusual.

My limited time meant that I didn't get to a series of lagoons where rare waders turn up, but thats for the future.

It's a spot I would highly recommend.

Rgds Roger

 

[s. james]

Hello everyone, haven't been doing much birding lately but I cycled up to Portmore Lough yesterday (during the Aghalee tornado!!). Highlights were Buzzard in fields north of Dollingstown. Hundreds of Lapwing on a ploughed field beside the canal cycle path at Annaghdroghal. At Portmore itself there were 8 Pheasants feeding on spilled seed by the bird table and 3 Stonechats on the meadows. On the lough there were large distant duck flocks + Ruddy Duck, Teal and Moorhen just in front of the hide. Large groups of Blue, Great, Coal and Long-Tailed Tits were feeding in the scrub behind the hide.

Pick of the day was my first ever Kingfisher spotted flying across the front of the hide on three occasions. Its bright blue back was very striking as was it's high pitched wader like call.

 

[nepp]

Bann Estuary

Hi folks

At the Bann Estuary on Sunday there were lots of sanderling, dunlin curlew, golden plover etc .
For a short time there was a lone barnacle goose looking a bit lost. It left about 15 minutes later.