Another Couple of Photos in Birdwatch Magazine.

Peregrine's Bird Facts There are six races of Dunlin. Calidris Alpina, Calidris Schinzii, Calidris Arctica, Calidris Pacifica, Calidris sakhalina and Calidris Hudsonia



Well I have just received the latest copy of "Birdwatch" Magazine and am very glad to say I have two more photos published. One is of the Wilson's Phalarope and the other of the Peregrine chasing the Knot which is in a previous post on this blog. I only need them to publish another 1728 photos per year to give up the day job!!

The other day I left work and it was one of those beautiful autumn days. The sun was bright ,a slight chill in the air, little or no wind, the sky had not a cloud in it and when one's hobby is taking photographs of birds this kind of weather uplifts me no end.

I headed to the RSPB Reserve in Belfast where there wasn't alot going on, apart from a couple of Curlew Sandpipers which were too far away, mainly because a predator proof fence is being erected right round the exterior of the reserve and the disruption generally means the birds are not there. Here is an aerial view of part of the reserve with one of the tern islands.


So I headed to Kinnegar Shore which is just round the corner I parked the car and immediately below me were about twenty Dunlin on the edge of a little stream. I gingerly got out of the car hoping not to disturb them and crawled very slowly towards them. Infact I got so close that I couldnt go any closer due to the minimum focus of the lens. Here are the best of the shots.


Dunlin Panorama



Dunlin in Stream



Dunlin having a Scratch

After I had taken these photos a Redshank alarm call went up and the Dunlin exploded away from me with this Redshank following.


I then headed home and had a snooze before going ou to Killard in the afternoon where it was still absolutely beautiful. Strangely there werent many birds about I think probably due to a Kestrel and a Merlin that was around. Infact In the last few weeks I have seen a Merlin nearly every time I have been out there.

I did see this seal pup on the rocks. Pickle almost went right upto it but was quite sensibly very cautious so I never got the nose to nose photo.


I left Killard and stopped at a little bay which has a fresh water stream running into it which can be good for waders and when the light is good it is directly behind you. This particular evening the light was stunning and there were a high count of Golden Plover, lots of Ringed Plover a few Dunlin, Bar-Tailed Godwits and Curlew. You park at a picnic stop next to the sea wall which is covered with lichens so can offer good photo opportunities and using my car as the hide in a space of five minutes got some nice shots of Wagtail and Robin.


White Wagtail



Robin

As I was taking the above photos a Greenshank dropped down right in front of me and this was my favoutite image.
Infact it made my day as I never seem to be able to get that close to them as they can be quite wary.




PS. In my view the two best Bird Photography Forums on the net are First Naturescapes.Net HERE This site is predominantly American Photographers with a few other nationalities from around the world. Sometimes there are amazing photos and I would look and see what has been posted most days. My only problem with the site is that the critiques can be over the top with praise for quite often fairly boring photos and there is rarely serious criticism. Sometimes people will be really helpful and suggest better ways of presenting photos. There is also a fair amount of sycophancy when extremely well known bird photographers such as Artie Morris post photos, but apart from that its a great site.

The second site is Naturephotographers.net HERE This site is the UK section of the website. Again some wonderful photos.My favourite in the last few months has been this ONE Just Brilliant.

Finding one's own scarcities (Little Stint and Pectoral Sandpiper)is far better than twitching somebody else's.(Great White Egret)

196. Little Stint
197. Pectoral Sandpiper

Peregrine's Bird Facts The Little Stint is one of the four Dark-Legged Stints. The others are the Semipalmated Sandpiper, the Western Sandpiper and the Red-necked Stint.



After work on Saturday morning I headed to the RSPB reserve at Belfast Harbour and went to the central hide. It was a pretty grey morning and there was another birder there Mark Killops ( I hope I have got that right) and we simultaneously spotted a very small wader dropping into the far side of the lagoon. With my binoculars I couldn,t quite identify it but assumed from size it was a Little Stint. I remember Anthony McGeehan saying to me last year it is either going to be Little Stint or Semipalmated Sandpiper. So while Mark kept the scope on it I went to get the Collins Guide. It was after a short discussion decided to be a Little Stint. Photographs at this distance were out of the question but fortunately it came closer after a while.



I texted Derek Charles to let him know about it and he texted me almost right back saying he had one at the Castle Island Hide on the Quoile!! It turned out that a few others had also arrived in Northern Ireland on the same night. I went back on monday morning as the light was a bit better and took another photo comparing with the size of Dunlin.

While I was in the hide all the waders suddenly all flew up into the air. A sure sign that a falcon of some sort was around. I wasn't to be disappointed I thought initially it was a Merlin as it came low in from the west but by the time it had gone past me it was obviously too big winged. It came directly at the hide.



Before chasing some Dunlin and the Stint unsuccesfully.



On the way home I dropped into the Castle Island Hide on the Quoile and there were a couple of birders there. One whom I regularly see up in Belfast but whose name escapes me. He pointed out five Whooper Swans . I had a look out the front and saw at first what I thought was a Snipe .All I could see was its back view then it turned sideways and I realised it was a Pectoral Sandpiper. The first that I have found on my own! I again texted Derek and received one back saying to look closely to see if it wasn't a Sharp Tailed Sandpiper. Well I had no idea what a ST Sandpiper ( also known as a Siberian Pectoral Sandpiper) looked like so again it was out with Collins and back to the scopes to double check. It wasnt. I took a few photos but it was quite a distance away and I had 700mm on camera and still not really enough. I can see the digiscoping set up calling.I went home really chuffed. You can just about make it out in front of the Teal.


Yesterday after work I decided to go up to Lough Beg and try and find the Great White Egret that had been spotted. I had seen one earlier in the year in Italy at vast distance but never in Ireland. I had been up briefly to look about a week ago but no joy. On Flightline ( Our free of charge Northern Ireland rare and scarce bird line. I am in much admiration of George Gordon who night after night after night leaves an answering machine message of all the sightings) there was mention that it was North of Church Island. This was exactly the same place that I saw an Osprey and a pair of Cranes.

I arrived and put the wellies on got the camera, scope and binoculars and tripod. It was alot tougher going than I had imagined I was walking across the a large area of wet grassland that is flooded each winter.It also has never been drained or improved agriculturally apart from the cows that graze there. So I was regularly getting stuck in deep muddy areas. Church Island is at the centre of this reserve and in the spring and autumn is a hot spot for migrating birds.

As I got closer to the small bay to the left of Church Island there it was the Great White Egret.


I didn't really have to look for it at all!! So pretty pleased to get close enough to get a photo. As I was crawling closer and closer it flew off northwards. There were 10 Black Tailed Godwit in the vicinity and one Bar Tailed Godwit as well as hundreds of Mallard, some Teal and a few Widgeon. I then decided to go and look at the church. Or rather the ruins!! of an old church, dating back to the time of Saint Patrick. It is thought that Patrick used the Bann to navigate to the Island on Lough Beg where he met with Taoide who found an early Christian settlement in the 5th Century. That settlement is recorded as Inis Taoide (Taoides Island) in the Annals of Ulster of the 11th century. The current church dates from 12th Century but there is a stone known as the Bullaun Stone featuring a hole which can hold water. The Bullaun Stone is most likely associated with the first monastic settlement. Local anecdote has it that the hole in the stone was made by St Patrick as he knelt to pray.(Don't they all!!!! I live near Downpatrick and he was supposed to be buried there. I think its all myth personally so little is actually known about him when it comes down to it.) I took this photo of a gravestone



It is one of the things about birding that I really like is that you get to see places that you would never have found or have reason to go and see. In the past two weeks I have driven the coast road around the top of Northern Ireland, visited Church Island and driven round the Islandmagee peninsular all in the search of my favourite things BIRDS.

Sea Watching at Ramore Head Co. Antrim

Peregrine's Birding Facts


As I am very susceptible to sea sickness I couldn't go on (Click on link for really good report)Anthony McGeehan's Pelagic out of Magheroarty in Co. Donegal a couple of weeks ago, which was a pity as I would have seen at least three lifers. So on Tuesday did the next best thing I went sea watching at Ramore Head Co. Antrim one of the two best spots in Northern Ireland.
The other being St. John's Point Co.Down near to where I live.

At Ramore Head the on-shore winds bring winter flypasts of Cormorant, Fulmar and Gannet and in the Autumn strong north-west winds bring flights of Leach's and Storm Petrels, Shag, Manx and Sooty Shearwaters, plus Arctic, Great and Pomarine Skuas, Sabine's Gulls and the occasional Blue Fulmar . Well I would be very happy with Leach's Petrel, Sooty Shearwater and a Sabine's Gull as I have not seen any of them.


I left work and drove upto Portrush about an hours drive away. I am ashamed to say this was the second time I had been here the last time was 28 years ago when I was 16 and went on the rollercoaster, which I didn't enjoy. I regularly hear of seawatching reports coming from Ramore Head on Flightline but never had got round to getting there. Anthony and his brother Gerard had said they were going up there as there was a Northerly gale which brings in the seabirds so I went to join them. I first of all parked inthe East carpark where a number of gulls were resting out of the wind as well as a Sandwich Tern which I drove fairly close too.




Not seeing Anthony's car in the car park I drove further into Portrush and found it at the most northerly part of the town. It was very windy when I got out of the car and pretty chilly. I was glad that I had my Paramo trousers and jacket, even though I could have done with something warmer than a t-shirt underneath. I walked to where I assumed they would be to see five birders looking out through their scopes. Anthony and his brother Gerard, Joe Lamont, Dennis Weir and another guy who I have seen before but dont know his name. So far they had seen Leach's Sabines, Great and Arctic Skua. You look out to the Skerries a small group of islands and the birds tend to fly past them.


Suddenly somebody shouted Arctic Skua and two birds flew quite close by. This was shortly followed by the slightly larger Great Skua on both occasions I had my camera on the ground :-( I also at this stage thought this was going to be brilliant however they were the only ones I was to see over the next couple of hours. Gerard pointed out a Leach's Petrel but I could not get onto it. Gerard and Anthony left shortly afterwards to go and do some more work on the Belfast Harbour Reserve. I also was beginning to doubt my eyesight when the birder I didn't know pointed out a Basking Shark over a period of ten minutes but neither Joe Lamont nor I could get onto it. After a couple of hours I was pretty cold and decided to call it a day. I learnt a few things about sea watching 1. Wear suitable clothing, Gloves, Hat etc 2. Bring a flask 3. Bring a fold up chair. The next time I will be better prepared. As I was returning to the car somebody said they had seen Grey Phalarope at the far side of the car park .

I headed there but could only see Sanderling, Turnstone, Ringed Plover and the recently returned Purple Sandpiper.




but no Phalarope.

I then decided to drive all the way along the coast past the Giants Causeway, Ballintoy Harbour, Torr Head, Cushendun, Cushendall, Glenarm all the way to Belfast. It was a revelation it had to be one of the great drives off the world the scenery was spectacular and I had never done it before.

For all of you out in Blogger land Northern Ireland has absolutely stunning scenery and is well worth a visit!!

RSPB Belfast Harbour Reserve comes up Trumps again.Another lifer for me Wilson's Phalarope.

195. Wilson's Phalarope

Peregrine's Birding Facts : The Wilson's Phalarope was named after a Scot, Alexander Wilson.



At 7.30 last night I got a text from Anthony McGeehan to say that a Wilson's Phalarope was on the reserve and he reckoned it would stay the night. So I set the alarm for 6.30 and on getting up I headed to Belfast. When I got there I wasn't surprised to see that Derek Charles was there before me. This meant that if the bird was there he would be able to tell me where it was, which he duly did.It was a smaller than I was expecting.It appeared to be in 1st winter plumage. It was also on the far side of the reserve and photographing it was a waste of time. However it came closer after a time. The hide also started to fill up with birders and by the time I left there had been fourteen or fifteen in to see the bird.

Who was Wilson? As there is Wilson's Storm Petrel, Wilson's Plover, Wilson's Phalarope, Wilson's Warbler and even Wilson's Bird of Paradise.

Alexander Wilson was born in 1766 in Paisley in Scotland. The son of a Whiskey Distiller. When he was 28 he left for America for a better life. He became a school teacher in Pennsylvania. It was here he met William Bartram a famous American Naturalist who inspired his interest in ornithology. In 1802 Wilson decided to publish a book illustrating all the North American birds. With this in mind he travelled widely, watching and painting birds.The result was a nine-volume American Ornithology (1808-1814), illustrating 268 species of birds, 26 of which had not previously been described. There is a page from volume 7 HERE There is even suggestion that when he met James Audubon in 1810 that it inspired him to do the same.




The Belfast Harbour Reserve managed by the RSPB I have to say is an absolutely brilliant wee spot. I fortunately only work about seven minutes away and would come from work for a ten minute visit most days. Yesterday I came down and there was an adult Peregrine attacking the waders. I think this is a great spot if you want to see a Peregrine at work. The only draw back is that it makes the waders very nervous. The Curlew seem to be fairly unconcerned but the small waders such as the Redshank and Dunlin are the most wary. The Redshank tend to form small concentrations beside the Tern Islands when they spot the Peregrine or Sparrowhawk.Here is a shot of a Peregrine chasing a Knot. The Knot escaped but only just.


The other interesting thing I observed was that a Kestrel flew right over the centre of the reserve and none of the waders were concerned at all only the Wagtails. Talking of Wagtails there has been an amazing amount on the reserve in the last couple of weeks and on one day there was in the region of seventy. These are a mix of Pied Wagtail and White Wagtail heres a photo of a White Wagtail.

Some Recent Bird Photos

193. Mallard
194. Eider (I did a review of my years list and found I had left these two off!!!)

Peregrine's Birding Facts: Over 180,000 birds of 200 species have been ringed at the Portland Bird Observatory



The first two were shot this morning. I had left work in absolute rage because my car had been ticketed and I was furious that none of the staff had got a parking ticket for it as I was delivering sandwiches in the town. When I returned there was this b---dy ticket on my windshield. I left without even looking at any of the staff foregoing a coffee I always take with me after work and drove to the Belfast Harbour Reserve to calm down. I spent an hour in the central hide and watched a couple of Common Sandpiper which were most obliging. When the cloud came over I decided that was my photography for the day. I got back to the car ripped the ticket from the car and opened it to see how much the fine was. It was a very authentic fake saying that I had been ticketed for having a Naff Car. I had been had well and truly. The anger evaporated into laughter. You can get them here.




I also shot these arguing Redshank at the same time as the Sandpipers.


I am really pleased with this photo. I had seen this Kestrel out at Killard dive onto something so I approached it slowly and whenever I got within fifty or so yards it would fly on with its prey a hundred yards. This continued about five times before I decided to cut inland and try and cut it off. Which I did successfully. The prey was a young Starling of which there are a great many at the moment.


I went to St Johns Point in the hope that I might get a photo of a Manx Shearwater. Not to be unless you want to see some dots on a blue background! But I did get this Juvenile Kittiwake.


After I had been to St Johns Point I went to Ardglass Harbour to see if there might be any interesting gulls. There were Herring Gull, Common Gull, Kittiwake and Lesser Black Backed Gull. All flying round the harbour. I liked this young Herring Gull screaming after another which had just picked up some food from the water.



This photo was taken from the Castle Island Hide on the Quoile.


The following three were all taken at the RSPB Belfast Harbour Hide. A Black tailed Godwit just about to land. A Ruff and a Peregrine being harrassed by a Herring Gull.

Two Lifers in a Day one an Extreme Rarity for Northern Ireland. A Squacco Heron

188. Arctic Skua
189. Long Eared Owl
190. Wood Sandpiper
191. Squacco Heron
192. Great Skua

Peregrine's Birding Facts: The Northern Irish List contains 339 Birds


The Squacco Heron was found on the 21st July and was only the second record of this bird in Northern Ireland. The previous sighting was in 1881. It had birders from all over Ireland racing to see it where it gave very good views. I was in Italy when it arrived so it wasnt until I found time which ended being on the 10th of August(Thank Goodness for long staying rarities) that I got good directions and headed up to Lough Beg just North of Lough Neagh (Europes biggest freshwater Lough).

I had been in the bird hide at Belfast Harbour and when I said I was going upto see the Squacco nobody sadly suggested that I shouldnt wear shorts!! I arrived at the broken gate just south of the Lough and clamboured over it . You then continue down a track for a hundred yards before twisting down a narrow path overgrown with brambles and NETTLES. My desire to see the bird at this stage was greater so I got quite nastily stung round my legs. I then came out into a field and the lough was a few hundred yards in front of me. I walked to to the edge thinking where am I going to see this bird. I first saw a Little Egret flying of into the distance and was wondering whether that might have been it. Then I saw a small white looking bird along the shore which I wasnt sure about because it looked so small and it was semi hidden by seeding dock. I then got my scope onto it and sure enough it was the Squacco. I should have read up about it as I wasnt expecting it to be so small.

I then tried to inch my way towards it as it was very small in my camera even though I had the 500mm lens and a converter on. I got a reasonable distance of it before it flew off.

When it flew off it flew low over a Grey Heron which was good as it showed the size comparison.


Lough Beg has been pretty good for me as I saw the pair of Cranes there this time last year which was another first.

Previously in the day I had been at The Belfast Harbour Reserve and seen a very obliging Wood Sandpiper another first right in front of the hide.