A Montagu's Harrier and a Possible 1st for Ireland a Tawny Owl all in One Day

Tawny Owl at Castle Ward

This morning I took the early ferry to Portaferry to go and see whether the Montagu's Harrier found by Keith Bennett was still at Lough Cowey. I parked the car and hopped over the gate and there it was off to my right. If only twitching was always that easy. The bird stayed for about a minute before flying out of sight. It wasn't until two hours later that it reappeared and then only for a few minutes.

Montagu's Harrier at Lough Cowey

Montagu's Harrier

Montagu's Harrier

Montagu's Harrier

While I was there I had a text  from David Thompson who is the National Trust's Property manager for Strangford Lough and South Down saying that he wanted a second opinion as he felt he had heard a Tawny Owl calling near the sunken garden and that other people had been wondering for the past few weeks what it was. I texted him back saying that I thought it would probably be Long-eared Owl from my past experiences with them on the Castle Ward Estate having lived on the estate for 12 years.

Any way this evening I took Pickle for a walk and dropped off Penny to do a run round the estate and meet me back at the sunken garden, while I looked for the bird. I heard it almost immediately I got there and tried to find the exact tree it was calling from. I was helped by three blackbirds, a Mistle Thrush and a song thrush all who were mobbing the bird deep in some bushes. I still couldn't see it when all of a sudden I looked at my level rather than in the tree tops and bingo there it was one beautiful Tawny Owl. My only hope is that it isn't an escape. I couldn't see any rings or jesses. I rang the World of Owls and they were not aware of any escapes. 

A Wonderful Afternoon at Killard Nature Reserve with an Otter

Hi

I went out to Killard Nature Reserve with the dog this afternoon and it was sunny but blowing a gale. There were a few Goldcrests in the gorse bushes along with a new Hooded Crows nest. Skylarks were singing and quite a few Swallows were on the top level. On the main beach 6 Ringed Plover and a few Redshank. At sea there was a lot of toeing and froing of Shags and Cormorants and a few Gannets.

A couple of days ago I bumped into birder Tim Murphy out at Killard Nature Reserve and he had asked me whether I had seen any otters recently. I told him that it had been probably a couple of years since I had seen one out there.

Well blow me I had nearly finished my walk when I saw quite far out what I thought might be a duck until it's long tail went up into the air. 

It then made its way to the shore quite quickly before getting out onto a rock. Then a wave came in right over it.

Otter being engulfed by wave

Whereupon it swam over to an adjacent rock got out and had a shake.

Then it had a good scratch.

Before rolling over and over in a cleft in the rocks.

Then after about 20 mins and with my memory card almost full it got back into the water and headed towards the lighthouse in the middle of the Strangford Narrows.

Bird life at Clandeboye Estate

On thursday night my friend Anthony McGeehan is giving a talk at the Clandeboye Estate for Lindy, The Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava about the birds found on her estate. Unfortunately I will be unable to go but the talk will be an interesting one. 

Little Gull Feeding on Sand Eels

Little Gull at Killard

Today was one of those days that I think embody the reasons why I love birding. It is the surprise when you see something new or an interaction that you haven't seen before. This morning I went out to my favourite spot Killard Nature Reserve. There was a strong easterly wind and it was absolutely baltic. I didn't have high expectations as to what I would see, maybe an early Wheatear or possibly a Short -eared Owl at most.

There were a few Bar-tailed Godwits on the shore one of which was being constantly pushed away by the others.

Bar-tailed Godwits

I saw a couple of Stonechats on the gorse bushes and a Little Egret feeding on the shoreline. I walked over the hill and down to the main beach and saw the NIEA(Northern Ireland Environment Agency) Warden driving towards the beach. It was the first time I have ever seen a vehicle out here.

NIEA Warden

I popped down and had a chat with him picking up some of the rubbish that had been blown above the beach for him to remove. Hopefully we are going to organise a beach clean in the not too distant future as it is getting fairly bad.

He left and I walked along the beach and was going to head back to the car when I spotted a Razorbill fairly close to the shore.  I thought if I approached it every time it dived I might be able to get quite close. As I was approaching I noticed every time it dived a small gull was lifting off the water and seemed to follow it. As I got closer I saw that it was a Little Gull. (A new Killard patch tick for me)

Little Gull and Razorbill

I then spent the next hour watching them together. As soon as the Razorbill surfaced the Little Gull would land on the water beside it and the moment it dived the Little Gull would be airborne. They covered the whole length of the beach and back again in the time I watched them.

Little Gull and Razorbill

Much to my amazement the Little Gull was feeding on sand eels that the Razorbill was disturbing as it dived. This new symbiotic observation to me is one of the reasons why I love birding.

Little Gull with Sand Eel

A Happy New Year and A Not So Happy New Year at RSPB Belfast Harbour

Happy New Year

I have been chastised by a number of people that I met over the christmas and new year period that I haven't been keeping up my blog. Guilty as charged. So I have decided I will do a blog post at least every month.

Every new years day I spend the day adding birds to my new years list and this year was no exception. I start in my living room and this is my view looking over Strangford Lough.

The first bird of the day was a Blackbird followed by a Buzzard sitting in the tree out of picture and within forty five minutes I had forty species of bird. My third bird of the day was a male Blackcap which much to my surprise starting feeding on sunflower hearts for a while before flying off and then returning to my apple feeder. The BTO are doing a Blackcap Survey at present in case any of you have Blackcaps coming to your feeders  http://www.bto.org/volunteer-surveys/gbw/about/background/projects/garden_blackcap_survey

After Penny and I had breakfast we headed out to Killard and added a few more birds to the list including Skylark, Stonechat and Sandwich Tern. Then we headed to the Castle Island Hide, which has to be one of the coldest hides around. The water levels were very high but nevertheless there were quite a large amount of duck out on the water apart from the one I really wanted to see Pintail
We then headed to WWT Castle Espie for lunch, a walk around the grounds and to buy a copy of Anthony McGeehans book for a birthday present. If you didn't see it Michael Viney of the Irish Times gave it a great review  Castle Espie were running a contest to see how many wild birds you could see on the reserve. In the fairly short time we were there we saw 39 species with a nice pair of Pink-footed Geese flying overhead.

We then drove a friend to the airport and stopped off at the RSPB Belfast Harbour Reserve where the first thing we saw was a fox. Another person in the hide told me that a couple of weeks previously it had caught 6 moorhen on the ice. Seeing the fox within the predator proof fence made my blood boil. It is painfully obvious to me that the RSPB in Northern Ireland could not care less about what was once a fabulous reserve. This particular fox has fairly distinct facial markings as can be seen here

Screengrab

this photo was taken July 2006 and the most recent one was taken last November 2012

So this fox has been within the predator proof fence for the breeding season of 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 2010, 2011 and 2012 Is it any wonder why the Lapwings have not been successfully breeding or much else for that matter. In the summer of 2011 the fox was even spotted on one of the tern islands which had been allowed to get into a state of disrepair. One wonders why an organisation spends 30,000 pounds on a predator proof fence and during all the time that it has been there, there have been foxes within it. I think it is high time the reserves manager pulled his finger out and hires a pest controller to trap or shoot the foxes within the reserve.

Maybe now because the RSPB seems to be more interested in nature than birds they will just leave it there to ruin yet again the breeding chances of many of the birds that breed on the reserve.

There seems to be so little expertise left within RSPB headquarters in Northern Ireland that they are now paying for a management plan of the Belfast Harbour Reserve from an external environmental consultancy. Madness

After the rant My New Years Day total was 71 species



Update: My Apologies to Mr. Ronald Surgenor for linking his flickr photographs of the fox without his permission.

A few days on Inishbofin and another lifer Ortolan Bunting

1st Winter Ortolan Bunting Inishbofin Sept 2012

Penny and I arrived on Inishbofin on monday at lunchtime. Paddy-Joe picked us up and took us to the cottage where I stay every year. After settling in and having a quick lunch we headed out to the East End. It was raining and within the first few hundred yards there were birds everywhere Linnets, Meadow Pipits, Swallows, Pied Wagtails, Wheatear, Robins, Dunnock and Starlings. We were just passing Pat Concannon's house and there were a few linnets on the ground beside a gate which all flew off as we approached. One bird remained on the ground and I raised the binoculars and the first thing I noticed was the white eyering followed by the moustachial stripe. I took two shots before it flew off back down the valley. I suspected it might be Ortolan but wasn't sure having never seen one before.

Ortolan Bunting

By now it was pissing down and I put the camera into my backpack before heading to East End Bay where there were a couple of Bar-tailed Godwits, some Dunlin, Turnstones, Ringed Plovers and Sanderling.

Sanderling at East End Bay Inishbofin

Turnstone

Turnstone in flight

As we headed round the bay I stopped off at some willows and found both a Sedge Warbler and Chiffchaff.  Stonechats were also in abundance on the stone walls.

Stonechat

It was at this point that my camera fell out of my bag and crashed to the road. I very gingerly picked it up and fortunately the body was undamaged but my beloved 400m lens was dented and it has impacted on the autofocus. From now on I would have to use manual focus. With the camera lens being damaged and the pouring rain my mood was not a good one.

This changed somewhat when I reviewed the two images on the laptop and confirmed my suspicion that it was after all an Ortolan Bunting and a 1st Winter one to boot. Thanks must also go to Ronan McLaughlin for verifying it for me. A first for Inishbofin and Galway. I then went and put out some seed at the side of the road between the Dolphin Hotel and the cottage I was staying at, in the hope it would come and feed on it.

Ortolan Bunting Feeding on Seed

The following morning I went out as the sun was rising over the horizon and found it again a hundred yards past the Dolphin Hotel. Yet again it flew back up the valley towards the cottage in which I was staying. I continued onto the graveyard to see if anything else had popped in during the night. On my way back I found it feeding on the seed I had put out the previous night just fifty yards from the cottage. I then texted Dermot Breen, a Galway birder, to let him know that it was still around as he was thinking of coming to see it.

Ortolan Bunting

Penny and I then headed over to the west end of the island to see if there was anything about. Over Lough Bofin there were a flock of 33 Lapwing which I think is slightly higher than last years numbers. From the sea watching site just near the Stags of Inishbofin there were a steady stream of Gannets and Fulmars and nothing else. Above the beach that I think is the most beautiful in Ireland there were three Chough calling.

Most Beautiful Beach in Ireland

I met Dermot off the ferry and headed to the bunting. It wasn't where I had seen it earlier and we had a quick look before I headed back to the cottage for some soup. After lunch I left the cottage and as soon as I was on the road I could see it with the naked eye and texted Dermot. He appeared with remarkable haste. His blog is here

Dermot Breen photographing Ortolan Bunting

The rest of the day was spent at the Dumhach Bay where my wife went for a swim before we headed to Day's Bar for a couple of pints of Guinness and free wifi.

Each morning I would head off early and walk down to the graveyard to see if any new migrants had arrived. Only on the last day was there a steady stream of Meadow Pipits flying through the valley. I tried to get a few shots of birds landing on the gravestones.

Meadow Pipit on Gravestone

Stonechat on Gravestone

Blackbird overlooking the ruins of the 14th century St.Colman's Abbey

On the wednesday Dermot texted me to see if the bird was still around as Conor Foley wanted to see the bird. I replied with positive news. Wednesday was a fab day and made for getting nice photos of the bunting. The bird spent most of the day feeding on the seed I had put out and when ever people walked by it would pop over or into the adjacent hedge. Conor connected with the bird fairly quickly after his arrival.

Ortolan Bunting hiding in the hedge

Ortolan Bunting on New Zealand Flax

Ortolan Bunting on the tarmac

The weather was wonderful and I walked parts of the island that I hadn't covered before. In particular the ridge on the south side of the island that leads to Cromwell's Barracks. The views from the top of the hill were stunning. Unfortunately the tide was against us to get to see the Barracks but there will always be another time.

View of Inish Lyon from Knock looking towards Maumturk Mountains

On thursday there was no sign of the bunting and there were very strong winds all day and the occasional showers which made finding anything difficult. Every time there was movement it was usually one of the many resident Robins on the island. One in particular was so engrossed in eating a blackberry that I was within arm's reach of it and too close to get a photo. There were also quite a few young swallows sitting on the barbwire fences waiting to be fed by their parents. In Regina's garden in the house we were staying there were a family of five Blackbirds and three Song Thrush. In the afternoon we headed out to the sea watching site in the West and observed Gannets, Fulmars, Kittiwakes, Razorbills, Manx Shearwaters and a single Sabine's Gull.

Robin on Inishbofin

Young Swallow

Song Thrush in Regina's Garden

On the friday I decided to go to Leachta Beag one of the high points of the island at Middlequarter and see if there were any birds up by the airfield. There were three Lapwing, a Heron, a few Wheatear and Meadow Pipits. The views from the top were amazing and we could see in the distance the waves breaking on the Stags. So we set off to get a closer look. When we got there the rollers were coming in whipped up by the previous days wind and were crashing into the rocks. You could feel the power. Sometimes a wave would crash into the Stags and water would be shot a hundred feet into the air. Spectacular. My love of the island was reaffirmed.

Waves crashing onto Inishbofin

Wave Crashing into the Stags

Wave Crashing into the Stags of Inishbofin

Maelstrom

The Stags from the South

On the way back I saw in the distance a wader feeding in the short grass and was puzzled as it seemed to have a bill too short for Curlew or Whimbrel but on approach it was obviously a juvenile Whimbrel. I then wondered whether it might be a Hudsonian Whimbrel brought over with the recent gales, but as it took off the rump was obviously very white so excluded that possibility.

Juvenile Whimbrel

Juvenile Whimbrel

Sadly that was the end of my short break and on the way home Anthony McGeehan texted me to say he had just received a few copies of his book that morning and did I want to pick one up from him on my way back. So I met him outside Sprucefield McDonalds at eleven o'clock at night and received my copy before he headed south. It is absolutely superb but there will be a blogpost about that at a later date.

Birds through Irish Eyes