I now live in Scotland and my passion is watching and photographing birds.
On the right hand side of the blog there is a fairly comprehensive list of Bird Photographers from all over the world.
I woke up early and decided to head out to Killard Nature Reserve. As my dog is on heat I decided not to take her with me. In hindsight a good thing. I was really hoping that I would find the Grey Plover had returned to it's tiny piece of beach that it has been returning to for the last six years. It generally arrives between the 23rd and 28th August. So it seems to be overdue. There were lots of records of them in England this past week so I was crossing my fingers.
The weather was heavy showers and quite windy. I left home in the rain and by the time I got to Killard it was bright. There were loads of Wheatears every where.
Wheatear oenanthe oenanthe
I must have seen six between Strangford and Killard. As I walked to the point for the Grey Plover I put up at least another six Wheatear.
I walked onto Ben Derg beach and the tide was right out. There were lots of Great Black Backed Gulls on the shoreline. There was also a flock of small waders which were predominantly Ringed Plover and a few Dunlin at the waters edge. As I was making my way off the beach I put up a juvenile Ringed Plover and two other waders. I immediately noticed the white rump of the two waders.
Juvenile Curlew Sandpiper in Flight
They flew round me and landed back on the beach. Juvenile Curlew Sandpiper. As you can see from the light in the above photo it had got dark quite suddenly and within a minute it was pouring with rain.
So later in the day I headed back and got a few more shots. Unfortunately by this time there were quite a few walkers with dogs and after a short while it had flown off. It did make up for the fact that the Grey Plover was nowhere to be seen.
The photo I posted earlier I have reliably been informed was not a Zino's but a Black Capped Petrel.
On the Island of Madeira just off the North African Coast there is an endemic petrel called the Zino's Petrel. Here is a link to Madeira Wind Birds description of the bird.
There have been forest fires which have killed several breeding adults and as much as 65% of this years chicks. Birdlife International and SPEA(Birdlife in Portugal) are looking to raise funds as quickly as possible in order to carry out emergency conservation work.
If you would like to help you can make Donations HERE
I received a text from Gerard McGeehan to say that a Great Egret had been seen at the Quoile on saturday afternoon and at the time I was still at work so I headed down there after work and didn't see anything apart from a couple of Green Sandpipers.
Then this morning I was on my way to have breakfast at my favourite cafe Picnic in Killyleagh when Ian Graham rang to say it had been seen and had it come towards my house. I checked to see if it was visible from the house but unfortunately not.
After breakfast Ian kindly texted me again to say the Great Egret was back at the Quoile. So I headed down there and was pleased to see the bird. My previous sighting was a couple of years back up on Lough Beg. So a Spoonbill and a Great Egret in the space of a couple of weeks. What Next?
A friend, who knows of my dislike of Magpies, recently sent me a cutting from the Daily Telegraph of a letter sent to the Editor by Mark Avery the RSPB conservation director. The letter is as follows. Shooting Corvids Will Not Reverse Songbird Decline
SIR – John Hatch (Letters, August 2) asked how much the RSPB spends on researching the causes of bird declines, as compared to conserving birds of prey.
We spend £4million a year on species research and monitoring, a substantial proportion of which is dedicated to understanding the causes of decline and testing measures to help these species.
A smaller sum of money is also spent on tackling crimes against birds of prey, as well as redressing the impact of the persecution of these beautiful birds by reintroducing them to areas where they have been driven to extinction.
This is money we wouldn’t need to spend if those who persist in persecuting these birds put their prejudices to one side, acted in the public good and stopped the killing.
Unfortunately, scientific research doesn’t come cheap, but it does help us deliver reliable results for threatened birds. There is robust independent evidence, for instance, that shooting corvids will not reverse the decline in farmland songbirds, as Mr Hatch contends. That can only be achieved by providing the right food sources and nesting habitats in our farmed countryside.
That is why, in England alone, we spend £1.7 million a year on advising and encouraging farmers to put wildlife-friendly measures in place on their land. Farmland birds need farmers, and we want to give them as much support as we can to help them reverse the declines of skylarks, yellowhammers and other threatened countryside songbirds.
Dr Mark Avery
Director of Conservation, RSPB
Sandy, Bedfordshire
Well I totally and utterly disagree with this. Infact it makes my blood boil. I would love to know what this robust independent evidence is. As far as I am aware there are a number of independent studies on Magpie predation from all over Europe and the greater percentage of them suggest that Magpie predation of young birds is a serious problem. Even Evidence from the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust’s farm at Loddington, Leicestershire, where research was carried out to establish the impact of predators on songbirds, found that at keepered sites where the Magpie population was controlled, songbirds thrived. One of the birds that thrived was the Spotted Flycatcher. Infact the bird was in decline in the study area and with the Magpie control this was reversed. This important fact has received next-to-no publicity, yet Spotted Flycatcher’s seemingly inexorable demise has been extensively talked up and blamed on a range of intangible factors, from global warming to habitat changes in Africa – across which the bird winters in a huge arc within which no other species has shown, thus far, a comparable decline in far-flung European breeding grounds due to ‘problems in Africa’. Yet the RSPB seem to think there isn't any persuasive evidence that magpie predation is a conservation issue. Even though research from the Czech republic regarding the predation of nests close to Magpie nests had a detrimental effect on the surrounding nests . [Miroslav Salek. Folia Zool. – 53(1): 57-64 (2004)] There was a five year study done in Northern Germany suggesting that upto a 100% of young and eggs of some species were taken were taken in a specific 25 acre site. I mean it ain't rocket science. In the UK there are about 650,000 breeding pairs and they have a clutch of between 5-7 eggs so potentially 4.5 million mouths to feed. Now what does a Magpie feed on? Well they feed on invertebrates, especially beetles, fruits, seeds, small birds, nestlings and eggs. Magpies tend to be born around the 1st May and it takes them 24-30 days to fledge. So approximately for the month of May all other bird species close to Magpie nests are greatly at risk with their 4.5 million mouths to feed each day.
Close to me there is a shooting estate where Magpies and Hooded Crows are controlled on a regular basis with the use of Larsen traps and any nest building destroyed and the result is palpable. In late May this year young birds were everywhere. I just don't understand why the RSPB does not recognise the problem that Magpies at medium to high densities are a detriment to countryside songbirds and then quite happy to publish a letter such as the one above which in my opinion is also prejudicial. And as for the redressing the impact of the persecution of these birds of prey by reintroducing them to areas where they have been driven to extinction. What a load of bollocks. The RSPB has claimed to reintroduce the Red Kite to Northern Ireland under the flimsiest of evidence that they ever existed here in any number. It is just a publicity seeking act to try and draw more members in.
Last week I went to the RSPB Belfast Harbour Reserve on two occasions. This was the first time in about three months. Well all I can say is Mike Clarke (Boss of RSPB) James Robinson (Boss of RSPB in Northern Ireland), Mark Avery( see above), Gregory Woulahan(Reserves Manager ) and Chris Sturgeon(RSPB Belfast Harbour Reserve) should all be utterly ashamed of themselves. It is a shadow of its former self.
Views from the RSPB Belfast Harbour Hide showing weeds
Views from the RSPB Belfast Harbour Hide showing weeds
Views from the RSPB Belfast Harbour Central Hide showing weeds
I first of all went on Wednesday and I have to say it nearly brought me to tears. Infact I came back on the saturday and sat in the central hide for three hours and talked to birders who came in. The overwhelming response was that they all thought that the reserve was now being grossly mismanaged. The water levels have not been controlled. One birder told me that for quite a while it had been totally dry. The RSPB spent a fortune on having a predator proof fence and that for the last two years a fox has been living on the inside of the fence. There were even it's footprints directly outside the hide.
Fox Footprints on RSPB Belfast Harbour Reserve
There seems to have been no effort to control the margins of the reserve in the last 18 months. The scirpus is taking over the weeds are totally out of control. Why have the RSPB spent ten years spending loads of money on getting a reserve into tip top condition to just let it slide. I cannot believe how apathetic they are. I had high hopes that when James Robinson took over as Director in Northern Ireland that things would improve in the period of instability after they had sacked the previous warden but obviously not. If dramatic action is not taken the reserve will be taken over by the reeds and the scirpus in the next two to three years.
After spending time in the central hide I went to the main hide where encouragingly there were quite a few visitors. However each one was interrogated as they entered as to whether they were members. The volunteers seemed to have no knowledge at all. I was just embarrassed by the answers they were giving to questions being asked. Why not get volunteers in on a saturday that actually know a wee bit about bird identification. They were unable to identify a snipe right in front of the hide for one couple. This is no way to enthuse the next generation of birders.
There are a couple of maps on the wall, which when the previous warden was working there were always filled with interesting information regarding migration etc. However in a fit of pique when they sacked him it was all scrubbed out. Has any information been replaced not at all.
Map in RSPB Belfast Harbour Hide unfilled in for 18 months due to apathy
Sadly I suspect that this reserve is in terminal decline.
UPDATE 1: This year there was a 90% breeding failure of Terns on the Tern Islands. No doubt due to not having any water around the islands which allows the foxes within the reserve to predate the young. In past years the previous warden always made sure there was water during the breeding season. There was also no safety islands next to the islands. So when the rain eventually filled the reserve again they had no place to go if they fell off the island.
UPDATE 2: Mark Avery is now leaving the RSPB in April 2011and from what I have heard one of the reasons is he found that Mike Clarke the replacement head of the RSPB an imbecile. That strangely doesn't surprise me.
UPDATE 3 A friend went to the hide a few days (25.1.2011) ago and was told the tern colony failure was due to lack of food. Well all I can say is utter lies. The tern colony at Groomsport further up Belfast Harbour didn't fail. The terns at the reserve are opportunist feeders in Belfast harbour as seen in the study by the RSPB NI Directors wife Lorraine Chivers "Courtship feeding and food provisioning of chicks by Common Terns Sterna hirundo at Belfast Harbour Lagoon " The failure was due to mismanagement of the water levels.
UPDATE 4 I was talking to a lovely lady at the BTO Film Festival on Saturday 5th March and she had visited the hide a week previously. It was her first visit. She didn't see a great deal. WHY you may ask. Well there were two foxes right out in front of the hide. This is in a reserve surrounded by a predator proof fence that cost in the region of £35,000. So it has been now two years since any effort has been made to control the foxes within the reserve. So I guess yet again there will be a failure to have any success with the Lapwing that breed on the reserve and if water levels aren't managed the Terns will also fail. Why do the RSPB in Northern Ireland tweet about conservation when they cannot put it into practice. Tweet
UPDATE 5 Two Days until Mark Avery leaves the RSPB. I wonder whether he has left any legacy I doubt it. The RSPB is more interested in gaining new members than on the ground conservation. RSPB Northern Ireland is still in chaos. The Belfast Harbour Reserve needs a new and committed warden who actually knows what he is doing. There is enormous disquiet at Belvoir about his abilities. Aodhan the PR and Media Exec was facing a disciplinary and jumped before he was pushed. So no more twitter comments from him. There are people off on stress and my friend who works there says the atmosphere is poisonous.
I got home from work today to find that Penny was off on a girls night out and the boys were either going to a party or the cinema. So I had been left to fend for myself so I opted for a walk out at Killard Nature Reserve with the dog and then I decided to visit the Quoile Pondage before heading home. Thank goodness I did. I tend to go to the Quoile less at this time of the year as the scirpus and reeds are just growing madly and reducing greatly the area that one can see. I also had my telescope stolen from my car and so am unable to see very clearly the far shore. As I walked into the hide there out in front was a Spoonbill spooning away in the shallow water with its dramatic bill sweeping away through the water from left to right.
Spoonbill at Quoile Pondage 14.8.2010
It ocasionally went out of sight before something spooked all the birds and it flew away to the Killyleagh side of the pondage along with about hundred mallard and fifty Black-tailed Godwit.
Spoonbill at Quoile Pondage 14.8.2010
This was the third Spoonbill that I have seen at the Quoile over the last six or seven years.
I have also been enjoying Killard alot recently. For the last few evenings there has been a Bar-tailed Godwit on Ben Derg Beach which allows you to get reasonably close. As well as the Godwit there have been a number of Dunlin, Sanderling, Ringed Plover and on one occasion a juvie Golden Plover.
Bar-tailed Godwit in Flight
Bar-tailed Godwit in Flight
Dunlin on rocks
There has also been a vast number of juvenile birds around from Meadow pipits, Willow Warblers, Skylarks, Whitethroats, Rock Pipits a few Ringed Plover, Tree Sparrows, Goldfinches and Linnets. Here are a few shots of some of them.
I am quite a fan of Simon Barnes, the Times Chief Sports Correspondent. He writes a column called 'Wild Notebook" in the Times on saturday. He also wrote a book called "How to be a Bad Birdwatcher:To the Greater Glory of Life", which I thoroughly enjoyed.
A couple of weekends ago he wrote "If your mind is tuned into birds, birds become part of your experience of almost everything. It's not a matter of obsessive looking: once you have tripped the switch, it is impossible not to see birds. You can't deactivate bird awareness."
Since reading this article I have been thinking about this alot. I have loved birds all my life but I think it was about seven years ago that I really tripped that switch as it were. I wake up I hear the swallows out on the telephone wires, the Goldfinches hovering around the feeder and the House Sparrows chattering away. I go out to the car and can hear the Oystercatchers, Gulls and Curlew down on the shore. I drive to work and I notice the large amounts of Magpie's on the roads, the Rooks, Jackdaws and Wood Pigeons feeding in the cereal fields. I notice the Swifts wheeling about the sky. I cannot get away from them and nor do I want to. I come home and take my dog Pickle out to Killard my local Nature Reserve and I see the Stonechats, I hear the Whitethroats, Dunnocks and Wrens in the hedges. I hear the Sandwich Terns calling overhead on their way either to feed or on their way back with a sandeel or two to their young in Strangford Lough. There are the Sand Martins flying low over the field of Cow Parsley feeding on the flies. Along the shoreline there are the Ringed Plovers with their new families and the Dunlin on their migratory routes north or south. Inland there are the Skylarks and Meadow Pipits both of which seem to fly up into the sky and parachute down to earth calling all the time. I look out to sea and there are Gannets flying by, quite often a bright white in the sky. There are the Manx Shearwaters, who in low winds tend to beat their wings five times then glide before beating their wings again. In higher winds they seem to oscillate up above the waves and then down gain shearing the water as they go. I wonder are they on their way back to the Copeland Islands or are they on a round about route heading to Skomer Island in North Wales. I just love birds.
I have been feeding birds for the last twenty years and have a few feeders dotted around the garden. Over this time I have become increasingly annoyed at the way one buys bird food. If you buy it in a supermarket it is usually in a flow wrapped bag which is difficult to get into, difficult to pour into feeders without spilling everywhere. What do you do if you don't use it all. Do you transfer it to another container. But it really should be so easy. I mean, it's only bird seed, it's not rocket science. It should be simple. It should be simple so that is what I am going to make it.
I have been meaning to go to Rathlin Island for years. Rathlin Island is off the coast of Northern Ireland, and is its most northern point. Rathlin is the only inhabited offshore island in Northern Ireland, with a population of now just over 100 people, and is the most northerly inhabited island off the Irish coast. The L-shaped island is 5 miles from east to west, and 3 miles from north to south. 7 miles from the mainland and only 15 miles from Scotland.
The last time I was there was as a teenager in August 1979.(My only real memory of the visit was that we were camping for a weekend after the Ballycastle Tennis tournament, that is held every year, and I learnt not to pee into the wind!) So I made my way up to Ballycastle, where the ferry leaves for Rathlin. I hoped to connect with a Laughing Gull, a rare American vagrant that had been found there a few days earlier. I parked and went to look on the beach next to the town where a river runs into the sea. It wasn't there, only a few Herring Gulls washing themselves. I looked over the Ballycastle grass courts towards a community centre where there were quite a few Black-headed Gulls and with a bit of relief there it was sitting amongst them.
Laughing Gull at Ballycastle 2010
The day was not looking particularly promising for photography with the prospect of showers in the morning and then clearing up in the afternoon. I made my way to the Rathlin Island ferry terminal and bought my return ticket costing nine pounds. I then headed down the ramp and got on the fast ferry as opposed to the car ferry which takes quite a bit longer. As we left the harbour there was a number of cormorants riding in the swell. As we crossed the sound there were lots of Guillemots and Razorbills flying across our path. Near the island a couple of Manx Shearwater glided by.
Church Bay and Harbour Rathlin Island
As we entered the island harbour an Eider Duck was trying to swallow a crab, it had eaten the legs and was trying to swallow the body in one. It succeeded!!!
Eider Duck with Crab Carapace
I got off the ferry and headed straight for the Puffin Bus. The Puffin Bus takes you the four miles to the west end of the island to the seabird colony and lighthouse. Five pounds return or three pounds one way. I paid The driver giving a running commentary which I doubt could be heard further back than the first row. I saw Peregrine, Sparrowhawk and Kestrel on the way as well as a family group of Ravens. In one field I saw six hares. Then we were there at the top of the cliffs where there is a seabird centre.
The cliffs at the west end of Rathlin Island are a wonderful sight and the most important seabird breeding site in Northern Ireland. There are over 80,000 Guillemots, 10500 Razorbill,10,000 Kittiwake, 1000 Fulmar, 750 Puffin, 50 Shags and 100 Black guillemots breeding here. So as you get off the bus the smell of guano hits you immediately. The lighthouse is set halfway down the cliff and there is a viewing platform next to it where you overlook half the colony.
Rathlin Seabird Viewing Platform
Even though it was drizzling I have to say it was brilliant to be so close to Fulmars, Kittiwakes and Razorbills. Immediately below the platform there were breeding Fulmar and the noise is really loud. There were Kittiwakes yelling at each other and fighting, some would join together and fall in a spiral almost down to the sea before breaking apart and returning to their nests.
Kittiwake Nests
Fulmar coming into land
At the bottom of the cliffs is an area where Puffins nest. I am always shocked when I see them as they are so much smaller than you imagine them to be. This one was flying below so looking down on top of it.
Flying Puffin
It was a slightly frustrating morning because I would watch these showers coming over from the west and then the camera had to be put under cover. They would last about forty five minutes and after the second one I decided I had had enough. So I climbed back up the fairly steep steps to the top of the cliff and looked southwards. There was somebody with a telescope obviously doing a bird count can you see them in the photo below.
Looking towards Antrim from Rathlin
Looking back towards the harbour from the west end is a lough and I thought I would go and walk round it. As I made my way down in a fairly heavy shower I could see lots of Black-headed and Common gulls on the water as well as some Tufted Duck and Mallard. A few Curlew flew away screaming in alarm as I came over this little bump along with about thirty Oystercatcher. On the water there were three Little Grebe of which two were young.
Little Grebe Chicks
In the reeds around the lough there were a lot of sedge warbler calling. Then out of the blue this Great Skua flew low over the ground towards me.
Great Skua
As it passed me another flew fairly close by
They both headed for a Hooded Crow and started to harrass it. I watched them for about half an hour which was a real treat as I have never observed them for any length of time before. During this time they headed off a party of Ravens and one harrassed a Gannet.
Great Skua on Rathlin Island
Then three Buzzards appeared and they disappeared and I didn't see them again. I wonder whether this was Northern Ireland's first breeding pair.
On the walk back to the harbour I came across this large beetle crossing the road and as the bus was coming I decided to move it out of the way. I have no idea what species it is.
Beetle on Rathlin
I also saw a number of dragonflies which I think were Brown Hawkers.
There were lots of Willow Warblers, Sedge warblers and a single Blackcap. Then in the field that I saw the six Hares in the morning this one popped up.
Irish Hare on Rathlin Island
As I was coming down the hill towards the island's catholic chapel there was a Spotted Flycatcher hawking insects. I mentioned this to Gerard McGeehan and Shirley Dunlop and they had seen one at this spot the previous year.
The afternoon had warmed up considerably and I was knackered from the walk so I headed to the Manor House for a lovely pint of guinness before heading back on the ferry.
The Rathlin Car Ferry
I had a most wonderful day and it will not be 31 years until I return again. As we were leaving the harbour I noticed how the sky seemed to reflect the wake of the ferry.
I'm very happy that five swallows have fledged in my shed yesterday.. This is the first year that they have used this shed to breed. I have had to block the door open so that they can get in all the time. Only drawback is the mess. Below is one of them. Between my house and the next door neighbours farm there seem to be at least thirty swallows flying around. They have at least ten seperate pairs breeding in their sheds. Seems to be up on last year.
I headed out to my local patch this morning at Killard NR.
I arrived at Ben Derg beach and there were a couple of Dunlin on the rocks and a couple of pairs of Ringed Plover. The Ringed Plover both have young. One has two and the other one. There were also a few Oystercatchers on the shoreline making a racket and as I approached two flew off and I noticed a dead one and was even more shocked to see the way that it had died. It had this plastic item jammed over its lower mandible. When I turned it over and felt its breast it was skeletal. So had basically died of starvation.
www.birdguides.com Photo of the Week 15.7.2010
Infact the moment it put its beak into this object it had signed its death warrant. I had great difficulty myself in removing it from the beak. Once it stuck it in the tiny hole on one side the metal strips on the other side allowed it to push further but not out again.
I dread to think how long it took this bird to die.
It is just so depressing to see the amount of plastic waste that washes up daily on the shoreline mainly I suspect from fishing boats. There was also another piece of litter on the reserve being two semi deflated balloons which were probably released at some party or charity function. Releasing balloons should be banned.
Canon 40D with Battery Grip +2 Batteries £450
Canon EF 100mm F2.8 Macro lens £290 SOLD
Canon EF 100-400mm F5.6 lens (2004) There are a few flecks of dust behind objective lens.£700
Canon EF - Wide-angle zoom lens - 17-40 mm f/4.0 L USM £400 SOLD
Canon EF 70-200 F4 L IS USM £750
Canon mount Sigma 500 f4.5 £2000
Canon Mount Sigma 10-20mm £350
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