Bird News Monday 3rd February

The Glossy Ibis was still at Ballycarry. (Birdguides)

A first year American Purple Gallinule has been found dead on the Mullett peninsula (Dave Suddaby)
An adult Mediterranean Gull was at the car park along Whitehead seafront (Stuart McKee)

Portmore Lough had  500+ Lapwing, 1000 Golden Plover, 18 Black-tailed Godwits and Shoveler, Teal and Widgeon on the flooded meadows.(Amy Burns)

4 Sandwich Tern were at Portaferry (Jack Foster).

600 Golden Plover, 300 Lapwing and 80 Curlew were in fields near Killough brickworks (Declan Clarke).

Two announcements from the NIRSG.....
The Northern Ireland Raptor Study Group are holding there annual conference in Oxford island on 8th March.  A number of speakers have been lined up. If you are interested contact the raptorofficerni@gmail.com there is still a few places available. The conference starts at 08.45 and a fee of £10 and is payable at the door . 

NIRSG are running two peregrine training workshops; the first on 27^th February and the second on 27^th March.  On each day we will be visiting a few historic nest sites, learning about the signs to look out for, and the time to look out for them, to confirm the presence of a breeding pair. This year is the year of the BTO (British Trust for Ornithology) peregrine monitoring scheme, and the NIRSG volunteers, along with BTO volunteers, will be helping out in Northern Ireland. We will hear more about what we need to do at the NIRSG conference on 8^th March but these training days will be a good starter!

On 27^th February we will focus on nests in Co. Antrim, and we are starting from Larne leisure centre at 09:30am.

The second day on the 27th March will be in Co. Fermanagh and we will start from Enniskillen at 10am (exact location to be confirmed).

Places are limited so if you are interested in coming along on either day please email raptorofficerni@gmail.com

Our thanks to  James O'Neill for the picture of a Goldeneye and to Tom McCreery for another wonderful shot of the Pacific Diver.