Bird News Thursday 10th December

A Long-eared Owl flew across the main Annahilt/Hillsborough road at top end of Spirehill road being heavily mobbed by rooks at 2.39pm today heading towards wooded area at top of Windmill Road direction. (Gary Wilkinson).

Belfast Lough RSPB WOW reserve had 1 Ruff, 2 Bar-tailed Godwit, 1 Buzzard, 2 Mistle Thrush (unusual here), 2 Reed Bunting ( first for some time), 100+ Wigeon, Redpoll, Sparrowhawk & 20 Knot. A male Blackcap was visiting a garden in Bangor. (Derek Polley). 

4 Long-tailed Ducks, 2 male and 2 female, were off Cultra this morning. (Dermot Hughes).

An adult Mediterranean Gull with a red ring and 4 white letters  was at Antrim Waterworks in Belfast the top three letters on the ring are NUO, the fourth letter is obscured, see picture below. (David Knight).

A Peregrine Falcon was at Scrabo Hill (Aaron Devlin) and a Stonechat at Portmuck on Island Magee (Billy Hamilton).

Along the Armagh shore of Lough Neagh 4 Bewick's Swan (the first reported) and 46 Whooper Swan were between Bannfoot and Oxford Island (Fulton Somerville, Jim Whitla, Michael Richardson and Robert Hart).

Thanks to David Knight for the picture of the Mediterranean Gull and to Christine Cassidy for the picture of the Jay.