Bird News Thursday 12th November.

The dark - bellied Brent was still at Dundrum Inner Bay.(David Nixon)

48 Whooper Swans have been feeding in stubble at St John’s Pt and roosting on Strand Lough each day this week (Chris Murphy)

50 Twite where still around Ramore Head.(David Hill)

The Great White Egret was still at Ballycarry (Linda Thompson) 

Notice...

A freshly dead juv. Whooper Swan found at Lough Beg on Saturday while carrying out an independent impact assessment of the A6 has been tested by DAERA and found to have the highly contagious avian pathogen H5N8. Birders should be alert though it is not considered by WHO to pose a significant health risk to humans..

Our thanks to David for the photo of the d - b Brent. Also to David for the photo off a Twite.

 

Bird News Wednesday 11th November

 A female Goosander was at Glynn Station this morning. (Brian Halligan).

The Great White Egret was still at Ballycarry Bridge this morning. (Noeni Bryars)

Thanks to Brian for the picture of the Goosander and to Noeni for the picture of the Great White Egret:

Bird News Tuesday 10th November

Myroe this morning had 750 Whoopers, 3 Whitefronts, 5 Pinkfeet and 170 Greylags. 18 Slavonian Grebes and 3 Red-throated Divers were off shore. (Garry Armstrong) There was 4 Greenland White-fronts at Myroe.(John Spottiswood)

A Black-throated Diver and a Red-throated Diver were at Ballygally Bay this morning. (Ed Simpson).

A Great White Egret was at Dromantine Corner near Poyntzpass, Co. Down. (Joe Devlin).

The Great White Egret was seen again at Ballycarry bridge.(Philip McErlean)

2 Snow Bunting where at Castlerock beach.(Christine Cassidy/Lindsay Hodges)

30 Twite where at Portrush along with 130 Sanderling.(Gerard McGeehan/Shirley Dunlop)

Our thanks to Christine Cassidy for the photo of the two Snow Bunting.Also to Joe Devlin for the Great White Egret at Dromantine Corner and also to Philip McErlean for the Great White Egret at Ballycarry,, also notable that both photos contain Little Egrets.  

Bird News Monday 9th November

The Great White Egret was still at Ballycarry Bridge this morning.  (Garry Armstrong).

The first winter Glaucous Gull was at the Barmouth this morning (Theo Campbell). Presumably the same bird was then seen at the Coleraine Burgerking at lunchtime (John Clarke)

The 2 Long-tailed Duck were still at Lough Shark Co. Armagh (Frank Carroll).

A Brambling was visiting a garden in Whitehead. (Cameron Moore).

Two Snow Bunting were at Castlerock Beach (Richard Donaghey)

Glaucous Gull, John Clarke:

Water Rail, Castle Espie, Jonathan Clark:

Whoopers, Brian Redpath:

Bird News Sunday 8th November

A Snow Bunting was still at Slieve Gullion (John Spottiswood).

A Great White Egret was at the south end of Lough Beg this afternoon. Also 35 Ruff and two Pink-footed Geese were in the area. (David Steele).

The Great White Egret was still at Ballycarry Bridge up to 4.00pm at least. (Cameron Moore).

The Long-tailed Duck was still in the channel at Myroe, several White-fronted and Pink-footed Geese were with Greylags in the fields. A Slavonian Grebe was offshore and 50 Sanderling at the mouth of the Roe. (Martin Deehan).

14 Twite were on Rathlin today. Also seen on Rathlin over the weekend were 5 White-fronted Geese, 2 Snow Bunting, a Grey Wagtail and 75 Jackdaws, an uncommon bird on the island (Ric Else & Hazel Watson)

Thanks to Cameron Moore for the 1st Great White Egret picture, to Allistair Gordon for the pictures of the Great White & Little Egrets and the Jay and to Ric Else and Hazel Watson for the picture of the Twite:

Bird News Saturday 7th November

9 Snow Bunting and a Merlin were seen at Ramore Head this morning (Kevin Kirkham)

The Great White Egret is still at Ballycarry Bridge, Larne Lough, Co.Antrim. (Paul McCullough / Michael Latham / Daniel Newton). Seen later were a flock of 20 Pink-footed Geese and an adult Mediterranean Gull (Kevin Kirkham)

2 Long-tailed Ducks are at Lough Shark, Co. Armagh. (Joe Devlin).

A single Snow Bunting was at Portstewart beach (John Clarke)

A Dark-bellied Brent was with Brent at Dundrum North Inner Bay (David Nixon)

A Cattle Egret was close to the riding stables at Myroe, 2 Greenland White-fronted Geese were also present. (Annette Elkin)

11 Whooper Swans were at Killough Brickworks; 436 Whooper Swans, were at Lough Beg-Toome, and a high count of over 1,000 Lapwings were north of Church Island, Lough Beg   (Chris Murphy). Yesterday 1100 Common Scoter, 700 Golden Plover, 238 Sanderling, and several Twite were among Linnets at Tyrella-Dundrum Bay (Chris Murphy, Doris Noe)

Two Swallow were at Whitehead seafront (David Galbraith)

Thanks to Michael Latham for the picture of the Great White Egret, to John Clarke for the picture of the Snow Bunting, to David Nixon for the picture of the Dark-bellied Brent and to Annette Elkin for the pictures of the Cattle Egret and the White-fronted Geese:

Bird News Friday 6th November

The Great White Egret was at Ardmore shoreline east of Emerson's this morning and a Merlin still at Reedy Flats (Clifford Sharpe)

The Great White Egret was still present at Ballycarry (per Paul McCullough)

A Marsh Harrier was at Oxford Island this morning, giving distant views from the Croaghan hide. (Comghal McQuillan)see pic below

Our thanks to Comghal for the photo of the Marsh Harrier. Also to Jonathan Cooke for the Great White Egret photo from Ballycarry

Bird News Thursday 5th November

A Great White Egret and Merlin were at Reedy Flat, Lough Neagh this morning. (Clive Mellon)

Another Great White Egret was at Derryleckagh Bog near Newry (Andrew Crory).

The Great White Egret was still at Ballycarry Bridge in Larne Lough. (Paul McCullough).

12 Snow Buntings were at Ramore Head at noon (Juliet Fleming).

3 Red-throated Diver were off Blackhead this morning. (Michael Latham).

A Goosander was at Cullyhanna Lake in Co. Armagh, the Sacred Ibis was still at Kiltybane Lough. (Joe Devlin).

A Great White Egret was at Groomsport. (Birdguides).

The Long-tailed Duck was still in the channel at Myroe. (David Hill).

Two Goosanders, a male and a redhead, were back at Lough Island Reavey. (David Nixon).

A Black-throated Diver and a 2nd winter Mediterranean Gull were at Loughshore Park in Jordanstown this morning. (Kerry Leonard).

Thanks to David Hill for the picture of the Long-tailed Duck and to Juliet Fleming for the picture of the Snow Buntings:

Bird News Wednesday 4th November

The Great White Egret was still at Ballycarry Bridge in Larne Lough this morning. (Neal Warnock)

A Snow Bunting was today at Slieve Gullion, Co. Armagh (David Knight)

The Long-tailed Duck was still at Myroe (Christine Cassidy / Lindsay Hodges)

A Lapland Bunting was heard in flight over Ardglass GC at 10.30am; 21 Whooper Swans roosted on Strand Lough overnight (Chris Murphy)

A Great Spotted Woodpecker was in a garden in Portballintrae on (John Wilkinson)

A Short-eared Owl was at Strangford Lough (Harry Byron)

Many thanks to those who sent in pics. Further pics are also at: http://nibirdpics.blogspot.com/

Short-eared Owl, Linda Thompson:

Snow Bunting, David Knight:

Great White Egret, Kenny Moore:

Great White Egret at Ballycarry

 We have received several pictures of the Great White Egret at Ballycarry and below are a selection:

Cameron Moore

                                                                                  Ian Enlander

                                                                   Nigel Moore

Bird News Tuesday 3rd November

A juvenile Gannet was in the fields by Ballykelly Marsh, see picture below. (David Hill).

A Great White Egret is at Ballycarry Bridge in Larne Lough. (David Galbraith)

Circa 10 crossbill were in Belvoir forest Belfast (Sam Thomas).

A Slavonian Grebe and 2 Great Northern Diver were at Glynn. (Gerard McGeehan & Shirley Dunlop).

The Long-tailed Duck was still in the channel at Myroe, 2 Pink-feet, a Greenland Whitefront and 15 Greylag  were with Whoopers in the fields. (Martin Deehan/Mervyn Guthrie).

A Marsh Harrier was at Reedy Flats, Lough Neagh this afternoon. (Pat Flowerday).

In Coleraine the Glaucous Gull was at BurgerKing this afternoon before moving to McDonalds this evening. (Richard Donaghey/John Clarke/Tony Dodds).

Rathlin today had 2 White-fronted Geese, 8 Pink-feet and a hybrid, possibly Barnacle x Snow Goose. (Ric Else & Hazel Watson).

Thanks to David Hill for the picture of the Gannet, to Jonathan Cooke for the picture of the Twite from Whitehead, to Tony Dodds for the ist picture of the Glaucous Gull, John Clarke for the 2nd picture and to Ric Else and Hazel Watson for the picture of the hybrid Goose:

 

Bird News Monday 2nd November

A Red Kite was seen being mobbed by corvids over the fields to the rear of Ballyregan Road, near Dundonald, Co. Down. The bird then flew in a westerly direction towards the Stormont area (Don Scott)

Two juvenile American Golden Plover are at Ballykelly / Myroe. Also present were the juv Long-Tailed Duck, 2 Pink Footed Geese and 2 Slavonian Grebe (Stuart McKee)

A Glaucous Gull was in Burger King car park ,Coleraine.(John Clarke) see pic below

Two Ruffs were at the Moneycarragh high tide roost in Dundrum South Inner Bay today.(David Nixon)

Our thanks to John for the photo of the Glaucous Gull. Also to Mervyn Guthrie for the Grey Plover. Bottom photo from David Nixon shows the two Ruff 

Bird News Sunday 1st November

6 American Golden Plover are with the Golden Plover flock at Ballykelly (Garry Armstrong) At least one American Golden Plover was still present at 1.30 before the Golden Plover flock flew off. (John Spottiswood).

A 1st winter Glaucous Gull was at the Barmouth (Theo Campbell)

The Dark-bellied Brent Goose was still at the Floodgates, Newtownards (Wilton Farrelly)

A Long-tailed Duck and a Great Northern Diver were in the channel at Myroe. (Ian Dickey)

A Black-throated diver was off Carnalea this afternoon. (Philip Watson)

A Great Northern and 2 Red-throated Divers were at Grey Point Fort beside Crawfordsburn (Sam Thomas)

Two Grey Phalarope was at the Killough Harbour outer wall. (Chris and Rachel Veale)

The Great White Egret was on Strangford Lough, at the bridge over the stream near Ranoval Cottages on Ringneill Road (Dave & Amy Weir)

The American Golden Plover was again on rocks between Portstewart and Portrush. (Jeff Larkin / Tony Dodds)

8 Twite were at the boatyard in Whitehead. (Cameron Moore).

American Golden Plover, Tony Dodds:

Rachel Veale, Grey Phalarope:

Great White Egret, Amy Weir:

Brambling, Dick Glasgow:

Bird News Saturday 31st October

A Snow Bunting was at the entrance to Castlerock beach this morning and yesterday a Long-tailed Duck was in the channel at Myroe.  (Richard Donaghey).

The Long-tailed Duck was still in the channel at Myroe today. (Birdguides).

A Red Kite was in the Antrim hills. (Kenny Moore).

The Cattle Egret was present again at Castle Espie this morning. (Matthew, Castle Espie).

23 Sandwich Terns were at Portaferry this morning. (John Wilson Foster).

A Snow Bunting was on Rathlin. (Ric Else & Hazel Watson).

A Brambling was at Kilskeery, Co. Tyrone. (Ivan Foster).

A Brambling was in a garden in north Antrim. (Dick Glasgow).

Thanks to Kevin O'Grady for the picture of the Sparrowhawk, to Thomas Campbell for the pictures of the Whooper Swans and the Golden Plovers, to Ric Else and Hazel Watson for the picture of the Snow Bunting and to Ivan Foster for the picture of the Brambling:

Bird News Friday 30th October.

 A male American Wigeon was seen off Castle Espie, along with 200 Wigeon.(Birdguides)

A ring tail Hen Harrier was seen near Ballycastle (Ed Simpson)

21 Sandwich Terns were on the pontoons at Portaferry,  2 late Swallow at Ballyquintin Point, and 14 Pinkfeet and a Greylag with the Whooper flock at Kearney today. (Richard Gray)

A Male Hen Harrier and a late Whinchat were in the Antrim hills (Ivan Cullen, Paddy Muckian)

A Snow Bunting was seen on Slieve Gullion, Co. Armagh.(David Knight)

2 Snow Buntings were on the bowling green at Ramore Head this afternoon (David Shilliday)

Our thanks to Mike McLaughlin for the photo off a Kestrel and also to David Knight for the Snow Bunting.

Bird News Thursday 29th October

 A Short-eared Owl and a Jack Snipe were on Rathlin today, yesterday an Iceland Gull and a Long-tailed Duck were present. (Ric Else & Hazel Watson).

Thanks to Ric and Hazel for the picture of the Long-tailed Duck and to Mervyn Campbell for the pictures of the Purple Sandpiper and the Dunlin: