Sunday 4th July News

Roseate Tern - 1, (adult) RSPB Reserve, Co.Down
Knot - 2, RSPB Reserve, Co.Down
Bar Tailed Godwit - 50, RSPB Reserve, Co.Down
Scaup - 2 male, DarganBay, Co.Antrim
Eider - 500, Dargan Bay Co.Antrim
Manx Shearwater - 1500, St Johns Point, Co.Down
Gannet - 120, St Johns Point, Co.Down
Fulmar - 9, St Johns Point, Co.Down
Kittiwake - 30, St Johns Point, Co.Down
Greenshank - 3, Dundrum Inner Bay South, Co. Down
Little Egret - 3, Blackstaff River, Co. Down


Thanks toEd O'hara for the following shots from Oxford Island, Co. Armagh today.

A Woodpigeon that thinks it's a duck!















A nice family scene (it is a sunday after all)
















...and this hybrid Scaup - a spot prize (one year's NIBA membership) for the person who can identify the parents. Check out that sexy white tail tip!

























Check out this series of shots from a recent trip to the Saltee Islands, Co. Wexford, by Allen Gillespie. Some truly stunning up close and personal images of seabirds. Thanks Allen!



Gannets
by Allen Gillespie, Saltees, Co. Wexford
















































Guillemots
by Allen Gillespie, Saltees, Co. Wexford


































Finally, we couldn't let the 4th July pass without cracking open a few of these. Cheers to all our friends from the USA!




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Moths on the Wing - 4th July

Another superb set of moth photos from Ian Graham. These were taken the other morning - anybody who stuck a moth trap out with last night's rain is obviously mad.


Buff Arches














Garden Tiger


















Burnished Brass



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Saturday 3rd July News

Scaup- 3, male Dargan Bay, Co.Antrim
Eider - 800, Dargan Bay, Co.Antrim (flock of moulting males)
Eider - 300, Kinnegar, Co. Down (mostly females)
Bar Tailed Godwit - 20, Kinnegar, Co.Down
Arctic Tern - 20, RSPB Reserve Co.Down



Wonder what Mark is so desperate to see? It's not an advance copy of the Northern Ireland Bird Report but the Reed Warbler at Oxford Island NNR (pictured below). Thanks to Ed O'Hara for the pics.



A quick warning to anybody who might be birding tomorrow and comes across one of the Golden Eagles seen recently......



Time to go and make sure that my chickens are alright.





There are now over 1100 photos on this blog!!

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Chamber of Horrors

Here's a selection of some shock and awe photos that you would be right to be scared of. A word of warming to the squeamish amongst you - expect this to be a regular feature as we're quite good at finding dead things. 
"Making good use of the things that we find - things that the everyday folks leave behind" - Shakespeare I believe..



Cat Felis silvestris - Montjuic, Barcelona, 2004





Irish Hare Lepus timidus hibernicus - Co. Donegal, 2010





Barn Owl Tyto alba - Abernethy, Scotland 2010
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Friday 2nd June Bird News


Because of Andrews experiment the last couple of days with Birds and Booze he has got whammed and forgotten all the sightings he has been given!
Well that actually isn't 100% correct, he wasn't given any bird news so although he has actually got whammed he hasn't forgotten any! He is composmentused enough to inform me there are actually three different kinds of grey geese vodka! I didn't know that!
Anyway the Reed Warbler is still singing away at Oxford Island NNR!
I did promise a Tern earlier today and here it is!


Alert! NIBA split on the cards - Derek know's rightly I didn't see that sooty tern (it's like an ever-present thorn in my side - like a life-long ailment that only has one cure e.g. seeing a sooty tern). Thank goodness I saw what he's up to, one to watch that fella
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Birds on Booze Bottles Part 2

After waking up with a stinking hangover I've had to resort to hair of the dog. I know it's not even lunchtime but here's a few birds I've 'twitched' from around the world since I crawled out from under the sofa this morning and wiped the chips off my face.
They say red wine is good for the heart so I thought about 12 pints should do it.






























































Sorry for the late post .
It's been a hectic 'bird' filled day



I forgot about this one (hic!")
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Dolphin "Superpod" Skye

Check the following footage on the BBC website:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/10488165.stm
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Wild Boar (photo)


Everybody was tuning in expecting to see a photograph of me and Andrew but sorry to disappoint! This photo of a Wild Boar was taken by Sligo birder Michael Casey on his recent holiday around Marennes, Western France. Michael has called the photo "impressionistic" i just think its amazing! Thanks very much Michael.

Michael also runs Irelands best Birding Website (apart from ours) and put the following link into your favourites!


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Friday Favourite

Its nearly the weekend and we can't wait to get out hunting for some birds, butterfly's and plants! Well i can't anyway!! No word from Andrew this morning i hope he hasn't had too many Tawny Owls last night!
So here is a classic rarity a male Blue Winged Teal. This bird spent a few days at Castle Espie NNR one May a few years ago. It disappeared a few minutes after this attack by a male Shovelor which is known affectionately as "Killer" by the staff at Castle Espie. Whether the Blue Winged Teal flew off or was eaten by Killer we will never know as we were too busy eating scones at the time. They were lovely.
We are going to close the competition on Monday so you have the weekend to dream up some more answers. We have had 386 guess's so far which has exceeded our expectation's a little. Also Andrew was correct i am getting all misty eyed with Marks brilliant pictures of gulls and Terns so i will post a little nostalgic gull-tern combo later and may even throw in something extra.
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Thursday 1st July News

Golden Eagle- Possible sub adult Ballinderry Lisburn. This may be another sighting of the bird seen last week.


Not a lot to report again but then that's why you all come back. Northern Ireland has the most stress-free birding out there - there's no hassle cos there's no birds. We're happy for anybody to prove us wrong though.


On the bird-free theme - here's a picture of a Bee Orchid taken at Killard Pt. NNR, Co. Down by Ian Graham. One of our most stunning flowers and one with a life-cycle that could almost be described as clever (if a flower can be clever)



Still, can't complain - people seem to like us on Facebook and we've howled up the Fatbirder rankings (keep on clicking). Looks like there's no doubting we're the most popular Northern Ireland wildlife website on the planet - will the fame go to our heads? You betcha


Anyway I'm away off for a Tawny Owl or three



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British Birds on Booze Bottles


It's got to that time of day and I thought I should take a break from this afternoon's boozing and have a look and see what it actually is I'm drinking. This is what I've put down the hatch so far today.







I think I'll take a wee breather and dander down to the off-licence - who knows I might even fall into an aisle of booze bottles with more birds on them
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Bird News (of a sort)


Good news reach's us that Dave and Orcilla Hadrick escaped from the killer chicken and have fled in fear of their lives to Cyprus where they intend to recover by lying at the pool all drink drinking cider and champers. They will also visit a local restaurant for a long lunch.
The Bird news is that on the first morning before breakfast they had seen Cyprus Pied Wheatear, Cyprus and Sardinian Warbler! We feel sorry for them and to show them what they are missing here is a picture of a Mallard
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Seagull photographs

I am glad Andrew reminded me about Seagulls so i have delved into the back catalogue of five million photos and came up with this one. It spent a few days in Larne a few winters ago and then followed the ferry across the Irish Sea and was seen again at Liverpool! As promised i have thrown in a Brucey Bonus this one Northern Irelands second Spotted Sandpiper at Portballintrae Co.Antrim. It is the one in the picture that is not a Turnstone! So if you don't want to see anymore seagull photos next week get out with the camera and send us your photos! We are at the stage where even old and interesting buildings will be considered!
Kumliens Gull 3rd winter
Kumliens Gull 3rd winter
Kumliens Gull 3rd winter
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WOLF!

Mlaedn Vasilev
On our recent trip to Bulgaria we came across this gorgeous animal near the Romanian border. Some of our group identified it as a Wolf but our guide Mladen said the nearest Wolf population is 400km away. So the only alternative was Golden Jackal which would also have been an amazingly rare daytime sighting. When looking at the photos recently Mladen suddenly realised it is in fact a young WOLF! An amazing sighting anywhere in Europe in daytime (it was 10am) we all feel extremely lucky to have had tremendous views.


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Bird photos (definately not chickens) and competition update

Just add Oranges

Just in from Hawaii


Living in Antrim this boy isn't looking forward to Christmas

Yes it was too much to ask for us to go one day without Andrew posting a photo of a chicken. But to be fair it was more of a public announcement because if there is a killer chicken on the loose we need to know about it. Come to think of it Lisburn birders Dave and Orcilla Hadrick visit Newcastle every weekend and i don't think anyone has seen them for weeks, maybe the chicken has got them. If anyone knows the whereabouts of Dave and Orcilla please let us know although the other possibility is that they are still on one of their famous late lunch's!
Back to these babies and they are currently residing at Antrim Marina and are completely harmless unless you are holding some Pats Pan. While not wild birds they are certainly a little bit wilder than Chickens. When looking at them i began to wonder about Andrews mate the potter and could he make cooking pots for Geese and Ducks as well. I would say these things would be good in the pot! Also i wonder would he do a Squirrel Brick because last night i found another dead roadkill squirrel! I was going to take a photo but this one was completely flat and although our readers put up with a lot i think a squashed squirrel is just too far! But on the upside the seawatching season is not far away!
Good news on the competition is that we have now 280 entry's although 46 of these are from the same guy in Cork. Unfortunately all his entries have been disqualified as the object being looked at is not a moth or a damselfly and is in fact a bird although we know how easy it is for him to make a mistake like that! So please try again our Cork friend!
No new photos sent and if people don't start sending photos we are going to get Ant and Dec to take over the running of this blog and i think we can agree that no-one wants that!!

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