Brambling Record?

Many thanks to George Gordon for highlighting previous high Brambling counts for NI including:

100 were at Lough Beg on 1st April 1986 and 120 near Clandeboye Estate on 13th January 1987.

"Some thousands" in Armagh in 1844 (Thompson 1849) will probably never be equalled again.

Bird News Sunday 5th December

43 Brambling were at the Glenhead Road nr Glenwherry Co.Antrim,surely some type of Northern Ireland record.

Seven Waxwings feeding in gardens at the top of Brunswick Rd, Bangor (near the roundabout) this morning. Also a peregrine over the town centre. (James Robinson)

An adult Ring-billed Gull was at Dargan recyclying centre, Belfast

Four Velvet Scoters were off Macedon Point

Three Mealy Redpoll were at the Oxford Island Discovery Centre, Lough Neagh

The Ferruginous Duck was still at Corbet Lough, near Banbridge, County Down.

A Great Northern Diver was at Lough Beg (David Steele)

7 Waxwing were at Ballynure Cemetery Co.Antrim and a Kingfisher at the nearby Castle River. ( E.Flynn)

A Green winged Teal was a mile north of Ballycarry Bridge in Larne Lough, 2 Brambling in a garden in Whitehead.(C.Moore)

The ad RB Gull/ Common Gull hybrid was back at Millisle and 10 wintering Sandwich Tern at Drumfad Bay (R.Weyl)

The pair of Goosander was at Lough Island Reavy in south Down.(K.Bennett)

The ad. RB Gull and a 1st winter Med Gull were again present at Portrush east strand car park.(M.Tickner)

2 Mealy Redpoll were amongst a flock of 22 Lesser Redpoll at Causeway Meadow in Lisburn.( C.Veale)

A Little Egret was along the Six Mile Water in Templepatrick,the first time one has been seen there.

Out at Killard today there were 50+ Dunlin, 3 Bar tailed Godwit, 3 Snipe, 1 Woodcock, 4 Stonechat, 2 Grey Plover, 20+ Reed Bunting, 100+ Tree Sparrow, 30+ Lesser redpoll. Numerous Linnet & Goldfinch. (There is a crop field on way out to Killard that has literally thousands of birds feeding).

Tree Sparrows, Killard - Craig Nash

Starlings in Belfast

At this time of year, evening Starling flocks are one of the most impressive sights in the birding world. An estimated 30,000 roost at the Albert Bridge, Belfast. This spectacular is captured extremely well by Danny Boyd in the picture below:

Starlings over Belfast - Danny Boyd

Buzzards - A reminder

Just a reminder that there is study due to commence shortly on our breeding Buzzards. The study will look at prey items in nests and also see a number of buzzards wing tagged. The project is being undertaken under license from the BTO and NIEA and in association with the Northern Ireland Raptor Study Group. Eimear Rooney is undertaking this work and is seeking help. If you know of a Buzzard nesting site that could be part of the study, she would be pleased to receive details. Information will be treated confidentially.

You can contact Eimear at: buzzardsni@hotmail.co.uk  or mobile: 07743068931

Bird News Sat 4th December

Continuing the run of Bramblings, one has been reported from a garden at Prospect Rd, Carrickfergus (a field to the rear also had 40 - 50 Curlew): (Pauline Majury)
Another Brambling was at Ballyeaston, Co Antrim (E Flynn)
20 Waxwing were at Malone Ave, Belfast (Irish Birding)
Woodcock are increasingly been seen due to the harsh weather. One flew across the A6 nr Toome (Keith Bennett).

Brambling - Pauline Majury

Don Scott's new Hen Harrier Book

Don Scotts new book on Hen Harriers is priced £18.99 and is available from:
Whittles Publishing, www.whittlespublishing.com

On this date.

The 3rd December 1983 saw the first Forster's Tern for Northern Ireland. It was found at the Bann Estuary and remained for 2 days. There has been about 9 records since, the last back in 2008 a well watched adult bird which stayed around Killyleagh harbour for about 3 months. The first Irish record was a bird found in Dublin Bay in Nov 82 and the first British record was from Cornwall Feb 80.

Bird News Friday 3rd December

Who was brave enough to venture out today?

25 Waxwing were in flight at Brunswick Road in Bangor (Richard Weyl).

2 Woodcock were in a front garden in the snow at Grangewood in Dundonald
(Don Scott).

A Brambling was at Racecourse Lough, Enniskillen

The bad weather has forced a lot of birds to move on. Here is a picture from George McKee that shows how hard it is even in Strangford Lough:

Bird News for Thurs. 2nd Dec.

4 Brambling were at Ballyeaston village nr Ballyclare and two more were reported from Co.Ferm. on at Monea and the other at Race course Lough (B.Robson)

On the subject of Bramblings because of this cold snap of weather more and more birds will be coming to gardens for their source of food, especially finch flocks worth checking those Chaffinch flocks that come to your bird tables more carefully, you could have a winter visiting Brambling amongst them. Bramblings will utilise any seed supply when the ground is covered in snow. They would certainly make a welcome addition to any garden list.

The Pink footed Goose was still present at the RSPB Belfast Harbour Estate.

20 Twite were east of Ramore Head.(M.Tickner)

2 Chiffchaff were at Killywoolaghan on the Tyrone shore of Lough Neagh.(B.McKeown)

Bird News Wednesday 1st December Update

30 Waxwing were at 42 Fitzwilliam Street in Stranmillis feeing on rowan
(Keith Bennett).

A PF Goose was at Belfast Lough RSPB Reserve (Gerard McGeehan). 

4 Brambling were with 30 Chaffinch near Ballyeaston village in Antrim (Edmund Flynn). 

2 Brambling were at Race Course Lough, Enniskillen (Dermot Hughes) 

Lough Beg

The RSPB have launched a Conservation Plan for Lough Beg in association with local landowners and the NIEA. Lough Beg is one of the best birding sites in NI and if you are wondering why, have a look at the photograph below, showing the southern end of the Lough!

Bird News Wednesday 1st December

15 Waxwings were in trees opp the entrance to the Ulster Independent clinic, off the Malone Rd, Belfast.

30 Waxwings were at 42 Fitwilliam Street, Stranmillis in Belfast, feeding on Rowan berries. (Keith Bennett)

A Pink Footed Goose was at Belfast Lough RSPB reserve. (G McGeehan)

4 Brambling were with 30 Chaffinchs near Ballyeaston village in Antrim. (Edmund Flynn)

A Red Kite was over Loughinisland this morning.

Bird News Tuesday 30th November

Thirty Waxwings were at Fitzwilliam Street in Stranmillis, Belfast. (Keith Bennett).

Bird News Monday 29th November

Two Twite were to the east of Ramore Head, Portrush and the adult Ring-Billed Gull was again in the East Strand car park (M Tickner)

The Ferruginous Duck was still at Corbet Lake.

The male Goosander was still at Loughisland Reavey.

There was no news of the Black Duck at Ward Park in Bangor being seen today.

Bird News Sunday 28th November

A Black Duck (of unknown origin as it has not been seen out of the water) was at Ward Park in Bangor at the main pond at the Castle Street end (Rory
Harman). This species would be unusual in a collection! However Ward Park holds a wide variety of feral wildfowl!

 
At Strangford Lough a BT Diver and 100 Tree Sparrow were at Herring Bay. 7 Slavonian Grebe were between Herring Bay and Greyabbey and another Slavonian
Grebe at Horse Island south of Kircubbin. 

20 Waxwing were at Annadale Embankment, Stranmillis (P Scott) 

2 Brambling were in a garden in Whitehead (Cameron Moore).

1000 Knot, 2 Grey Plover, 100 Golden Plover and a Little Egret were at Ballyreagh in Strangford Lough (Keith Bennett). 

A Carrion Crow was at Whitehead (I Enlander) 

Bird News for 27th Nov.

2 Mealy Redpoll and a Ferruginous/Pochard hybrid were at Craigavon Lakes.

The Ferruginous Duck was still present on Corbet Lake.

The Green-winged Teal still at RSPB Harbour Estate reserve.

5 Velvet Scoter and a Slavonian Grebe were of Macedon Point Co.Antrim (P.McCullough)

16 Tree Sparrow, 4 Yellowhammer, 150 Goldfinch were in a garden in Richill.(A.Poots)

3 Snow Bunting and a juv Peregrine were off Ballykelly Point.(T.Nelson)

1 Yellow Legged Gull was seen at Whitehouse Lagoon Co.Antrim.

Bird News Friday 26th November

The Green Winged Teal was still present at Belfast RSPB Reserve (Brian Douglas et al).

A Barn Owl has been observed in Belfast Harbour Estate.

An Adult Yellow-legged Gull was at Whitehouse Lagoon, Co. Antrim

Continuing the run of Brambling, two were at Lough shark today (Joe Devlin) and one was at Castle Caldwell RSPB Reserve (Brad Robson). 

A Brambling was also at Killywoolaghan on the Tyrone shore of Lough Neagh (Brendan McKeown). 

At Larne Lough 7 Pink Footed Geese were half a mile north of Ballycarry Bridge on the Island Magee side, 3 Twite at Sandy Bay in Larne and 3 Little Egret on the north side of Ballycarry Bridge (Cameron Moore).

Treecreepers

Danny Boyd kindly sent in a picture of Treecreeper recently taken at the Quoile, Co. Down. A day before I was sent a picture of a Treecreeper that I had seen in Bucharest and was photographed by Cristian Mihai. Puzzled by them looking so different (particularly the wing bar) and wanting to know if the Romanian bird was actually a Short-toed Treecreeper, I checked up the Collins Bird Guide. Unknown to me was that there are two European races of Treecreeper - the Western race (macrodactyla) and the North \ Eastern Continental race (familiaris). The pictures below are of each and you can see the differences for yourself:
Treecreeper NI:

Treecreeper (Northern Ireland) - Danny Boyd

Treecreeper, Romania:

Treecreeper, Romania, Cristian Mihai

On the Romanian bird, you can see the bolder, whiter supercillium extending to forehead, wing bar is more broken with a strong black notch. The back \ mantle in this sub-species also has a lot more speckled white. Another distinguishing feature, the plain white underparts are not visible in this photograph. Something new (again) and whilst I do not expect to see one in NI, it has opened my eyes to this species!   

Gyrs & Harlequin Ducks

News today that from next June, there will be a twice weekly flight from Northern Ireland to Iceland will mean that Iceland will become closer for a unique bird and wildlife trip! The range of birding destinations with a direct flight from NI is quite limited so this will be a welcome addition. The only word of caution is you might need to extend the bank overdraft to cover the costs when you get there!

Crossbills

Earlier on this autumn we mentioned a minor Crossbill invasion. Many thanks to Tyrone Nelson for the photographs below which Tyrone took near Baronscourt, earlier this week. 72 birds were seen.