Little Gull - 1, north end of Larne Lough, Co., Antrim (Colin Guy)
Mediterranean Gull - 1, north end of Larne Logh, Co. Antrim (Colin Guy)
Manx Shearwater - 2000, off Killough, Co. Down (Chris Murphy)
Osprey - 1, Lough Beg Co.Londonderry (David Steele)
Red Kite - 4, Leitrim Road, Castlewellan, Co. Down (Shelagh Henry)
Common Buzzard - 3, Leitrim Road, Castlewellan, Co. Down (Shelagh Henry)
Common Sandpiper - 5, Blackstaff River, Dundrum Inner Bay North, Co. Down
Little Egret - 9, Blackstaff River, Dundrum Inner Bay North, Co. Down
Greenshank - 13, Blackstaff River, Dundrum Inner Bay North, Co. Down
Greenshank - 8, Dundrum Inner Bay South, Co. Down
Little Egret - 8, Dundrum Inner Bay South, Co. Down
Black-tailed Godwit - 8, Dundrum Inner Bay South, Co. Down
Common Sandpiper - 8, Whitehead, Co. Antrim (Ian Enlander)
Swallow - 350, feeding over Portmuck, Islandmagee, Co. Antrim (Ian Enlander)
Ruff - 2 juvenile, Belfast Lough RSPB Reserve Co.Down
Whimbrel - 1, Belfast Lough RSPB Reserve Co.Down
Common Sandpiper - 6, Belfast Lough RSPB Reserve Co.Down
Bar Tailed Godwits - 35, Belfast Lough RSPB Reserve Co.Down
Black Tailed Godwit - 800, Belfast Lough RSPB Reserve Co.Down
Dunlin - 20, Belfast Lough RSPB Reserve Co.Down
Sandwich Tern - 1, Belfast Lough RSPB Reserve
Housemartin - 500+ Belfast Lough RSPB Reserve Co.Down
Swift - 20, Belfast Lough RSPB Reserve Co.Down
Mammal / Cetacean News
Harbour Porpoise - 1, off Killough, Co. Down (Chris Murphy)
No pictures of birds today (yet) - so here's a picture of a different type of rarity (an Irish endemic orchid no less! Derek was right we really do spoil you on this blog) Irish Lady's Tresses Spiranthes romanzoffiana
Thanks to Geoff Campbell for this stunning image of a very special orchid
Some people think we are stupid but we regularly misidentify things on purpose in order to give us a marker as to how intelligent our audience is. Thank goodness Geoff pointed out to us that it simply wasn't fair to trick our regular patrons into thinking that this speciEs was 'not quite an endemic. Small populations in Western Isles of Scotland and one site in Devon, and of course widespread across much of North America including SW Alaska and Canada. Still a rare orchid in a European context'. Thankfully most of you passed the test and didn't look like fools when it came to orchids (well it is meant to be nibirds! or is it? maybe we're having an identity crisis? A few good gull pictures should sort that out! I wonder where we would get any?)
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