Bird News for Friday 30th September.

A Curlew Sandpiper was at the RSPB Belfast Harbour Estate.

216 Black-tailed Godwits, 2 Ruffs & 2 Knots seen today, from Castle Island hide.

3 Wheatear were at Bar Hall Bay in Strangford Narrows. The field at Kirkiston with the American Golden Plover has now been limed (Derek Polley).

Yesterday an adult Mediterranean Gull was at Killough harbour (Tim Murphy).

A Semi-palmated Sandpiper was at Inch Lake Co.Donegal to-day (irishbirding)

Bird News for Thurs. 29th September

The American Golden Plover still showing at Kirkistown Co.Down, but no sign of the 2 Buff -breasted Sandpipers. 2 Ruff were also present.

A Black Brant plus a Dark bellied Brent Goose were at the floodgates on the outskirts of Newtownards.

Our thanks to Richie Lort who kindly sent in these two wonderful photos of a Stonechat and Corncrake.

Bird News Wednesday 28th September

There are now 2 Buff Breasted Sandpipers at the ploughed field at Kirkistown (at 6pm). There were also 3 Ruff and 40 Golden Plover at this time. (Richard Weyl). However the American Golden Plover was seen at the site earlier this afternoon
A Great Skua and a Black Tern were in Rathlin Sound (Matthew Tickner).
At Larne Lough 11 Greenshank, 2 Mediterranean Gull (adult winter and second winter) and 2 Little Egret were off Glynn Station (Cameron Moore).
A juvenile Curlew Sandpiper was at Belfast Harbour RSPB (Stuart McKee).

Many thanks to Slawomir Starznyski for this superb shot of a Black-tailed Godwit at the Bann Estuary:

Bird News Tuesday 27th September

The juvenile Buff Breasted Sandpiper and adult American Golden Plover were both still at Kirkiston today along with 3 Ruff. At 5.30p.m. the Buff Breasted Sandpiper and 3 Ruff were present along with 10 Wheatear but there was no sign of the American Golden Plover, just 3 Golden Plover. (Stuart McKee/Keith Bennett).

A juvenile or female Garganey was at Church Island, Lough Beg. (David Steele).

St John's Point between 6.00 and 6.30p.m. had a Balearic Shearwater, 12 Arctic Tern, 4 Red Throated Diver, a Common Scoter and 500 Kittiwake all going south into Dundrum Bay. (Chris Murphy).

A White Tailed Eagle was seen this morning at 8.30 at the old castle shore in Crom estate, Co. Fermanagh. (John Sey/Stephen Scarlett).

A female Kestrel was at Newtownards, Co. Down (Stephen Maxwell).

5 Black Guillemot were off Newcastle this morning and 114 Redshank, 89 Turnstone,165 Ringed Plover and 4 Sanderling were at the high tide roost. (Adam McClure).

At Killard there were 141 Sandwich Tern, 44 Turnstone, 36 Dunlin, 6 Ringed Plover, 4 Common Scoter, 3 Red Throated Diver, 2 Knot, 5 Red Breasted Merganser, 1 Kestrel and a Wheatear. (Craig Nash).

Thanks to Craig for these excellent shots from Killard.

Wheatear - Craig Nash


Dunlin - Craig Nash

Sandwich Tern - Craig Nash

Bird News Monday 26th September

The juvenile Buff-breasted Sandpiper, adult American Golden Plover, 5 Wheatear, 400 Skylark, 6 Buzzard and a Peregrine were at Kirkiston (Stuart McKee).
At Lough Foyle 400 Pale-bellied Brent, 500 Bar-tailed Godwit, 2 Buzzard, 4 Raven, 2 Wheatear and a mixed flock of Linnet, Greenfinch and Tree Sparrow were at Balls Point. A movement of Skylark was noted at the Roe (C Stewart).

Pectoral Sandpiper, Myroe - Stuart McKee

Wheatear, Groomsport - Slawomir Starzynski

The Red Kite Reintroductions

The Golden Eagle Trust and the RSPB have announced the latest figures for breeding birds in Counties Down and Wicklow.

Progress of Red Kite breeding since the reintroduction project began 4 years ago is as follows:

	Northern Ireland (Co Down)		Republic of Ireland (Co Wicklow)		TOTAL
	Breeding pairs	Chicks fledged	Breeding pairs	Chicks fledged	Breeding pairs	Chicks fledged
2010	4	5	7	12	11	17
2011	5	8	11	17	16	25

Since the project began in Northern Ireland in 2008, four Red Kites have been killed due to illegal persecution, with one being shot and three dying as a result of poisons.

Red Kite Chick - Adam McClure

Wing tagging a Red Kite chick - Adam McClure

Bird News Sunday 25th September

In the recently ploughed field at Kirkiston, Co. Down, an adult American Golden Plover has been found. Also a Buff Breasted Sandpiper was there along with 3 Ruff (Norma Price/Richard Weyl)

The Pectoral Sandpiper was feeding in the channel to the east end of Myroe Levels. 6 Ruff were in the area (Ian Patience \ Phillip West)

St John's Point over one and a half hours from 5.15p.m. had 2 Balearic Shearwaters, 5 Arctic Skua, 12 Red Throated Diver, 2 Common Scoter and 1,000 Kittiwake. (Eric Randall)

A short seawatch at Whitehead seafront this morning produced 6 Common Scoter, 2 Red Throated Diver, 200 Gannet, 60 Kittiwake and 9 Sandwich Tern. (Ian Enlander).

Pectoral Sandpiper - Philip West

Bird News Saturday 24th September

A Lapland Bunting is in a recently ploughed field with a Ruff, 180 Skylark and 3 Wheatear at 11am at Kirkistown, nr Portavogie, Co Down (Richard Weyl)
A Pectoral Sandpiper, 3 Curlew Sandpiper and 3 Ruff were at the pools at Myroe Levels (Paul Scott/Keith Bennett)
The two juvenile Black Terns and a Kingfisher were at Church Island, Lough Beg. (Keith Bennett).
1,000's of Swallows with a few Sand Martins and House Martins have been passing through South Down all day from dawn to dusk. St John's point in an hour had 9 Red Throated Divers, 70 Sandwich Tern, a Mallard and 3 Pale Bellied Brent. 10 White Wagtails flew over the lighthouse 3 Greenland Wheatear and 2 Stonechat were at Rossglass and 2 Chiffchaff and 10 White Wagtail at Killough. 4 Whooper Swan were at the Quoile Pondage. (Chris Murphy).
A Great Shearwater was seen from the Larne - Cairnryan ferry about 30 minutes out of Cairnryan. (Ian Enlander).
A Raven and a Buzzard were at Scrabo outside Newtownards. (Stephen Maxwell).
The Bairds Sandpiper was still showing well at Carrigart in Donegal. (Joe Devlin/Clifford Sharpe).
There are now two Common Rosefinch on Tory Island (Chris Ingram \ Tim Murphy) and the Hudsonian Whimbrel remains at Mizen Head, Co. Cork. A Semi-palmated Plover was in Kerry!

Gannets, St Johns Point, Co. Down - Stephen Maxwell

A short hop.

NIBA got an interesting message from a Paul Daw who records birds for the Argyll region of Scotland. He kindly sent in a photo of a fem/imm Pallid Harrier seen of the Mull of Kintyre yesterday,(see photo below). As you all know this isn't to far off Fair Head and a very short flight for a BoP, so worth keeping an eye out in the coming days if your in the area. Although Pallid Harrier is now officially on the Northern Ireland list, only the 2 people who took the photographs got to see it, so a twitchable one would be most welcome and as you can see from the photo it is very distinctive!

Pallid Harrier - Eddie Maguire

Bird News Friday 23rd September

2 juvenile Semipalmated Sandpipers were at Myroe Levels along with the Dunlin and Sanderling (Richard Hunter)

2 Black Tern were seen a Church Island, Lough Beg.

An adult winter Mediterranean Gull was at Whitehouse Lagoon in Belfast (Joe Lamont)

62 Wigeon, 1 Whooper Swan, 5 Greenshank, 2 Little Egret & a Spotted Redshank were at Dundrum Inner Bay South.

Bird News for Thurs. 22nd September.

3 Crossbill were at Mullaphad, Co. Tyrone this morning and 2 Red Grouse were at Lendrum Wind Farm, Fivemiletown this afternoon. (Colin Bell).

2 Lapland Buntings were at Myroe, Co.Londonderry.

An ad. Yellow legged Gull was at Kinnegar,Belfast Lough.

A dark bellied Brent Goose was seen at the Maltings, Strangford Lough.

The adult Ring-billed Gull was back at Portrush East Strand car park. 50 Turnstone and 20 Purple Sandpiper were at Portandoo (Matthew Tickner).

110 Sandwich Tern were at Belfast Harbour RSPB (Stuart McKee).

Over 400 Pale-bellied Brent flew over Ballyholme in Bangor in flocks of up to 70 birds (George Gordon).

A juvenile Pallid Harrier flew south past the Mull of Kintyre this afternoon - worth keeping an eye out for!! (Birdline Scotland)

Black and White Warbler

The current Black and White Warbler in Scilly evokes memories for some longstanding Irish Birders.

The only NI record (and then second Irish) is of a first-winter female found at Loughermore Forest, Co. 

Londonderry on 30th September 1984 and present until 2nd October. It was only seen by a few birders.

It is surprisingly the only Dendroica warbler to have occurred in Northern Ireland. Any Dendroica would be welcome!

Many thanks to Chris Griffin for the photo of the Scilly bird below. You can see more of Chris's birds at: http://featherfanatic.blogspot.com/

Black and White Warbler, Scilly - Chris Griffin

Bird News Wednesday 21st September

Late news from yesterday 1,167 Sanderling, 16 Wheatear, 2 Red Throated Diver, 2 Arctic Tern and 8 Sandwich Tern were between Balls Point and Magilligan, Co. Londonderry. (George Henderson).

Also yesterday, at around 9.30 in the morning, 8 Little Egrets were at the Flood Gates on the Portaferry Road out of Newtownards. (David Hines).

Breeding Curlews, Antrim Hills

As many of you know, Curlew breeding numbers in Ireland are falling. Numbers have fallen to such an extent in Donegal that there are only 4 breeding pairs left there.

It may therefore interest readers of this blog to learn about the work of one of our contributors, Neal Warnock. Neal works as Project Officer for the RSPB in the hills of Glenwherry, Co Antrim. This year he surveyed 55 farms totalling over 1500 Hectares for breeding Curlew. The positive news is that this year there were 26 breeding pairs identified so highlighting the importance of the whole area and this work.

Bird News Tuesday 20th September

A juvenile Sabine's Gull was swimming just off the harbour wall at Carnlough (Colin Guy).

A Little Gull and Whimbrel were at Quoile Pondage and a Raven at Crossgar (Spencer & Joan Marshall).

Out at Killard today were 100's of Swallows and Housemartins and 1 Juvenile Swift, 70+ Goldfinches 17 Wheatear, numerous Meadow Pipits 1 Kestrel 16 Turnstone and 6 Dunlin.
At Tullymurry were 60 sandwich Terns with at least 8 ringed and 3 Golden Plover. (Craig Nash)

Swift - Craig Nash

A juvenille Curlew Sandpiper was at Sandy Bay, Larne Lough (Neal Warnock)

Bird News of the day in Ireland is the finding of a Hudsonian Whimbrel by Paul Moore at Mizen Head, a first for Ireland! (Irish Birding)  

Many thanks to Mrs D McGimpsey for reporting this unusual bird from her garden in east Belfast! Wheatears have been seen in good numbers around the coast in the last few weeks but this is an excellent suburban 'garden tick'.

Wheatear, Belfast - D McGimpsey

Bird News Monday 19th September

The 2 juvenile Black Tern, 3 Arctic Tern, 3 Ruff and 120 Black-tailed Godwit were at Lough Beg (Matthew Tickner).

At Larne Lough 2 second winter Mediterranean Gull (one with a red ring), a Gadwall, 4 Greenshank, 2 Little Egret and 3 Knot were at Glynn (Cameron Moore).

Late news from yesterday, Sunday, was of a Ruff, two Whooper Swan and 15+ Little Egrets at Dundrum Inner Bay South (Kerry Leonard).

Two Ruff were at Belfast RSPB Harbour reserve (Paul Scott)

If you fancy a cross border twitch, a Semipalmated Sandpiper has been reported today from Lower Rosses, County Sligo. A Franklins Gull was reported yesterday. (Irish Birding) 

Bird News Sunday 18th September

Ramore head throughout the day had18 Sabines Gulls, a juvenille Long Tailed Skua, 5 Puffin, 10 Red-throated Diver, 3 Great Northern Diver, 3 Sooty Shearwaters, 4 Stormies, 1 Leaches, 10 Common Scoter, 2 Grey Phalarope, 13 Bonxie, 1 Pomarine Skua and 19 arctic Skua, 150 Kittiwake and 400 Gannet (Neal Warnock, part - Matthew Tickner, Ian Graham, Garry Armstrong).

2 juvenile Black Tern and 3 Arctic Tern were at Lough Beg (David Steele).

Along the Outer Ards Burial Island between 9.30 and 10.30am had 25 Red-throated Diver, a Great Northern Diver and a Common Scoter. As a correction only one Great Skua was at Burial Island yesterday (Richard Weyl).

8 Arctic Skua were off Grey Point, Co. Down tonight. This included a flock of 7 birds which flew up Belfast Lough and continued inland (W Farrelly).

In Donegal, there are now two Bairds Sandpipers at Carrigart.

Ruff, Myroe - Claire Barnett

Bird News Saturday 17th September

A juvenile Little Stint, a Ruff, 5 Northern Wheatear and 3 White Wagtail were at Belfast Lough RSPB reserve. (Keith Bennett/Ed O'Hara).

Along the Outer Ards between 9.00 and 10.00 this morning 11 Red Throated Diver, an Arctic Skua, 3 Great Skua and 300 Kittiwake were at Burial Island with 3 Chiffchaff along the shore. A Chiffchaff and 2 Blackcap were at Kearney and a Merlin at Sheep Point near Groomsport. (Richard Weyl).

A juvenile Little Stint and 5 Porpoise were at the Bar Mouth, Bann Estuary. (Tim Murphy).

At the north end of Inner Dundrum Bay towards the Blackstaff River were 5 Curlew Sandpiper, 13 Common Sandpiper and 3 Little Egret. On the beach at Newcastle were 80 Knot, 2 Buzzard and 30+ Sandwich Tern. (Ian Enlander).

Seawatching at Ramore Head, Portrush produced a Storm Petrel, a Sooty Shearwater, an Arctic Skua, a Grey Phalarope, 14 Great Skua, 4 Puffin, 5 Red Throated Diver, 5 Common Scoter, 6 Whooper Swan and 7 Greylag Geese. (Neil Warnock).

A Grasshopper Warbler was at Killard Point, Co. Down this evening, see the superb photo below. (Craig Nash).

In Donegal the Bairds Sandpiper and 2 Curlew Sandpipers were still at Carrigart, the Buff Breasted Sandpiper was still at Bloody Foreland and a seawatch there produced a juvenile Sabines Gull, 5 Sooty Shearwaters and 16 Great Skua. (Wilton Farrelly).

Grasshopper Warbler - Craig Nash

Bird News for Friday 16th September

A juv. Black Tern was over Lough Beg Co.Londonderry.(D.Steele)

A juvenile Little Stint was seen briefly at Belfast Harbour RSPB (Guy Hamilton).

A Hen Harrier and a Kingfisher were at Lower Lough Erne and a Woodcock at Belleck Co.Ferm.(Irishbirding)

11 common scoter, 300+ guillemot, 50 razorbill, 15 sandwich tern & a puffin off Newcastle harbour this morning. This afternoon 7 buzzard, a kestrel, 3 raven & a red kite were at Dechomet.(A.Mc Clure)

Copeland Bird Observatory in the morning had 3 Common Scoter, 5 Arctic Skua going south, a Pomarine Skua going west, 28 Sandwich Tern, 20 Swallow and 2 House Martin (Neville McKee).

Buff-breasted Sandpipers seem to be everywhere in Ireland at the moment, Tacumshin had 11 of them to-day and Loop Head Co.Clare had 8. A bit closer to home, 2 were on Tory Island, obviously brought in by the latest hurricane which hit the west coast earlier in the week, with one already reported from Tuesday at Myroe, this weekend may produce a few more.

Photo of a Buff-breast taken at Tacumshin a few weeks ago.

Bird News Thursday 15th September

Late news from Tuesday is of a Buff Breasted Sandpiper at Myroe Levels, possibly the same bird that was seen there last Saturday. (Anne-Marie McDevitt/Claire Barnett).

2 Curlew Sandpiper, 2 Ruff and at least 500 Oystercatcher were at Belfast Lough RSPB Reserve. (Andy Elliott).

2 Whinchat were along Glenhead Road at Glenwherry, Co, Antrim. (Jeff Larkin).

A Peregrine was along the shore at Ballyhalbert. (Guy Hamilton).

Seabird numbers were well down at Copeland Bird Observatory butt 100 Gannet, 100 Kittiwake, 50 Sandwich Tern, 2 Arctic Skua and 2 Great Northern Diver were noted. On the island at least 20 Chiffchaff were present (11 of them were ringed), as well as a Garden Warbler and 2 Blackcap. (Neville McKee).

In Donegal the Bairds Sandpiper and 2 Curlew Sandpiper were still present at Carrigart.

Bird News Wednesday 14th September

A Bairds Sandpiper was at Carrigart, Downings, Co. Donegal this morning along with 2 Curlew Sandpiper, 26 Dunlin,11 Ringed Plover and a brief Stint (probably Little)

Bairds Sandpiper, Carrigart - Craig Nash

The following were at Ramore Hd between 08.30 and 10.30 today: Red-th Diver 7, GN Diver 5, Leach's Petrel 4, Manx 22, Fulmar 8, Bonxie 3, Arctic Skua 2, Sabine's Gull 2 juv, Kittiwake 23, Sandwich Tern 4, Arctic Tern 10 - lots of gannets, about 25% juveniles. (Dermot Hughes)

Sightings from Dundrum Inner Bay South this evening included 3 Greenshank, 2 Little Egret & 14 Black-tailed Godwit. (Adam McClure)

Reed Warbler - Ed O'Hara

3 Reed Warbler and 2 Sedge Warbler were around the Kinnego Hide, Oxford Island (Ed O'Hara)

Copeland Bird Observatory had 2 White Wagtail, 4 Chiffchaff, a Willow Warbler and 2 Blackcap. At sea 100's Gannet and Kittiwake were present as well as 55 Sandwich Tern, 14 Great Northern Diver, 4 Arctic Skua, 12 Great Skua and 4 Pomarine Skua. Another Pomarine Skua was giving good views at Mew Island (Neville McKee).

A Corncrake was seen near Comber (Richie Oliver).

A very good cause.....

Two local cancer charities, the Ulster Cancer Foundation (UCF) and Friends of the Cancer Centre, have as a unique fundraising initiative offered the opportunity to buy a highly collectable piece of art by acclaimed Irish artist, Nicola Russell, whilst making a significant contribution to the work of both charities
Nicola, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007, has produced an oil painting of a Yellowhammer.  From this painting a limited number of high quality prints, all personally signed by the artist, have been produced and will be available for sale on the evening of Tuesday 22nd September following a preview at the Ulster Museum. 

For expressions of interest or to purchase a print please contact: Maeve Fox at the Ulster Cancer Foundation Tel. (028) 9066 3281 Email maevefox@ulstercancer.org
.

Bird News for Tuesday 13th September

A juvenile Sabine's Gull, juvenile Curlew Sandpiper and a Ruff were at Bann Estuary. Seawatching at the Barmouth from 6 to 6.30pm produced a juvenile Sabine's Gull, a few dark morph Arctic Skua and an adult Great Skua (Tim Murphy).
350 Sanderling, 3 Wheatear and 45 Gannet were at Magilligan, Lough Foyle (C Stewart).
A light morph adult Arctic Skua was off Briggs Rocks near Groomsport (George Gordon).
 Copeland Bird Observatory had a Puffin, Storm Petrel, Leach's Petrel, Merlin, 4 Arctic Skua, 7 Great Skua, 13 Sandwich Tern and on land a Chiffchaff and Goldcrest (Neville McKee, Larry Toal).
15 White Wagtail were at Killough Square (Chris Murphy).
Somewhere between 20-30 mature and juvenile Gannets busy feeding close to the shore at Ballygally (David Ledsham)

Bird News Monday 12th September

A juvenile Long Tailed Skua, 5 Arctic Skua and a Great Skua were off the East Strand at Portrush, 60 Sandwich Tern, 10 of them ringed, were at the car park. (Matthew Tickner).

2 Knot, a Sandwich Tern and large numbers of Bar Tailed Godwit, Black Tailed Godwit, Curlew and Brent Geese were at Belfast Lough RSPB. (Mr Laut).

Copeland Bird Observatory had 9 Arctic Skua, a Pomarine Skua, a Great Skua, 300 Gannet, 300 Kittiwake, a Puffin, 55 Manx Shearwater, 3 Common Scoter, 3 Sandwich Tern, a Commic Tern, 5 White Wagtail, 12 Meadow Pipit and a Wheatear. (Neville McKee).

Bird News Sunday 11th September

Lough Beg south of Church Island had 2 Knot, 5 Ruff, 11 Curlew Sandpiper, 37 Curlew, 53 Dunlin, 27 Ringed Plover, 8 Whooper Swan, 36 Black-tailed and a Bar-tailed Godwit (Stephen Hewitt).
A juvenile Black Tern was along the seafront at Whitehead and 200 Pale-bellied Brent were seen flying south over a short period (Ian Enlander).
The hybrid Ring-billed x Common Gull was at the car park at Millisle and 5 Red-throated Diver and 3 Common Scoter at Burial Island. A singing Chiffchaff was at Cloghy Bay. Yesterday 10 Common Scoter and 2 Red-throated Diver were at Burial Island and a Sanderling at Millisle car park (Richard Weyl).
3 Ruff and 2 Arctic tern were at RSPB Belfast Harbour Reserve (I Graham \ W Farrelly)

In Donegal, a juvenile Dotterel was beside Donegal Airport, Kincasslagh and the Semi-palmated Sandpiper was still at Mucross Head.

Bird News Saturday 10th September

A Buff Breasted Sandpiper was at the north end of Myroe Levels with 2 Curlew Sandpiper at the south end and 30 White Wagtails and 12 Wheatear were also seen. (Matthew Tickner).

St John's Point between 8.00a.m. and 1.30p.m. had 2 Sabines Gulls, an adult and a juvenile, 2 Arctic Skua, 3 Great Skua, a Sooty Shearwater, 4 Storm Petrel, 6 Red Throated Diver, 5 Common Scoter and a Wheatear. (Gerard McGeehan, Alan Gillespie).

At Larne Lough a Goosander and 95 Dunlin were at Ballycarry Bridge, 5 Sanderling were at Sandy Bay in Larne and 6 Little Egret, 7 Greenshank, 5 Knot and a Merlin were also noted around the Lough. (Cameron Moore).

At Magilligan, Lough Foyle between 10.30a.m and noon there were 3 Great Skua, 1 Arctic Skua, 1 Red Throated Diver, 3 Black Guillemot, Great Crested Grebe, 4 Brent Geese and numerous Gannet. 6 Sanderling were at Benone Strand. (Nigel Moore).

A female Kestrel was at Ballyregan Road in Dundonald. (Stephen Maxwell).

Belfast Lough RSPB Reserve had 4 Ruff, 7 Knot, a Peregrine and a Sparrowhawk. (Ed O'Hara).

In Donegal 2 juvenile Black Tern, a juvenile Little Gull and a Garganey were at Inch Lake. (Matthew Tickner/Wilton Farrelly).

Thanks to Nigel Moore and Slawomir Starzynski for these superb wader shots.

Sanderling _ Nigel Moore


Sanderling - Nigel Moore

Oystercatcher - Slawomir Starzynski

Bird News Friday 9th September

A Reed Warbler was seen from the Kinnego Hide at Oxford Island (Ed O'Hara)
2 Wheatear were at Ramore Head (Stephen Maxwell)
90/100 Pale-bellied Brent were flying south at Smelt Mill Bay on the Down side of Belfast Lough at 11.40am (Ken Davis).
7 Sanderling, a Wheatear and 70 Pale-bellied Brent were at Sandy bay in Larne (Gerard McGeehan, Shirley Dunlop).
Weather watch: SW Gales expected Sunday evening \ Monday. North Westerlies expected next Wednesday.

Reed Warbler - Ed O'Hara

Wheatear - Stephen Maxwell

Gannet - Ramore Head, Stephen Maxwell

Bird News Thursday 8th September

A Dowitcher species was at Ballykelly, unfortunately it was too distant to confirm which species.

The Pectoral Sandpiper was seen again in the south west corner of Lough Beg. (David Steele).

An Arctic Skua and 112 Gannets were off Copeland today, (Adam McClure).

100 Brent Geese were at Portrush with another 50 at Portbraddan. A Dipper was on the river Roe at Limavady. (Stephen Maxwell).

Thanks to Slawomir Starzynski and Stephen Maxwell for todays shots.

Ringed Plover - Slawomir Starzynski


Turnstone - Slawomir Starzynski

Brent Geese - Stephen Maxwell

Bird News Wednesday 7th September

A juvenile Buff-breasted Sandpiper was at Lough Beg. It was seen between 3 and 4 pm at Church Island. It was on the mudflat for 40 minutes but not seen subsequently.A Pectoral Sandpiper was also seen at 6:45 in the South West corner of Lough Beg (David Steele)
A juvenile Spotted Redshank and 2 adult Mediterranean Gull were at Dundrum Inner Bay South and 11 Curlew Sandpiper (10 juvenile and a moulting adult) at Dundrum Inner Bay North (David Nixon)

Earlier in the day at Lough Beg, a Ruff, 2 Curlew Sandpiper, a Little Stint, 15 Dunlin and 70 Black-tailed Godwit were at Church Island (Guy Hamilton)
2 Great Skua, 24 Kittiwake, 87 Gannet & 2 Sandwich Terns were seen off Mew Island today from Copeland Bird Observatory. A Chiffchaff, Peregrine & Buzzard also present (Adam McClure).
A Curlew Sandpiper, 5 Ruff, 7 Knot and a Little Egret were at RSPB Belfast Harbour Reserve. Two Little Egret were also nearby at Kinnegar Pool (Wilton Farrelly)
At Killard, Co. Down today were1 Juv Curlew Sandpiper 5 Juv Sanderling 1 Knot 2 Bar Tailed Godwit 11 Curlew 15+ Ringed Plover (Craig Nash)

Curlew Sandpiper - Craig Nash

Bird News for Tuesday 6th September.

8 Ruff, 2 Curlew Sandpipers and a brief in-flight Little Stint were at RSPB Belfast Harbour Reserve (Kerry Leonard)

Ramore Head between 16.15-19.45 had 4 Sabine's Gull, making it 5 in total (an adult seen earlier) 210 Sooty Shearwaters, 2 Pomarine Skua, 5 Arctic Skua,15 Great Skua,7 Arctic Tern, 6 Brent Geese, 3 Common Scoter and a Whimbrel . A juv Black Tern was off East Strand and 70 Sandwich Tern were on the beach (N.Warnock/M.Tickner)This lovely photo of a Northern Wheatear was taken at St John's Point on Sunday our thanks to Allen Gillespie

Bird News Monday 5th September

Late news from yesterday, a 1 hour seawatch at Whitehead between 6.00 and 7.00p.m. produced 2 Arctic Skua, one dark phase and one light phase, chasing Kittiwakes, 500+ Gannet, 200+ Kittiwake, 120 Sandwich Tern, 4 Arctic Tern and 300+ Manx Shearwater. (Ian Enlander).


Thanks to Ed O'Hara for this shot of a Pied Wagtail taken at Oxford Island.

Bird News Sunday 4th September

A Balearic Shearwater, 50 Manx Shearwater, 10 Red-throated Diver, 5 Common Scoter, 3 Wheatear and a Greenland Wheatear were at St John's Point (Gerard McGeehan, Shirley Dunlop).

A Ruff and Water Rail were at Quoile Pondage and a light morph adult Arctic Skua and Red-throated Diver at Kearney (Keith Bennett).

Along the Outer Ards 5 Great Skua, an Arctic Skua, Common Scoter and 30 Puffin were at Burial Island between 8 and 9am (Richard Weyl).

A Chiffchaff was calling at Ballysillan in Belfast (Andy Elliott).

2 juvenile Curlew Sandpiper, 3 Ruff and 4 Gadwall were at Belfast Harbour Reserve (George Gordon)

As per the last few weeks, Wexford is the place to be with Pallid Harrier, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper and Citrine Wagtail amongst other birds.

Many thanks to Mark Killops who sent in this wonderful image of a Sanderling at Magilligan yesterday(Sat.)

Bird News Saturday 3rd September

A Ruff & Little Stint were at Myroe Levels (Neal Warnock)
3 Curlew Sandpiper and 2 Little Stint were at the Bann Estuary (Neal Warnock)
2 Ruff were at Belfast RSPB Reserve (Paul Scott)
Along the Outer Ards a Great Skua. 2 Red-throated Diver, 3 Common Scoter and 3 Puffin were at Burial Island (Richard Weyl)

A Greenish Warbler was on Cape Clear and Wexford continued to hold a large number of rarities including the Pallid Harrier and Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (Irish Birding).

You can report your sightings at: nibirds@live.co.uk

Linnet, Portmore Lough - Ed O'Hara

Bird News for Friday 2nd September.

A short ringing session from Portstewart last night produced a Storm Petrel and this Oystercatcher.(J.Clarke)
Yesterday 2 Little Egret were on the seaward side of Strand Lough and 4 Storm Petrel were ringed last night at Sheepland (Declan Clarke).

Bird News Thursday 1st September

A juvenille Yellow-legged Gull was at the Stena Terminal, Belfast Port.
56 Grey Heron were at the Eel Fishery, Toomebridge (Ed O'Hara)

Grey Heron - Ed O'Hara

Grey Herons, Toomebridge - Ed O'Hara