Bird News Monday 31st October

A fem./imm Black redstart is at the last house before St. John's Pt. (Andrew Crory)

A Common Sandpiper and Ruff remain at RSPB WoW (Bob Watts)

Two late Swallows flew inland at Portballintrae this morning. (Simon Morton)

A Kestrel was seen in Newtownards (Garry Wilkinson)

A Glaucous Gull and Little Gull were seen in Rathlin Sound along with a late Manx Shearwater and 17 White-fronted Geese (Ric Else \ Hazel Watson)

A Great Northern Diver was off Castlerock (John Spottiswood)

At Inch, Donegal, from Farland bank at lunch time, the Ferruginous Duck was still just off the hide and a female Ring-necked Duck out with the Tufted Ducks (Derek Brennan)

An adult winter Mediterranean Gull was at Kinnegar Pools (Tony Dodds)

The female Goosander is still at Glynn. (Brian Halligan)

The Pallas's Warbler was looked for but not seen.

Pallas's Warbler from yesterday, Aaron Long:

Little Stint, Sandy Bay, last week, Lilian Ferguson:

Bird News Sunday 30th October

The Pallas’s Warbler was giving good views at the same location at Barr Hall Bay, this morning (Derek Brennan) The bird was still present at 1pm. (David Stirling).

An American Golden Plover was in a ploughed field at Myroe. (Dean Jones).

The juvenile Hen Harrier was still at Portmore RSPB this morning (Michael Latham).

A Snow Bunting was at Runkerry. (Richard Donaghey).

18 Greenland White fronts and a juvenile Curlew Sandpiper were at Myroe. (Dean Jones).

An adult Little Gull was at Magilligan with good numbers of divers. (Stephen Riddell).

The Spotted Redshank and the two Great White Egrets were still at Ballycarry Bridge in Larne Lough. (Cameron Moore).

A male Great Spotted Woodpecker was in Colin Glen this morning. (John O'Boyle).

A dark-bellied Brent and a hybrid Carrion Crow were at Greyabbey. (Theo Campbell & Derek Brennan).

A Slavonian Grebe and a Goosander were at Glynn in Larne Lough and a Little Stint was at Sandy Bay. (Ivan Quail & Nicky Lynn).

A Northern Wheatear was at Skernaghan Point on Islandmagee. (Ian Enlander).

A Ring-necked Duck was at Inch Lake in Donegal. (Daniel Newton).

Two Greenland Whitefronts flew over the Bann estuary where a Curlew Sandpiper was still present. (Dean Jones).

Best on Rathlin was 2 Crossbills at Kinramer, a single Twite on the cliffs and a Whooper Swan flying across Church Bay. (Ric Else & Hazel Watson).

Thanks to Ronald Surgenor for the pictures of the Pallas's Warbler, to Michael Latham for the pictures of the Hen Harrier, to Cameron Moore for the picture of the Spotted Redshank and to Jonathan Cooke for the picture of the Great White Egrets:

Bird News Saturday 29th October

A Pallas’s Warbler and a Firecrest are at Barr Hall Bay, Ballyquintin, Outer Ards, Co Down - just before Curlew Cottage (Bob Watts, Philip West et al). The Pallas’s was still present at circa 5:45pm (Brian McCloskey) but the Firecrest has not been seen since his morning.

Location: Dropped pin for Pallas’s:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/oubgKDSmAMSVuBNj9?g_st=ic

At least one of the Great White Egrets was still at Ballycarry Bridge in Larne Lough. (Kevin Kirkham).

The Ferruginous Duck and a White-tailed Eagle were at Inch, Co Donegal (Richard Hunter)

A drake Lesser Scaup was at Dunfanaghy New Lake (Derek Brennan)

At least one Tundra Bean Goose was in a field with Pink-feet near Keelings Farm, Dundalk (Michael Latham)

A Purple Sandpiper was at Whitehead today, also a 2nd year Med Gull. (Cameron Moore)

A Swift species was seen flying south at Donaghadee at 4:25pm (Ian Graham)

Pallas’s Warbler, David Stirling:

Bean Goose, Michael Latham:

Bird News Friday 28th October

Both of the Great White Egrets were at Ballycarry Bridge in Larne Lough this morning (Kevin Kirkham/Cameron Moore)

The Swift species was seen again over Ballymacormick Point outside Bangor yesterday. (James Andrew).

A Pink-footed Goose was at Inch Lough in Donegal. (Raymond Fulton).

A Peregrine was on top of St Donards church in Dundrum, being mobbed by Crows. (Garry Wilkinson).

Thanks to Cameron Moore for the picture of the Great White Egret:

Bird News Thursday 27th October

The two Great White Egrets were still at Ballycarry (Kevin Kirkham)

The female Ferruginous Duck is still at Inch, Donegal, amongst Wigeon on the the island shore. (Ralph Shepard)

The Common Sandpiper and Ruff were still at RSPB WoW (Kevin Kirkham / Stephen Maxwell)

Waxwings are now on the west coast of England so keep an eye out for them.

We are sorry to hear of the passing of Ian Jackson and pass our condolences to his family. Ian was a regular contributor to this Blog and took some great pictures.

Common Sandpiper, Stephen Maxwell:

Bird News Wednesday 26th October

Great White Egret still at Ballycarry Bridge at 0915 (Kevin Kirkham).

Two Little Stint to left of stream and three Goosander (male, female and juvenile) in front of screen at Ballykelly, Lough Foyle (Martin Deehan).

First winter Mediterranean Gull at Portballintrae this morning (Stephen Riddell).

Curlew Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper and locally scarce Gadwall at the Bann Estuary (John Spottiswood).

Little Gull and Arctic Tern as well as several thousand Kittiwakes off Rathlin (Ric Else & Hazel Watson)

25 Red Kites and six Common Buzzards feeding this afternoon at the Red Kite Retreat near Castlewellan (Alastair McLean).

Female Ferruginous Duck, male and female Ring-necked Duck and six Scaup from Farland Hide, Inch Lake, Co Donegal. Also present aBarnacle Goose and six adult Ruff (Graham Mitchell).

Mediterranean Gull, Stephen Riddell:

Red Kites, Alastair McLean:

Bird News Tuesday 25th October

Two Great White Egrets at Ballycarry Bridge one either side (Kevin Kirkham).

Lapland Bunting and six Snow Buntings on Rathlin today with the first Brambling of the autumn yesterday and Pink-footed Goose and Med Gull still present (Ric Else & Hazel Watson).

Drake Ring-necked Duck and two Great White Egrets still at south end of Lough Beg this afternoon (Richard Hunter). The Pectoral Sandpiper was still at the Mullagh, associating with the Golden Plover flock, also two Curlew Sandpipers (David Steele).

An adult argentatus Herring Gull at Portballintrae yesterday (John Clarke).

Female Ferruginous Duck and two male Ring-necked Ducks still Inch Lake, Co Donegal (Shirley Dunlop).

Great White Egret, Kevin Kirkham:

Argentatus Herring Gull, John Clarke:

Bird News Monday 24th October

A Great White Egret remains at Ballycarry this morning (Kevin Kirkham)

A Ruff, Grey Plover and Common Sandpiper were the best at RSPB WoW this morning (Bob Watts)

At least 10 Mediterranean Gulls, a Grey Plover and a Whimbrel were at Ballymacormick Point. (James Andrew).

The Swift seen yesterday at Bangor seafront was looked for this morning without success.

In Donegal, a female Ferruginous  Duck, was at Inch Lake, viewable from the Farland hide. 2 Ring-necked Ducks, (drake and female type) Were also present (Graham Mitchell)

A Pectoral Sandpiper was at Mullagh this afternoon, also two Curlew Sandpipers still. The male Ring-necked Duck was still on Lough Beg.  (David Steele)

Earlier today a Ring Ouzel was at Fair Head on the Murlough Bay side (David Steele)

Lurgan Green, Co Louth had 100+ Pink-footed Geese, probably the two Bean Geese, Short and Long-eared Owls. (David McCreedy \ Mike McLaughlin)

Ferruginous Duck, Derek Brennan:

Long-eared Owl, David McCreedy:

Pink-footed Geese, David McCreedy:

Bird News Sunday 23rd October

A Common Scoter was off the Croaghan hide at Oxford Island. A Ruff was at Todd's corner at Ardmore and another Ruff and a Merlin were at Reedy Flats. (Garry Armstrong).

An adult Little Gull was just before the ferry terminal at Magilligan. (Jeff Larkin).

A Common Sandpiper was at Belfast Lough RSPB WOW reserve this morning. (Ian Enlander).

An adult Little Gull was at Seahill along the north Down coastal path. (Ronald Surgenor).

A Red-throated Diver was off the hide at the Barmouth. (Kyle & Charlie Allen).

A single dark-bellied Brent was off the Montgomery hide in Strangford. (Ivan Quail & Nicky Lynn).

Three Great Egrets, two Cattle Egrets and a Barnacle Goose were still in the south west corner of Lough Beg, also an American Wigeon hybrid. (Richard Gray)

A Swift species, not positively identified, was reported from Bangor this evening. (Birdguides).

A Merlin was at Portmore Lough RSPB reserve. (Richard Caves).

Merlin - Richard Caves

Bird News Saturday 22nd October

A Radde's Warbler is on Rathlin. (Ric Else & Hazel Watson).

A female Marsh Harrier and 2 Hen Harriers were at Portmore Lough RSPB reserve. (Richard Hunter).

The two Hen Harriers were still at Portmore this afternoon but there was no sign of the Marsh Harrier. (Robert Hughes, David McCreedy).

At least 10 Mediterranean Gulls, mostly adults were at Kirkistown on the outer Ards. (Bob Watts).

A Chiffchaff and 6+ Goldcrests were at Ballyquintin. (Bob Watts).

An adult winter plumaged and 1st winter plumaged Little Gulls and two adult winter plumaged Mediterranean Gulls were in Groomsport harbour. (Tom Ennis, Andrew Millar).

Also at Groomsport were at least 10 Mediterranean Gulls and a Carrion Crow. (Chris Shaw)

A Merlin and a Ruff were at Reedy Flats. (Garry Armstrong).

A 1st winter Little Gull and an Arctic Tern were at Briggs Rocks.(Richard Weyl).

Tory Island has a Blyths Reed Warbler and an Arctic Warbler (Anton Meenan)

5 Pinkfeet were with a Greylag flock on the Dooey Peninsula in Donegal. (Mike McLaughlin).

Raddes Warbler, Rathlin, Hazel Watson:

Twite - Thomas Campbell

Twite - Thomas Campbell

Sparrowhawk - Michael Henderson

Golden Plover - Thomas Campbell

Hen Harrier - David McCreedy

Hen Harrier - David McCreedy

 

Bird News Friday 21st October

 An Arctic Tern was at the East Strand carpark in Portrush. (John Clarke).

A Merlin was perched on the fence along Moscow Road in Belfast Harbour Estate. (Colin Mayes).

An adult Little Gull and 3 Mediterranean Gulls were at Groomsport. Another sub-adult Mediterranean Gull and 2 Purple Sandpipers were at Briggs Rocks with good numbers of Kittiwakes offshore. 3 Mediterranean Gulls and 3 Purple Sandpipers were at Ballyholme. (Dermot Hughes).

3 Twite were at Ramore. (Donna Riddell).

The male Ring-necked Duck was still at the south end of Lough Beg. Two Curlew Sandpipers and two Cattle Egrets were also still present. (David Steele). Also present were a Great White Egret and two Pinkfeet with the Greylags. (Richard Grey).

Approximately 30 Twite were at Magheracross car park. (Mervyn Campbell).

Arctic Tern - John Clarke

 

Snow Bunting - Juliet Fleming

Great White Egret - Juliet Fleming

Bird News Thursday 20th October

Approximately 30 Twite Coastal Discovery Centre, Portrush and two Stock Dove flew over south (Dennis Weir).

30 White-fronted Geese in field with Whooper Swans on Ballyrashane Road (Stephen and Donna Riddell).

Two Great White Egrets are at Ballycarry Bridge midday (Juliet Fleming).

There are 90-100 Red-breasted Mergansers off the Concentrix car park at Belfast Lough RSPB WoW Reserve (Derek Polley).

A ringtail Hen Harrier and a juvenile/female Marsh Harrier were present this afternoon at Portmore (Richard Caves)

Large flocks of mainly Fieldfare, with some Redwing (between 250/300) were seen over half an hour, over Ardarragh, Rathfriland, Co Down. (Shelagh Henry)

Two Snow Buntings were on Ramore head, Portrush, late afternoon. (Juliet Fleming)

A Short-eared Owl was seen at Balls Point, Magilligan, at 4pm. (Raymond Fulton)

A male Ring-necked Duck was at the south end of Lough Beg today. A Jack Snipe, two Curlew Sandpipers, 12 Pink-feet, a Barnacle Goose, three Great Egrets, a Cattle Egret, two Twite and a Great Spotted Woodpecker were in the Mullagh area. (David Steele)

The third winter Glaucous Gull was still at Burger King, Coleraine.

White-fronted Geese, Donna Riddell:

Bird News Wednesday 19th October

About 800 Redwing and 300 Fieldfare over Rathlin (Ric Else & Hazel Watson).

A mammoth 20,000+ Fieldfare west, 26 White-fronted Geese south and one Brambling over Ringsend, Coleraine (Dennis Weir).

Several thousand Fieldfare and Redwings on Tory Island, Co Donegal along with 1w Glaucous Gull, two Jack Snipe, Siberian Chiffchaff, Chiffchaff and two Brambling (Theo Campbell, Chris Ingram, Derek Brennan & Graham Mitchell).

Unconfirmed report of two Firecrests at Hilden near Lisburn but no precise details for this NI mega (Robert Nash per Irish Birding).

Bird News Tuesday 18th October

The two Great White Egrets were still at Ballycarry Bridge in Larne Lough this morning. (Ian Dickey).

A female Hen Harrier was at Ballyutoag Road, Belfast Hills. (Dave Allen)

The Spotted Redshank was still at Ballycarry (Shirley Dunlop)

This afternoon a ringtail Hen Harrier flew over Ballinacor outside Lurgan heading towards Lough Neagh. (Ed O'Hara).

A Peregrine was seen along the Carricknadarriff Road, Hillsborough (Garry Wilkinson)

35 Slavonian Grebe, 20 Red-throated Diver and a very high count of 82 Little Egret were on Lough Foyle. Also seen were 3 Twite, a Med Gull and a Merlin. The American Golden Plover was still present at Myroe. (Matthew Tickner)

Rathlin Island had their first Fieldfares and White-fronted Geese of the autumn, plus a dozen Redwings, 3 Blackcaps, 20 Twite along the beach, and most unusually nearly 300 Jackdaws (Ric Else / Hazel Watson)

Drake Eider, Guy Hamilton:

Bird News Monday 17th October

The juvenile American Golden Plover was still in the ploughed field in Myroe - there is a possible second. There are approximately 2000 Golden Plover. (Martin Deehan)

A Blyths Reed Warbler is at the east end of Tory (Anton Meenan)

Hen Harrier, Divis, Gregory Heaney:

Bird News Sunday 16th October

Two Great White Egret are at Ballycarry this morning (Jonathan Cooke)

At Lough Beg, two Cattle Egrets were together between Paddy's Dubh and Mullagh. A Great White Egret was at the Mullagh. Another Great White Egret and a Jack Snipe were at the south west corner. (Richard Gray)

Reedy Flats this morning had a ringtail Hen Harrier and two Merlin. (Ed O'Hara, Garry Armstrong, Comghal McQuillan).

Two Snow Buntings and two Redwings are at Fair Head. (Ivan Quail & Nicky Lynn).

A ringtail Hen Harrier and several Kestrels were on Divis this afternoon. (Gregory Heaney).

Two White-fronted Geese passed Ramore in Portrush. (Stephen Riddell).

A Great White Egret was on the river Lagan about a mile upstream of the Mound, Dromore, Co. Down. (Colin Gorman).

A Pink-footed Goose was with the Greylag flock at the Quoile. (Robert McDowell).

On Rathlin the Barnacle Goose flock along with the presumed Barnacle x Snow Goose hybrid and 22 Whooper Swans were on Ushet Lough. (Ric Else & Hazel Watson).

Thanks to Michael Latham for the pictures of the Great White Egret and the Greenshank and to Jonathan Cooke for the picture of the two Great White Egrets:

Bird News Saturday 15th October

The Great White Egret and the Spotted Redshank are both still at Ballycarry Bridge in Larne Lough. (Ian Dickey, Michael Latham).

Two Ruff were with Lapwing in a ploughed field beside Kirkstown, 3 Mediterranean Gulls, an adult and 2 1st winter, were at Ratallagh carpark south of Portavogie and 18 Mediterranean Gulls and 6 Sandwich Terns were on the beach at Cloghy. (Garry Armstrong).

The juvenile American Golden Plover is still with the Golden Plover flock at Myroe. (Jane Stylianou).

Portmore had a ringtail Hen Harrier, Merlin, Peregrine, 40 Whoopers and 12 Black-tailed Godwits. (Ed O'Hara).

A Merlin was in the Antrim hills. (Michael Latham).

About 40 Fieldfare were at Seaforde Estate, Co. Down. (Garry Wilkinson).

Thanks to Michael Latham for the pictures of the Spotted Redshank, Merlin and Great White Egret and to Alastair McLean for the picture of the Dunlin:

Bird News Friday 14th October

The Great White Egret was still at Ballycarry this morning along with 16 Little Egrets (Jonathan Cooke, Ian Enlander).

A Spotted Redshank is also present at Ballycarry Bridge, Larne Lough. (Shirley Dunlop, Gerard McGeehan).

A Purple Sandpiper was with Turnstones near Lansdowne Crescent in Portrush. (Juliet Fleming)

The 4 Curlew Sandpipers were still at Ardilea at the mouth of the Blackstaff river in Dundrum Bay, the 1st winter Little Gull was still on the mudflats at Green Island. (David Nixon)

Thanks to Ian Enlander for the pictures of the Great White Egret, to Guy Hamilton for the picture of the Kingfisher, to Juliet Fleming for the picture of the Purple Sandpiper and to David Nixon for the picture of the Curlew Sandpipers:

Bird News Thursday 13th October

 There is a Great White Egret at Ballycarry bridge showing distantly on the south basin (Kevin Kirkham).

A single Curlew Sandpiper and a Ruff are at the Bann Estuary. The Glaucous Gull was at Burger King in Coleraine. (Jeff Larkin).

A Ruff and 2 Bar-tailed Godwits were at Belfast Lough RSPB WoW reserve. (Derek Polley).

A Pink-footed Goose was at Waterfoot and the Black-throated Diver, and an Arctic Tern were at Carnlough. (Neal Warnock).

A flock of Barnacle Geese and an apparent Barnacle x Snow Goose hybrid were on Rathlin. (Ric Else & Hazel Watson)

Thanks to Jonathan Cooke for the pictures of the Great White Egret, to Kevon Kirkham for the pictures of the Glaucous Gull and the Whooper Swans, to Neal Warnock for the picture of the Pink-footed Goose and to Ric Else for the picture of the Barnacles and hybrid Goose: