The new Bird Atlas - Part 5, the bad news

Shane Wolsey has been providing us with an overview of the new Bird Atlas and in particular species that have had range expansions or beneficial changes in NI. However Bird Atlas 2007-11 stories are not all good – far from it.  We have had one breeding species extinction from Ireland since the last Atlas – Corn Bunting.  Not a surprise to anyone.

There have, however, been a raft of distribution and abundance contractions to balance the increases reported previously.  These contractions are most apparent in Ireland’s waders.  The contraction of the breeding ranges of Redshank, Curlew, Lapwing, Woodcock and Snipe is one of the important conservation messages coming out of the Atlas, and corroborates the decline in numbers recorded through other long-term monitoring schemes, in particular the Breeding Bird Survey in the UK and the Countryside Bird Survey in the Republic of Ireland. The breeding distribution change maps for all these species paint a dire picture, here are Lapwing and Curlew as examples.

Lapwing

Curlew

If you would like to buy Bird Atlas 2007-11 then follow this link: http://www.bto.org/shop/bird-atlas

Shane Wolsey (with thanks to Dawn Balmer and Simon Gillings)

BTO NI Office

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Distribution maps from Bird Atlas 2007-11 which is a joint project between BTO, BirdWatch Ireland and the Scottish Ornithologists' Club. Maps reproduced with permission from the BTO.

Bird News Thursday 13th February

A Glossy Ibis was at Lough Cowey, Portaferry (Adam McClure) see top picture below.

2 Little Gulls where at Sandy Bay, Larne Lough.(Neil Warnock/Cameron Moore) 

An ad Med.Gull was at Kinnegar shore, Belfast harbour estate with a ring reading AEIC - a German bird (Stuart McKee)

6o Pintail and 10 Ringed Plover were at the Maltings, Ards peninsula  (David McCormick)

40 Grey Plover were at Islandhill in Strangford Lough (Derek Polley).

3 Great Northern Diver were at Drain's Bay and 2 Great Northern at Ballygalley (Cameron Moore).

A Kingfisher was at the small pond at the bridge at Hillsborough Park Lake (Garry Wilkinson).

Myroe had 8 Little Egrets, 500 Golden Plover and 102 Whooper Swans; Magilligan Point had 1 Great Northern Diver and 6 Common Scoters,  (Hill Dick/Peter Robinson)

Our thanks to Adam for the pic of the Glossy Ibis. Also to Stuart for the Med Gull. Alex Cololiu for the Great Northern Diver. Cameron Moore for this photo of one of the Little Gulls.     

Bird News Wednesday 12th February

The Spoonbill was showing very well this morning, in front of the Brent Hide at Castle Espie.

The Glossy Ibis was still present near Raughlan Lane, Derrymacash near Oxford Island. (James O'Neill).

The Cattle Egret was sheltering at Hillsborough Park Lake and a female Brambling in a garden at Aghnaleck (Garry Wilkinson).  

An adult Little Gull flew past Killough coastguard station (Stuart McKee).

Thanks to Alex Coroliu for the picture of the two Pochard in flight and to James O'Neill for the picture of the Glossy Ibis. You can see more pics at www.nibirdpics.blogspot.co.uk

 

 

Bird News Tuesday 11th February

A Common Crane flew south past Glynn Station at 12.52 and tried to land but was chased off by gulls etc (Neal Warnock). This bird was subsequently seen at Whitehead (Cameron Moore)

The Glossy Ibis was still at Oxford Island. With patience It can always be seen around the Closet Meadows. (Noel Austin)

A Little Egret was on the shore at Kinnegar and a hybrid Mediteranean / Black-headed Gull was also present (Brian Murphy)

A flock of 24 Pied Wagtails were on the football pitch in Galgorm, Ballymena this afternoon. (Irene Miller and John Loughlin)

Five Little Egret were at Larne Lough (Cameron Moore)

For an interesting video of a Treecreeper interacting with the feeding actions of a Red Squirrel, filmed by Christine Cassidy, see: http://nibirdpics.blogspot.co.uk/

Thanks to Mark Killops for the top two Oxford Island Glossy Ibis pics and Noel Austin for the bottom pic:

Northern Ireland Raptor Conference

Tickets are going fast for the Northern Ireland Raptor Conference being held on Saturday 8th March at Oxford Island, near Lurgan.

With almost a month to go 89 people have registered to attend so if you do hope to attend get in touch soon.  

The conference fee is only £10 payable at the door.

Jim Wells.

07856235144

Bird News Monday 10th February

The Glossy Ibis was still in Closet Meadows at Oxford Island (Vernon Carter).         

3 Slavonian Grebe and 2 Great Northern Diver were at Greyabbey Bay South in Strangford Lough (Joe Lamont).

Thanks to today's photographers, to Dick Glasgow for the picture of the Reed Bunting, to Christine Cassidy for the picture of the Treecreeper and to Karl Martin for the pictures of the Long-tailed Tits.

Bird News Sunday 9th February

The Glossy Ibis was still present at Ballycarry on the main Carrickfergus to Larne Rd at the Saddlery.  A Mediterranean Gull was at Glynn. (Ian Graham)

The Glossy Ibis was also seen at Kinnego Meadows, Oxford Island.(Mark Killops) see photo below.

A male Brambling was visiting a garden in Gilnahirk, east Belfast, this morning (Ron Price)

A Great spotted Woodpecker was seen at the Argory today. Flew into a tree along  the meadow ditches track, between meadow cottage and the River Blackwater. (Michael Ingleston)

A Brambling was on the Belmont Rd, Belfast (Philip West)

4 Twite were on Portstewart beach. (John Clarke) see photo below.

A red headed Goosander was at Craigavon North Lake on 8^th Feb (and at same place the week before  on 1^st) a female Long-tailed Duck  with Scaup and Pochard at Bartins Bay Lough Neagh J 070 658(Brian Nelson)

The Red-necked Grebe was still at Inch Lake. The red headed Goosander was still at Thorn, Letterkenny (Chris Ingram)

Killybegs today had 10 Kumlien's, 13 Icelands and 9 Glaucous Gulls (Brad Robson)

A probable Slaty-backed Gull was seen in Galway on Saturday (Tom Cuffe)

4 Ross's Gulls were seen in Britain and Ireland today so it is well worthwhile keeping an eye out for one!

Todays photographs have been kindly sent in by (from the top) Mark Killops of the Glossy Ibis. Tom McCreery for the male Stonechat. Ed O'Hara for the female Stonechat. Karl Martin for the Curlew. John Clarke for the Twite. James O'Neill for the Pochard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bird News Saturday 8th February

Both the Pacific Diver, and the Derrytrasna Glossy Ibis were looked for without success.

The Cattle Egret flew into Hillsborough Lake at 3:45 pm & landed on the island close to the cormorants (Kevin Kirkham-Brown)

A Red Kite was at the Blackstaff at Dundrum Inner Bay North and 14 Grey Plover and 5 Little Egret at Castle Espie (Gerard McGeehan)

Newcastle Co.Down had 1000 Common Scoter,2 Long-tail Duck,25 Great Northern Diver. Tyrella had 2 Kestrel,30 Sanderling,5 Twite,30 Linnets,3 Stonechat and 200

Dunlin(Ed O'Hara)

A Red-necked Grebe, Barnacle Goose, 2 Pink-footed Geese and 2 Ruff were at Inch Lake in Donegal (Matthew Tickner)

Killybeggs had 5 Kumliens Gulls, 10 Glaucous and 8 Iceland Gulls (Birdguides)

Thanks to Noel Austin for this pic of a Great Crested Grebe at Oxford Island:

Bird News Friday 7th February

The Cattle Egret was still at Hillsborough Lake, showing at 7:45 this morning. (Adam McClure)

2 Ravens were over the Hogstown Road near Donaghadee yesterday afternoon (David McCormick)

There was no sign of the Pacific Diver, first thing this morning, at Lough Fea. A red headed Goosander was present (Owen Foley)

There were 20 or so twite over Patton's Marsh, Newtownards this morning, together with Skylarks. (Lindsay Hodges)

A Great Spotted Woodpecker was near the walled garden at Florencecourt estate, Co Fermanagh this morning (Pam Fogg). 

Male and female Goosander were at Rath Lough south Donegal this afternoon  (Brad Robson).

A Little Egret was seen today at 12 50pm at Mallusk, Belfast Golf Course. (Peter McAllister).

Dundrum Bay had the adult drake Surf Scoter with possibly a second bird, 2,500 Common Scoter, 4 Velvet Scoters (3 imm drakes, another too distant to say), at least 5 Long-tailed Ducks, 5 Eider, 10 Great Northern Divers, 8 Red-throated Divers, also 1 Porpoise. (Chris and Tim Murphy, Doris Noe).

Tyrella had 60 Sanderling, 8 Purple Sandpipers, 1 Peregrine, 3 Kestrels, 1 Carrion Crow with a Carrion x Hooded hybrid, 4 Stonechats, 40 Skylarks (Tim Murphy).

A Sandwich Tern was at Bar Hall Bay in Strangford Narrows (Joe Furphy).

A Little Egret was in flooded fields along the Bann at Toomebridge (Tony McCormick).

The Glossy Ibis is still at Derrymacash near Oxford Island. (BirdGuides).

2 Pink-footed Geese were at Derrytrasna on the south shore of Lough Neagh. (Birdguides).

Thanks to Lindsay Hodges for the pictures of the Twite, the first Little Egret and the Skylark and to Alex Coroliu for the last two pictures of the Little Egret.

 

 

Bird News Thursday 6th February

The adult Ring-billed Gull and two Long-tailed Duck were off Carrickfergus (Brian Murphy)

16 Snow Buntings were at Slieveanee Co Antrim today (Dave Allen)

Thanks to Alex Coroliu for the pics of the female Red-breasted Merganser and Grey Heron:

The new Bird Atlas - Part 4

Shane Wolsey has been providing us with an overview of the new Bird Atlas and in particular species that have had range expansions.

The breeding abundance maps and the abundance change maps included in Bird Atlas 2007-11 show really interesting changes for many species, with a significant number showing changes on either side of a northeast – southwest line.  These species include Grasshopper Warbler, Swallow, Cuckoo, Song Thrush, Bullfinch, Tree Sparrow and Willow Warbler.  All these species show decreases in abundance in the southeast and increases in the northwest – thus they are mostly good news stories for Northern Ireland (though this cannot be said for Cuckoo in the east of the province). The three maps below illustrate this trend (the stronger the red, the bigger the increase):

Willow Warbler

Bullfinch

Great Tit

If you would like to buy Bird Atlas 2007-11 then follow this link: http://www.bto.org/shop/bird-atlas

Shane Wolsey (with thanks to Dawn Balmer and Simon Gillings)

BTO NI Office

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Distribution maps from Bird Atlas 2007-11 which is a joint project between BTO, BirdWatch Ireland and the Scottish Ornithologists' Club. Maps reproduced with permission from the BTO.

Birding Courtesy. A Reminder

A number of people have asked us to highlight the following:

Please do not venture onto private land to view birds, without the landowners prior permission. 

Please respect signs about private property and access. 

Park vehicles so they do not interfere with local access.

Please do not harass birds for photographs. Some of the excellent recent pics have been obtained by those who have shown patience to let the bird come closer to them!

Bird News Wednesday 5th February

The Glossy Ibis is still present at Derrymacash near Oxford Island. Please note that the bird is close to a farm lane, this lane is private and you should not drive on it, and access on foot is only with the permission of the owner. (Noel Austin).

Thanks to Noel for these pictures of the Glossy Ibis.

Bird News Tuesday 4th February

The Glossy Ibis was still in the Derrymacash area of Lurgan.  The bird was giving excellent views at lunchtime from Roughlin Lane, in lough side fields around farm buildings at end of concrete road. (David McCreedy, Clifford Sharpe and Cliff Dawson).

The second Glossy Ibis is still present at Ballycarry near Larne. (Clifford Sharpe).

The Spoonbill was showing at the main lake, Castle Espie.

Five Long-tailed Duck were off Carrickfergus Harbour (Adam McClure).

Portrush East Strand had 3 Snow Bunting, the adult Ring-billed Gull and the first winter Glaucous Gull (Christine Cassidy / Theo Campbell)

A pair of Raven were at Moy Rd Portadown (Peter Guy)

In case you have missed them, there are three recent articles on the new Bird Atlas by Shane Wolsely in previous blog posts.

If you have any scarce or rare bird news, please report at: nibirds@live.co.uk  You can also see photographs of many of our local birds at: www.nibirdpics.blogspot.co.uk

Thanks to Christine Cassidy for the pics of the Snow Buntings, Ring-billed Gull and Glaucous Gull at Portrush and Alex Coroliu for the Red-breasted Merganser:

The new Bird Atlas - Part 3

In previous Blog posts about the new Bird Atlas, Shane Wolsey has provided extracts and information about two species showing range expansion in NI - Great Spotted Woodpecker and Little Egret. Another which we are featuring is Blackcap.

 
Blackcap have increased in numbers during both winter and breeding seasons.  There has been a 77% increase in the number of 10km squares occupied in winter since the 1981-84 Winter Atlas throughout Britain and Ireland.  However, the breeding distribution increase in Ireland since the 1968-72 Breeding Atlas has been an amazing 249%!  The map below shows that Blackcap now breeds throughout Ireland with only very few 10km squares not showing a record:

If you would like to buy the Bird Atlas 2007-11 then follow this link: http://www.bto.org/shop/bird-atlas

Shane Wolsey (with thanks to Dawn Balmer and Simon Gillings)

BTO NI Office

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Distribution maps from Bird Atlas 2007-11 which is a joint project between BTO, BirdWatch Ireland and the Scottish Ornithologists' Club. Maps reproduced with permission from the BTO.

The new Bird Atlas - Part 2

In a previous post, we introduced the new Bird Atlas and Shane Wolsey kindly gave some background information on how it was created. The success story we highlighted was Great Spotted Woodpecker. In this post, we feature another species that has had a lot of success - Little Egret.
The Atlas has helped to quantify, what has been the massive expansion in range of the Little Egret.  This species was recorded as a vagrant in just three 10km squares in the 1988-91 Breeding Atlas (one in each of England, Scotland and Ireland) and there was no species account in the published book.  Now it has confirmed breeding in 160 squares and a winter distribution in over 1500 squares! (see map below):

If you would like to buy Bird Atlas 2007-11 then follow this link: http://www.bto.org/shop/bird-atlas

Shane Wolsey (with thanks to Dawn Balmer and Simon Gillings)

BTO NI Office

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Distribution maps from Bird Atlas 2007-11 which is a joint project between BTO, BirdWatch Ireland and the Scottish Ornithologists' Club. Maps reproduced with permission from the BTO.

Bird News Monday 3rd February

The Glossy Ibis was still at Ballycarry. (Birdguides)

A first year American Purple Gallinule has been found dead on the Mullett peninsula (Dave Suddaby)
An adult Mediterranean Gull was at the car park along Whitehead seafront (Stuart McKee)

Portmore Lough had  500+ Lapwing, 1000 Golden Plover, 18 Black-tailed Godwits and Shoveler, Teal and Widgeon on the flooded meadows.(Amy Burns)

4 Sandwich Tern were at Portaferry (Jack Foster).

600 Golden Plover, 300 Lapwing and 80 Curlew were in fields near Killough brickworks (Declan Clarke).

Two announcements from the NIRSG.....
The Northern Ireland Raptor Study Group are holding there annual conference in Oxford island on 8th March.  A number of speakers have been lined up. If you are interested contact the raptorofficerni@gmail.com there is still a few places available. The conference starts at 08.45 and a fee of £10 and is payable at the door . 

NIRSG are running two peregrine training workshops; the first on 27^th February and the second on 27^th March.  On each day we will be visiting a few historic nest sites, learning about the signs to look out for, and the time to look out for them, to confirm the presence of a breeding pair. This year is the year of the BTO (British Trust for Ornithology) peregrine monitoring scheme, and the NIRSG volunteers, along with BTO volunteers, will be helping out in Northern Ireland. We will hear more about what we need to do at the NIRSG conference on 8^th March but these training days will be a good starter!

On 27^th February we will focus on nests in Co. Antrim, and we are starting from Larne leisure centre at 09:30am.

The second day on the 27th March will be in Co. Fermanagh and we will start from Enniskillen at 10am (exact location to be confirmed).

Places are limited so if you are interested in coming along on either day please email raptorofficerni@gmail.com

Our thanks to  James O'Neill for the picture of a Goldeneye and to Tom McCreery for another wonderful shot of the Pacific Diver.  

 

Bird News Sunday 2nd February

Newcastle. Co. Down had a Surf Scoter, 200 Common Scoter and 20+ Great Northern Diver (Ed O'Hara)

The Glossy Ibis was at Ballycarry again (Adam McClure / Paul McCullogh). The hybrid 'Snow Goose' was also in the same field with 30 Greylags.

Derrymacash, Lurgan had the  Glossy Ibis again (M.Hayes)

The Pacific Diver and a Slavonian Greber were at Lough Fea, Co Tyrone

Corbet Lough had 2 Red Kite (Ed.O’Hara)

There was a raft of about 600 scaup, 400 pochard, 200 tufted duck and 50 goldeneye at Ardmore, Lough Neagh. There were also 2 pink-footed geese with the 200 or so greylags at Reedy flat (James O'Neil)

A Short-eared Owl was at Ballyquintin Point and 2 Long-tailed Duck at Ballyhalbert (Richard Weyl)

5 Goosander (one an adult male) were at Lough Island Reavy (Ivor McDonald)

3 Mediterranean Gull (2 adult and a first-winter) were at Loughshore Park (Stuart McKee)

A Sandwich Tern was at Portaferry (Jack Foster)

A Green-winged Teal was at Blanketnook, Co Donegal (Jeff Larkin)

Thanks to Ed O'Hara for the pic of the Glossy Ibis at Derrymacash:

Bird News Saturday 1st February

The Pacific Diver was still at Lough Fea (Paul Kelly)

3 Snow Buntings and a first winter Glaucous Gull were at Portrush East Strand Car Park (John Clarke)

Two Black-throated Diver were at Rossnowlagh along with a Velvet Scoter (Chris Ingram)

The drake Ring-necked Duck and 7 Scaup were at Oxford Island, Lough Neagh. Also present were 300 Pochard, 300 Tufted Duck and 50 Goldeneye  (Ed O'Hara)

The Spoonbill was still at Castle Espie.

The Glossy Ibis was still at Ballycarry, in the field opposite the saddlery on the Larne Road. The Ring-billed Gull at Carrickfergus (Birdguides)

A Blackcap was in a garden at Scrabo, Newtownards (R Donnelly)

The Cattle Egret was still at Hillsborough Lake (seen just before 4pm) and a female brambling was in a garden in Hillsborough (Garry Wilkinson)

Thanks to John Clarke for this picture of the Snow Buntings and Dessie Loughrey for the Sanderling: