North Down Bird Watching Club

08/06/2026

NDBWC Field Trip - RSPB Window on Wildlife, Belfast Lough
Sun 7 June 2026

Hi all, so much for the weather forecast for this morning, a bit colder but no rain till we started for home about 2pm. Thirteen members enjoyed lots of gulls nesting on the islands, one wee fledgling beside the activity centre, being mobbed. It had decided to take to the water. It is strange to see lots of adults, I think, trying to get it back onto the island. I had to shout at a Lesser Black-Backed Gull to go away from one fledgling which had come onto the grass in front of us. I just told him to go away!! LOL. A lovely new wee family of Tufted ducks were in reeds; 9 babies! Shelduck and coot babies all doing well. Common terns are starting to nest on the new island. Some of us walked round to other hides; wrens, chaffinch, were singing. At the top of the path, black guillemot went flying past, some seen a seal. Lovely! Back to centre for lunch, plenty of swifts, swallows, house and sand martins flying around. Great day, till the rain started, I locked up about 2.15. Thanks everyone for coming. Dot

Species List:

Birds 37 Species:
Arctic Tern (Sterna paradisaea)
Black Guillemot (Cepphus grylle)
Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)
Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa limosa)
Blackbird (Turdus merula)
Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs)
Common Tern (Sterna hirundo)
Coot (Fulica atra)
Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo)
Gadwall (Mareca strepera)
Goldcrest (Regulus regulus)
Great Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus)
Greylag Goose (Anser anser)
Herring Gull (Larus argentatus)
Hooded Crow (Corvus cornix)
House Martin (Delichon urbicum)
Jackdaw (Coloeus monedula)
Lesser Black-backed Gull (Larus fuscus)
Long-tailed Tit (Aegithalos caudatus)
Magpie (Pica pica)
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)
Mediterranean Gull (Ichthyaetus melanocephalus)
Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus)
Mute Swan (Cygnus olor)
Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus)
Pied Wagtail (yarrellii) (Motacilla alba yarrellii)
Robin (Erithacus rubecula)
Sand Martin (Riparia riparia)
Sandwich Tern (Thalasseus sandvicensis)
Shelduck (Tadorna tadorna)
Shoveler (Spatula clypeata)
Swallow (Hirundo rustica)
Swift (Apus apus)
Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula)
Willow Warbler (Phylloscopus trochilus)
Woodpigeon (Columba palumbus)
Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes)

Mammals 1 Species:
Grey Seal (Halichoerus grypus)

03/06/2026

Public asked to help select UK wildlife to appear on new banknote series:

The public are being asked to give their views on a selection of wildlife, native to the UK, that will appear on the next series of banknotes in a consultation launched today.

01/06/2026

RSPB President’s Award to our Chair Dot Blakely for Outstanding Voluntary Action.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1EiHGQwh8s/?mibextid=wwXIfr

27/05/2026

Yesterday we received a call from Bev Hogsprickle to say a tree had been cut down and five 2‑week‑old kestrel chicks had fallen from it.💔💔💔
Bev had just picked up the chicks and needed our help.

Thank you to team member Rachel for bring the nestlings who had been handed to Bev in this bucket.❤️

These chicks are extremely healthy, which means their parents had been doing an amazing job before this took place. It is absolutely heartbreaking. 💔💔💔

Sadly, they cannot be reunited as the nest has been destroyed 😡

Kestrels are classified on the Red List of Birds of Conservation Concern in Ireland (BoCCI) due to severe, long-term population declines

Raising these chicks is a long and labour‑intensive process. and we will need to ensure that these chicks do not become imprinted on humans, meaning they must not associate us with food, as this would be detrimental to a successful re‑introduction once they are fully raised.
This means we must keep our distance while still closely monitoring their weight and overall health, which is very difficult to do. However, we have successfully done this in the past and are confident that we can do so again.

This is such a needless case. Removing trees at this time of year is illegal, and situations like this are completely avoidable.💔💔💔

If you would like to purchase frozen mice to keep this gang going you can purchase these at Animalfood.ie
Please get in touch if you need any more details.
You can also donate by Revolut on 0857219400 or PayPal at [email protected]

27/05/2026

Discover this feature in The Guardian showing how bird ringing data gathered by BTO highlighted certain warbler species were struggling in 2025.

📖 https://www.theguardian.com/news/2026/may/21/weather-bird-numbers-fall-britain-despite-warm-spring

📷 Willow Warbler by Edmund Fellowes / BTO

26/05/2026

Not surprised!!

Some of Britain's rarest birds of prey are still being illegally killed despite decades of legal protection, according to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).

The charity says more than half of attacks happened on or near land managed for game shooting.

26/05/2026

Interestingℹ️

Biological differences between migratory and resident non-migratory birds of the same species 😳💚

25/05/2026

NDBWC Field Trip to the ECOS Centre, Ballymena
Sunday, May 24th 2026

Dot's Report:

12 members came along. We walked round to look at the pond, good numbers of baby greylags, singing birds everywhere, goldcrest, blackcap, willow warblers, best of all wonderful sights and sounds of sedge warblers showing well and displaying to mark their territories. I think it took us about 2 plus hours to get around. Great weather, great company, great birds, full list below. Thanks everyone for coming.

Birds 43 Species
Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)
Blackbird (Turdus merula)
Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla)
Blue Tit (Cyanistes caeruleus)
Bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula)
Buzzard (Buteo buteo)
Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs)
Collared Dove (Streptopelia decaocto)
Coot (Fulica atra)
Dunnock (Prunella modularis)
Feral Pigeon (Columba livia f. domestica)
Gadwall (Mareca strepera)
Goldcrest (Regulus regulus)
Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis)
Great Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus)
Great Tit (Parus major)
Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea)
Greylag Goose (Anser anser)
Herring Gull (Larus argentatus)
Hooded Crow (Corvus cornix)
House Martin (Delichon urbicum)
Hybrid duck (Anatinae hybrid)
Jackdaw (Coloeus monedula)
Lesser Black-backed Gull (Larus fuscus)
Long-tailed Tit (Aegithalos caudatus)
Magpie (Pica pica)
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)
Meadow Pipit (Anthus pratensis)
Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus)
Mute Swan (Cygnus olor)
Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus)
Reed Bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus)
Robin (Erithacus rubecula)
Rook (Corvus frugilegus)
Sand Martin (Riparia riparia)
Sedge Warbler (Acrocephalus schoenobaenus)
Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)
Swallow (Hirundo rustica)
Swift (Apus apus)
Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula)
Willow Warbler (Phylloscopus trochilus)
Woodpigeon (Columba palumbus)
Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes)

Mammals 1 Species
1 Grey Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis)

Butterflies 2 Species
Orange-tip (Anthocharis cardamines)
Small White (Pieris rapae)

25/05/2026

Nature directives protecting the habitats of species such as the ‘fairy bird’ of Belmullet are being threatened in the name of progress