*My patch lies just north of the filming location used
in game of thrones for the wall and Castle Black. Do not go north of the wall, only bad things
happen there…
 |
| Magheramourne Quarry, aka The Wall |
This was my second year competing
around my hometown of Larne. Following
one of the best years for rarities I can remember in 2014 (see blog posts here
and here and year review here) was always going to be difficult, and so it
proved. In a change to my usual style of
annual review, I have decided to go down the tried and tested monthly summary
route. The following covers the highs
and lows of the year:
JANUARY
As ever, much of the focus was on
gulls, producing 10 species during the month. In between throwing copious
amounts of pan loaf out the car window, I also managed to locate a few species
which can be tricky enough to find on patch.
The first of
these was a female Pintail at Glynn Station on 4th January,
no doubt one of the birds which had been present there for much of 2014.
A pair of Gadwall turned up on 3rd and lurked around the
lagoons into February. Four Goosanders (a male and 3 females) were
present off Glynn on 22nd January.
Following
heavy snowfall in the hills, 2 Jack Snipe were flushed alongside 10
Common Snipe at Glynn rugby club lagoon. The first time I have seen 2
birds together on patch!
Several
species which were seldom recorded in 2014, if at all, also put in an
appearance. A flock of Fieldfares (not recorded in 2014) and Redwings
(single record in 2014) flew over while watching a Dipper singing along
the Inver River on 17th. A female Stonechat (single
record in 2014) was at Waterloo Bay at the very north tip of the patch on 7th
and after only a couple of sightings last year, Treecreepers were spotted
along Glynn River.
The first
winter Iceland Gull found in
December 2014, did the decent thing and lingered into the New Year. A hopeful scan offshore from Sandy Bay on 31st
in an attempt to year tick Fulmar produced a typically brutish adult Glaucous
Gull making its way north. Small
numbers of Mediterranean Gulls were
seen at their usual hangouts throughout the month.
 |
| Iceland Gull |
FEBRUARY
One of the
most interesting observations in February was a significant inland movement of Skylarks
(single record last year) over the patch on 15th. A fine clear
morning during an uneventful walk at Sandy Bay was enlivened by the sound of
Skylarks overhead. I could only hear most of them, but did manage to pick
up a few birds in the bins and watched them come in off the sea and head
straight inland – perhaps to their breeding grounds in the Antrim Hills.
I made my way to Glynn Station and here too Skylarks were making their way
inland. This time in small groups of up to 6 birds, with a few Meadow
Pipits and Lesser Redpolls thrown in for good measure.
A new first
winter Iceland Gull was found in the
harbour alongside the long-staying bird from January. The first returning Lesser Black-backed Gulls (none
over-wintered this year) appeared at the Inver River on 14th and adult
Mediterranean Gulls returned to
their breeding grounds from 21st.
I resorted
to taking a chair to Glynn Station to aid my gull grilling capabilities.
With occasional flocks of 5000 gulls it can be time consuming to work through
each and every one in fine detail. So I check any large gull for white
heads or white tails or small gulls for black bills or pink legs… All
Common Gulls were checked for large bills and yellow eyes. In this
fashion, I was absolutely delighted to pick out an adult Ring-billed Gull on
28th February bathing at the mouth of the river. This was my
fourth patch record of this species, which is probably annual amongst the
hordes of Common Gulls, but very difficult to find.
A Slavonian Grebe was off Glynn Station
on 3rd, a species which seems to be making something of a comeback
to the lough after several years’ absence.
MARCH
As ever, this
month sees the first of the summer migrants arriving back on patch. The first of these was a male Wheatear on waste ground at Curran
Point on 22nd. A lapwing was
seen displaying here a few times but thought better of it in the end. Chiffchaffs
and Sandwich Terns were back by the
28th. The only other
noteworthy bird was a drake Scaup
which appeared at Glynn Station on 22nd.
APRIL
Spring
migration was by now in full swing, with the following species first noted on
the dates given in brackets:
Black-tailed
Godwit (7th), Blackcap (9th), Swallow (11th),
Willow Warbler (11th), Whimbrel (12th), Common Sandpiper
(19th), Common Tern (19th) and House Martin (26th)
Amongst
these common migrants were a few less expected visitors. None more so than my first ever patch Ruff on the 9th - with
godwits off Glynn Station. A patch
record count of 129 Black-tailed Godwits were tallied on 15th. A pair of Shoveler were found acting suspiciously at Glynn rugby club lagoon
on 3rd and a lone Twite
at Sandy Bay on 29th had been colour-ringed on the Mull of Kintyre.
 |
| Pair of Shoveler |
MAY
An Arctic Tern was seen at Glynn on 2nd
May, which is unusual for the patch as they don’t normally breed in the lough. The long-staying Iceland Gull was last seen
on the first of the month. An adult Little
Gull was at Sandy Bay on 23rd.
Sand Martins can be tricky to
see on the patch, so it was pleasing to connect with a few migrating north past
Larne Promenade on 8th; Sedge
Warblers and Swifts had returned
to traditional sites the same day.
Also on the
8th, I managed to discover a breeding site for Whitethroat, which I also found to have several pairs of Meadow
Pipits, though sadly no sign of any Stonechats (or shrikes) which is what I had
been hoping for.
 |
| Meadow Pipit |
JUNE
Unseasonal
gales were a feature of early summer and when they blew onshore I tried some
seawatching. This began to pay off on
the first day of the month when I finally connected with Manx Shearwater and Fulmar! My mind then tried playing tricks on me when
I picked up a Storm Petrel offshore. Not totally convinced by my initial sighting,
it was confirmed as a patch tick a few minutes later when another flew past the
north end of the promenade. Things got
even more exciting on the 6th when a couple of Arctic Skuas lingered off Sandy Bay harassing terns and small
gulls. Talking of small gulls, two or
three more Little Gulls were found around the patch during the month. After a long wait, a Roseate Tern finally put in a brief appearance at Glynn Station on
17th.
Away from
seabirds, the only other addition to the year list was a pair of Spotted Flycatchers along Glynn River
on 7th.
JULY
Predictably,
year ticks ground to halt but there was still plenty to keep me entertained,
particularly helping to keep tabs on progress on Larne Lough Islands RSPB Reserve. After several sightings during the month at
Glynn, a pair of Arctic Terns were confirmed breeding on Swan Island. The first breeding attempt by this species in
many years. For other nesting terns and
gulls, it was an excellent year, with high counts and productivity estimates
for species like Black-headed Gull, Mediterranean Gull, Sandwich Tern and
Common Tern. A single pair of Roseate
Terns bred and managed to hatch young.
 |
| Juv Common Gulls (left) and Juv Med Gull (right) |
 |
| Fledgling Black-headed and Med Gulls (near bird) |
By the
middle of the month a few early returning waders (no doubt failed breeders)
started to appear such as Lapwing, Greenshank,
Dunlin and both godwit species
(including a breeding plumaged Bar-wit).
As part of
the first ever all Ireland survey of Mediterranean Gulls, I checked the roost
at Glynn Station on the evening of 27th and was delighted to record
the presence of a colour-ringed first year bird and four fresh juveniles. White 3KNT had been ringed as a chick on Kreupel Island in Holland on 27th June 2014, before
being re-sighted at Portrush in County Antrim on the 11th September the
same year.
AUGUST
In what was
an exceptional year for Little Gulls around the patch, another was off Glynn
Station on 1st. An adult
Roseate Tern and another Ruff were seen there on 4th, during my
second count of Mediterranean Gulls (2 juveniles and same colour-ringed bird
still present). Seawatching produced the
third Arctic Skua of the year on 15th.
SEPTEMBER
Another
month went by without any additional species or highlights. I only managed to log 46 species on Birdtrack
the whole month – I’ve no idea what I was doing! I must admit the effort levels did begin to
wane, it’s hard to keep going when there is absolutely no hope of finding
anything.
OCTOBER
Whooper Swans were seen arriving along the
coast from the middle of the month and numbers began to build at Glynn for the
winter. A Slavonian Grebe here on 25th was no doubt a returning
individual. It says a lot about birding
in east Antrim, when the first Knot
of the year wasn’t discovered until 29th.
NOVEMBER
A #patchday bird
race organised for the weekend of the 7th/8th brought
much needed impetuous to proceedings and a full day in the field on 7th
produced 72 species including a Blackcap in the willows at the back of the
rugby club lagoon - a spot that might just produce a decent passerine someday. Three
Treecreepers in the hedge at the leisure centre were most unexpected and were watched
feeding away to the sound of dance music echoing from a spin class indoors. Always up for a challenge, news of a Common scoter just north of the wall (another
game of thrones reference in an attempt to drum up readership) had me out early
morning on 14th. I couldn’t
see any distant black puddings (local name for scoters) bobbing on the water
from Glynn Station, but a view of the lough from Magheramourne (off patch) told
me the bird was still present and that it should be visible from patch. I did some calculations – in between a boat
and a large pink buoy just beyond the west edge of Blue Circle Island. It was then back to Glynn Station, where it
was eventually year ticked from several kilometres away. After all this effort it came as no surprise to
see one off Larne Promenade the following weekend.
Whilst searching
for scoter man, I discovered there were now two Slavonian Grebes off Glynn,
which became the first time I had seen more than one in the lough.
DECEMBER
Another
species that took its time to show up was Purple
Sandpiper, which after being absent all of last winter, appeared at Sandy
Bay on 23rd and are still present as I write.
A male Stonechat was in a garden there the same day – just my second of
the year. The year finished in style
when a cracking adult Iceland Gull appeared in Larne Harbour and gave terrific
views before flying south never to be seen again.
 |
| Adult Iceland Gull |
 |
Stonechat - just three records in two years!
|
THE DIPS /
OMISSIONS
The most
glaring species not recorded this year include Reed Bunting (none breeding at rugby club lagoon), Water Rail (presumably present, but
never saw or heard one), Golden Plover
(don’t do Larne) and Kestrel (one
was seen along Larne Promenade recently but not by me). Other species that appeared on patch that I
failed to see included Pink-footed Goose
and Great White Egret (see blog post
here about this debacle).
THE TOTALS
The year
ended on 126 species and 160 points for a comparative score of 95.2%. I entered 24 complete lists and 1638 records to
Birdtrack (I only do complete lists when I spend the whole day birding within
ID40, I don’t do sub-sites).
In
conclusion, this year was painful at times but enjoyable none the less. My main aim for next year is to tick Daenerys
Targaryen. How many points for a dragon?
