I've been birding around the Bann Estuary for a few
years but it was only once I signed up for the Patchwork Challenge in 2015 that
I put in some proper effort. It's actually great encouragement to put in more
time, record full lists and look at everything, (sometimes with a second look)
where, in the past, I would maybe turn a blind eye to the likes of gulls.
Bann Estuary patch
in a broader context
The estuary is located on the north coast of Northern Ireland at the
mouth of the Lower Bann, wedged between the beaches at Castlerock and
Portstewart Strand. There is a pretty decent spread of habitats; predominately
sand dunes, beaches, mudflats and open sea but with a nice mix of reedbeds,
dense scrub and a small Ash Woodland. Most of my attention is focused on the
central estuary and scrub from my main ringing site on the
Portstewart side and the bird hide on the south bank. Some sites, such as the
difficult to access Ash Woodland at Kilcranny get one visit a year to tick
off a few species. You really get to know your patch the more you work it, so I
now know the only spots to find the likes of House Martins and Tree
Sparrows or the single pair of Spotted Flycatchers.
Most of my observations are made while ringing at
Portstewart Strand and it is a great excuse to be on site pre-dawn. The nets
have also chipped in with two Northern Ireland rarities in the last two
years with Lesser Whitethroat and Yellow-browed
Warbler, which otherwise would have been missed.
Bann
Estuary patch map
As with many patches, common species can be quite a
challenge, so if I pick up Coal Tit or Long-tailed Tit I'm
rather pleased. Some obvious omissions from my list and from what I have
gathered from historic records are Collared Dove, Dipper, Jay,
Treecreeper and Moorhen - although I have seen
all five just outside the patch. Coot is another example,
with just one available recorded observation in over 60 years!
From historic records and my own observations I have accumulated a total
of 220 species for the site, with 127 sightings
of my own. As mentioned above I haven't found any records of some very
common species like Dipper, Jay and Moorhen but
I would suggest they have been seen many times.
There are some nice species in the historic records
with Alpine Swift, Avocet, Barred Warbler, Collared Pranticole,
Foster's Tern, King Eider, Nightjar, Richard's Pipit, Semipalmated Sandpiper,
Temminck's Stint to name but a few.
Yellow-browed Warbler from
October 2015
As for the 2016 challenge, I kicked off my visits in mid January and I
have had fairly consistent coverage with about 30 visits in some shape or form,
13 of those while ringing.
January started pretty well with a
few good species to tick off early in the year with Fieldfare, Little
Grebe, Merlin, Siskin and Turnstone, which are
all fairly uncommon. I spent my first day Sea Watching at the
end of February and added Razorbill, Guillemot, Black Guillemot,
Kittiwake plus a patch tick Red Throated Diver. Gadwall was another nice species
for the month. March was a bit of a slow burner with only six new species but
one was a Great Crested Grebe, which I had seen last year but
somehow overlooked it!
Spring kicked into gear on the 2nd of
April with the arrival of the first Chiffchaff,
Greenshank, Sandwich Tern, and Wheatear plus an Iceland
Gull. The final two days of the month added Fulmar, Grasshopper
Warbler, House Martin, Sedge Warbler and Knot (only
my second record). The 30th also brought a personal tick in the form of a
breeding plumage Spotted Redshank, although it had been found the day before. Surprisingly I didn't
get my first Blackcap until the 1st of May, with a Cuckoo on
the same day. The best day of the year on the patch was on the 22nd of May
when I picked up four new species for the year, including two patch ticks: Garganey (drake), Scaup (female) plus a Little
Egret (only one sighting of 3 birds last year) and a female Whitethroat which
appeared in the nets. The final visit of May included a few hours trawling
through Kilcranny Wood and I picked up the usual Spotted
Flycatchers in the same spot, plus some Long-tailed Tits but
I still can't get myself a Treecreeper!
Now we are at the start of June, I am
pretty pleased with my position, sitting only 7 species behind my species total
for last year. I am also now at the point where I reckon I have ticked off the
majority of the species I expect to get with the exception of Common
Tern, Kingfisher and Water Rail, so anything else will be
a bonus and you never know what they might be! The summer tends to
be pretty quiet on the estuary, plus I am heading off for three weeks in
June, so I don't really anticipate anything new until things get moving in
August. From there I can hopefully kick on and hit my 120 species goal plus a
good bird or two in the nets would be nice!
As an added bonus I have also picked
up five colour ringed birds so far this year with two Sanderling (Greenland
& Iceland) and three Black-tailed Godwits (Iceland
& two to be confirmed but look to be French and Portuguese). This
follows on from last year with a Scottish Oystercatcher and one
Icelandic and one French Black-tailed Godwit. There have also
been a number of metal ringed birds, particularly Sandwich Terns (probably
from Inch, Donegal) but I've not been able to read these.
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