Free time & weather finally aligned for the first ringing trip out since late Jan. It was a good catch on the Causeway Coast with 40 new birds & 16 recaptures, including the 1st Willow Warblers & Blackcaps of the year & a site 1st Tree Sparrow

It's been quiet on the ringing front, but Siskins in the garden encouraged me to open the nets. Two sessions produced 172 new birds, inc. 29 Siskin, Treecreeper & a House Sparrow, which I rarely ring. One of the retrap Great Tits was a chick from a nestbox in a local wood in 2016

With the importance of ringing at Bird Observatories, it's no surprise that we have now exchanged birds with 10 of them - Calf of Man Bird Observatory Copeland Bird Observatory Fair Isle Bird Obs Isle of May Bird Obs Landguard Bird Obs Skokholm Island Lundy Bird Observatory
🇺🇦🕊 Bardsey Lodge & Bird Obs Cape Clear Bird Obs Gibraltar Point NNR
10 more to go -
BirdObs Council GB&I

Where do the birds that we ring go and the ones that we find, come from?
Check out the updated interactive map below. You can pan, zoom and click on the icons for details
BTO BTO Northern Ireland
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After 4 days of thick snow cover, my Bann Estuary site was bouncing with 1000+ thrushes. A solo catch this morning produced 61 new birds inc. 8 Fieldfare, 4 Redwing, 20 Song Thrush, 5 Blackbird & 11 Bullfinch. A big melt overnight & +9dc means the birds will soon disperse again

1/3 Peatlands are a very important part of Irelands history, culture and future. NPWS have produced these animations to give an insight to the science and biodiversity of these unique ecosystems and why it is so vital that we restore them. #COP27 #COP27 IRL #ScienceWeek2022

My first chance to open nets in almost 2 months got 2024 underway with a nice catch of 25 new birds of 8 species along the Bann Estuary, inc. 9 Song Thrush, 4 Greenfinch, 2 Bullfinch. Fieldfare numbers are low at just 14 - normally the wintering flock numbers in hundreds

On 28th Mar all 3 were caught + ringed by barry o'mahony and there were no further reports after 31 Mar until . . . on 15 October we caught a BTO-ringed PT at Donges on the Loire estuary, France. One of the Lough Beg 3 !!! Quelle chance ! Merci à Richard T. Mills for the photo

Update on National Parks and Wildlife Service Cuckoo Tagging Project. 3 Killarney birds Cuach Cores, Cuach Torc and KP are now all in their wintering grounds in the remote tropical rainforest of Democratic Republic of the Congo🇨🇩. Red deer 🦌 country to Gorilla 🦍 country BTO BirdWatch Ireland EURING

It was quieter @ the farmland site along Lough Foyle this morning with 42 new birds & 15 retraps. We don't expect the typical farmland birds to gather until early next year (depending on seed provision) but thrush numbers are reduced. Tits numerous again after good breeding year

Our 1st visit of the winter to our Lough Foyle farmland site produced a steady catch of 62 new & 3 recaptures. The main target species were thin on the ground with no fresh seed on offer. At least 1 Brambling & decent numbers of winter thrushes present. 64 species sighted

A windy morning overlooking the North Atlantic but the shelter of the woods allowed for 3 nets to be opened. It was a small catch of 16 new birds & 8 retraps but did include the 1st Blackcaps (3) for 6 weeks, 3 Goldcrest and another Sparrowhawk. Little visible migration overhead

A delayed start due to rain & limited nets due to wind but, a good catch of 43 new birds & 14 recaptures.
A site 1st Treecreeper, the 1st Redwing of the autumn & the 1st Greenfinches of the year in the coastal woodland were the pick of the catch + a new Long-tailed Tit flock

It was a tit dominated catch this morning on the Causeway Coast in what appears to have been a good breeding season locally - especially Coal Tit. 49 new birds & 20 recaptures with the majority of birds caught in 3 roving flocks. A small number of Redwing dropped in - none caught

Plenty of #RedSquirrel activity on our monitoring stations this week 😍

We're looking for people to get involved and take a larger role in our efforts across the Binevenagh and Coleraine area - get in touch!

As autumn advances, the conditions for wader ringing in the Bann Estuary fade, so we switch to Lough Foyle. We had a couple of sessions last week, producing 51 birds, inc. 2 Curlew, 4 Bar-tailed Godwit, 2 Black-tailed Godwit, 5 Knot & a Common Gull. With Dean Woodfin Jones @crymble47

The flood gates have opened and the Lower Bann is now being inundated with blue-green algae on a massive scale. The river was glowing luminous green this morning near Coleraine, not just on the surface, but mixed right through the water column and a thick soup at that edges

A brisk NE breeze coming over the cliffs this morning at the coastal woodland on the Causeway Coast limited bird activity & the nets used. It was a modest catch of 19 new birds but did include a new species for the site in Grey Wagtail.

Possibly the warmest morning of the year (18dc @ 6am) but the birds felt autumnal with the 1st Chiffchaffs of the autumn, flocks of finches & pipits, crests & gathering Swallows. A decent catch of 37 new birds of 15 species. I observed 2 new species for the site - Jay & Kestrel