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

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 google.com/maps/d/viewer?…

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 Observatory Isle of May Bird Obs Landguard Bird Obs Skokholm Island Lundy Bird Observatory 🇺🇦🕊 Bardsey Lodge & Bird Obs Cape Clear Bird Obs Gibraltar Point Bird Observatory 10 more to go - BirdObs Council GB&I

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

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

Nice to be back Copeland Bird Observatory over the weekend with great migration & birds ringed. 50 birds of 18 species caught inc. 3 Garden Warbler, 2 Whinchat, Spotted Fly, Fieldfare, 2 Wheatear. Passage waders were notable, especially Whimbrel & the year list was boosted by 11 species

A short ringing session this morning on the Causeway Coast provided the first Grasshopper Warblers & Sedge Warblers of the year in the nets, amongst a catch of 15 new birds. A site first Cuckoo was also present but not trapped

Thanks to Mike McGrath-Bryan for a stellar write-up on my debut album, Wild Silence, on bandcamp 13 tracks of pure Irish wild soundscapes. Available to purchase digitally with 25% of proceeds to Birdwatch Ireland daily.bandcamp.com/features/sean-…

A combo of Avian flu (2023), high water levels & cold/wet weather has resulted in a bad breeding year at Inch, Donegal. A fraction of the Black-headed Gulls present, 4/5 times less Sandwich Tern chicks & no sign of any C.tern nests. 43 new colour ringed S.Tern to watch out for

The 1st visit to the Lough Neagh reedbeds of the year was a big improvement on 2023, with a decent catch of 135 new birds. The Blue/Green algae is much less prevalent at this stage. It was otherwise quiet for other species, but we won't make any determination from a single visit

Our worst ringing visit to date during prime time on the shores of Lough Neagh with just 29 birds this morning. Without evidence its hard to say way, but 2023 was a terrible breeding year for Acro warblers & the blue-green algae was even worse. Hen Harrier & Holly Blue were nice

Autumn has arrived on the Causeway Coast with a decent catch of 42 new birds before the heat set in. A late Grasshopper Warbler was the pick of the catch, while a Spotted Flyctacher present wasn't trapped.

Little in the way of migration on show on the Causeway Coast this morning, with a catch of mostly resident birds, totalling 34 new and 5 retraps. Meadow Pipits & Swallows were the only obvious movers, with 9 of the former caught. All birds ringed under BTO license

Autumnal action on the Causeway Coast produced a catch of 31 new birds & 13 retraps. The first Chiffchaffs of the autumn made an appearance along with a couple more Blackcaps. Birds ringed under BTO license

The cast of 2024. I undertook the annual Grey Seal pup count Copeland Bird Observatory & we have 50 pups, with 5 more that didn't make it. There were 13 more visible on Mew Island, and 20 on a small section of Big Copeland. There are likely to be in excess of 100 across the island group

Another fantastic trip to Copeland Bird Observatory at the weekend with 2 star birds in the hand - Little Egret & Buzzard. Extremely windy on Saturday but much more pleasant today with a fall of 111 redpolls ringed. Zero warblers on the island but a Snow Bunting was an island 1st for me

A short visit along the Causeway Coast this morning produced 17 new birds and 4 recaptures. There had been an arrival of Blackbirds & Chiffchaff were audible early doors, with 4 and 3 caught respectively. One Redwing present was the only other obvious migrant present.

Still waiting for some northerlies to deliver more migrants, with finches & thrushes thin on the ground. Todays catch of 25 new birds included the 1st Redwing in the nets of the autumn and another Tree Sparrow. A male Brambling appeared mid-morning, but wasn't caught.

We are coming to the end of autumn migration on the Causeway Coast but there were still a few treats in the nets to be had. A Sparrowhawk, Pied Wagtail, 2 Redwing and a partial leucistic Redpoll were the pick of the 24 new birds.

Great to get in on the bumper Yellow-browed Warbler autumn action & a nice way to end the ringing season on the Causeway Coast. Possibly just the eighth bird in NI this autumn & my fourth in the hand. Migration was otherwise slow but some finches kept things ticking over