Black Guillemots Displaying

My U3A bird group went birding from Bangor Pier to Groomsport this morning.  At the Pier we were delighted to see the antics of the Black Guillemots that mostly seemed to have already paired up although some males were given short shrift by other males when they tried to muscle in on their lady!  Bangor Pier was reconstructed several years ago and as B.Guillemots have bred there for many years, special nest holes were put into the construction.  The pairs were already in their nest holes and we were able to look over the wall and see them easily as they were only a few feet away from us.  Most flew up and sat within feet of our feet.  This male B.Guillemot was "walking out" with his lady friend!!

We then took a walk along the Long Hole and saw 5 Purple Sandpipers as well as 1st year Herring Gulls, the odd Oystercatcher.  We made our way along the one way road towards Ballyholme, seeing Turnstons, Redshank, Adult Herring and Black Headed Gulls.


From Ballyholme Beach we observed, Great Black backed and Lesser Black backed Gulls, Common Gull, and Pale-bellied Brent Geese.

In Groomsport (after resuscitating ourselves with coffee, scones, jam and cream!)  Well we were very cold by this time!  We walked around the Point where we saw, Hooded Crow, Rook, Jackdaw, House Sparrow, Bluetit, Starlings, Magpie, Pied Wagtail, Blackbird, Greenfinch, Wood Pigeon, Mallard, Shellduck, Cormorant and Curlew.  28 birds in all.  Not bad for a couple of hours birding.  Enjoy some of the photos I took of the Black Guillemots and if I can learn to load the videos too.  Sorry, although video up loaded, it would not play!!  Help!  Ah well!  Rome was not built in a day.