Last Monday was the day my bird group went birding and we decided to go the Balloo Wetlands and Woods which are about 5 minutes away from my home. The Wetlands and Woods are only about 4 years old and in the middle of a commercial are.
Come join us as we walk around and see what we can find.
Over on the far side of this pond were about 16 male and female Teal and perhaps you can see the Little Grebe far left.
Below is a shot I took that shows the site of both the wetland and wood.
Above, some of the Teal. There was also Moorhen, Black headed Gulls and some small birds.
The site is managed by the Ulster Wildlife Trust.
The Little Grebe is just behind the Teal to the left.
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Derek found a lovely little Frog
Then we went to Balloo Woods and were surprised to find a lot of the leaves still on the trees.
As we entered the site there was a Wind Turbine and when you are standing underneath it, it is enormous.
This Beech tree was hanging on to its leaves.
These are some of the animals birds and butterflies you can find at either site.
There were a couple of small ponds. This one didn't have anything in it that day, however the other one have a lot of Moorhen and Mallard.
On our way round we found beautiful old trees and fungi.
This is a Larch Tree, the only deciduous Conifer we have here.
Mallard
In a lovely area of wood, we were fortunate to see a lovely flock of Long tailed Tit, Blue Tit, Coal Tit, 1 Bullfinch and very many Blackbirds. Of course there were also Wood Pigeon, Jackdaw and Rook.
It was time for coffee so we left the wood and decided to go to the Eisenhower Pier on Bangor sea front. The first birds we saw were Meadow Pipit and Pied Wagtail.
Oystercatcher, also saw Cormorant flying past.
I put this shot in as I know some of you that live inland love to see some waves.
Purple Sandpiper
Purple Sandpiper
Turnstone
Great Black backed Gulls
Hooded Crow
A Great Black backed Gull in flight
Turnstone on right, Purple Sandpiper on left
Purple Sandpiper
Further along the road at Ballyholme, we saw Oystercatcher, Redshank, Gulls however over to the right of us on the stony beach there was Ringed Plover and Dunlin. My bird group did have trouble finding them but in the end everyone saw them, Can you?
I am sure you how can see the Ringed Plover.
A cropped shot of the Ringed Plover.
1 Dunlin (middle left) and the rest are Ringed Plover.
5 Dunlin across the back with 2 Ringed Plover bottom left.
We all agreed we had a wonderful morning's birding in great weather for the time of the year. We hope the weather will permit us to get on this Monday!
Thank you for visiting and also for all your comments
which I apprecciate so much.
