Guess Who Spoke Too Soon....

Well, I suppose I was tempting fate!! No sooner had I entered the last post than Cameron Moore from Whitehead phoned, to say that 50 - 55 brent geese had just flown over him there, and headed straight across Belfast Lough towards Bangor!! Undoubtedly these birds will be new arrivals, en route to Strangford Lough.............

O Solo Mio...

The North end of Strangford Lough was checked out yesterday (29 August 2017) by Cian & Rachel Merne and myself. Only a single brent goose was encountered, opposite the car park at Ballreagh / Maltings, where we were joined by Seamus Magouran.
With no further reports having been received to date, and no sightings apparent from the usual NI and ROI birding blogs, it seems that we are still awaiting the main vanguard of birds to arrive................

Early Sightings....

Could these be the vanguard of an early arrival this winter? Normally we expect the first arrivals at Strangford Lough, Co. Down to be during the last week in August.....
First report was from Mike Peacock and Peter Roberts, of a flock of 11 "small geese" flying in off the sea from the NW towards the Rhinns of Islay, Frenchman' Rocks, then heading south. Both are contributors to our project, thought they were brent geese, and would know their birds.
As a result of that sighting, I checked out the north end of Strangford Lough on 11 August, but found no geese.
Then, yesterday, I got a report of "three large groups of very noisy brent geese flying over Aughnanure Castle, Co. Galway in the past few days" from Jenny Young, who regularly reports her first sightings from there. Such birds may well be en route to Co. Kerry, where records of birds arriving as early as Strangford Lough are not unusual.
So, keep watching out!! Reports to me - grahammcelwaine@btinternet.com - of first sightings of the winter are very welcome, and I am happy to place the earliest ones on the blog!!..........