Tag wildlife

First Posting in a couple of years.

George McNeill 4 Comments

There as been a few changes in my life over this last couple of years, changes where I stepped back from posting. Taking time to look after myself from the stress of my employer moving me to a different location to work. I survived and retired in December 2024.

So my first post is about volunteering with the RSPB as a Conservation Officer on The Northern Ireland Red Kite Project.

These birds were reintroduced back into the north of Ireland in 2008 with young birds from Wales. 2010 saw the First Red Kites to hatch in Northern Ireland in 200 years.

They are monitored most of the year, Winter means being out in all weathers till dark doing Roost counts. These birds like some other birds of prey are social and roost in groups, first we need to find the roosting sites. Then count how many are there, This information is relayed back from all the volunteers from different roosts. it gives an indication of how many are in the area.

Red Kites hunting for food.

You can see in the above photos wing tags on some of the birds, brown tags on the left wing means it a Northern Ireland bird. The colour tag on the right wing gives the birth year, there are numbers and letters on the tags which help in with nest and year information. Also you can see the forked tail from which it gets it name.

Next comes Spring and nest building time. Red kites mate for life and will reuse the same nest if they were successful in rearing a family in it the previous year. But if unsuccessful will move to a new nest site. This becomes race to find them before the trees get their leaf covering. Plus we get help from the public who report possible nest sites. We monitor the nest for the sight of chicks, when they are five to six weeks old the identification tags are fitted to the wings and leg. you have to be licensed to handle and tag these birds.

Young Red Kite waiting to be tagged While in the other photo it’s getting a leg ring fitted. Notice the young birds just stay still, they play dead.

I will give some measurements and weight for adult birds .

Length: 60-66cm or 23-26 inches

Wingspan: 154-170cm or 60-67 inches

Weight: 750-1600g or 1.6-3.5 pounds

We watch the young Kites getting stronger by the week as they lose their down for full feathers, flapping their wings to build strength for flight. Once flying juveniles move on after four weeks.

Its at this time we get a short break before autumn arrives and the dark evenings. Time to warp up warm and look forward to roost counting season.

I’ll leave you with a few photographs of this beautiful bird and thank you stopping by.

Stay safe,

George.

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4 responses to “First Posting in a couple of years.”

  1. doerfpub Avatar
    doerfpub

    First off, congratulations on the retirement. I can definitely say I never looked back after making that call. Now the Red Kite…wow, that is a cool bird. We have the White tailed variety over here to enjoy, but I do really like your resident variety. Thanks for introducing me to this species!

    Like

    1. George McNeill Avatar
      George McNeill

      Thank you for your comment, yes retirement is a great gift to ones self. More time to spend in nature.

      Liked by 1 person

  2. A Curious Introvert Avatar
    A Curious Introvert

    Welcome back and you’ve been missed!! Congratulations on your retirement and new volunteer opportunity! Looking forward to seeing some of your wonderful photos as you enjoy less stressful times.🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Janet Avatar
    Janet

    Happy retirement George, and what a great way to volunteer! Love the shots of it in flight.

    Like

Black & White Wednesday

George McNeill 12 Comments

Welcome to another B & W Wednesday, hope all is well in you in your part of the world. The norm of this post is a single photograph. I will be posting a few images if they are related to the day and place they where photographed.

So the location is in the Dromara hills close to my home. The morning was heavy fog but around 11.30 am the sun was burning it off and opening the views to that layered effect.

This was taken has I climbed up through Drumkerragh forest has the fog was thinning.

With the fog clearing quickly has I walked higher up into the forest the sound of crows and ravens filled the valley with there calls. Pairs flying from tree top to tree top it gave me a chance to get a few nice images. This one below is off a couple of Ravens on a dead tree.

Raven ( Corvus corax) is a member of the crow family.

https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/raven/

In spring if you ever get the chance to watch Ravens do their courting flight, please watch them. They love to fly and at times you might think they have a death wish has they race towards the earth.

Here’s a link to a short Youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFKcj9aN7ZI

My next encounter was a small bird of prey, a Kestrel. I saw it sitting on a tree top and slowly made my way towards it. I lost sight of it and then has I rounded a group of trees there she sat. I got a few images has she sat looking around her but a bunch of twigs was spoiling them. Then she took off and came my way drifting on the breeze looking for prey. Nearly above me she started to hover and that’s when I got the following image.

Female Kestrel.

Kestrel ( Falco tinnunculus ) belongs to the falcon family of birds.

Kestrel:https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/animals/birds/kestrel/

These are another fun bird to watch has they hover in the sky looking for small prey on the ground, when spotted the drop at great speed onto there prey.

Kestrel hovering, this is a great slow motion film. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0D-J0cgJME

Kestrel hovering and the dive in real time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaRSihpIU34

Hope you enjoyed a little part of my morning walk and a few of the wildlife we have here in Northern Ireland.

Take care and stay safe.

George.

Black & White Wednesday

George McNeill 2 Comments

Going for gunpowder, another photograph from Castle Espie. On the way through the woods we passed the old gunpowder store. nothing would do but a look insider. Not sure if he found any and there was nothing on the evening news. So all good.

The gunpowder store Castle Espie.

I normally post one photograph each week on B & W Wednesday but this week I am posting another from Castle Espie. A view across Strangford lough to Scrabo Tower. I meant to post this with another view across Strangford lough I posted a few weeks back.

Looking across Strangford lough to Scrabo Hill.

Some info below:

https://www.wwt.org.uk/wetland-centres/castle-espie

http://celtandkiwi.com/scrabo/

Thank you for dropping by.

George.

http://celtandkiwi.com/scrabo/

Black & White Wednesday

George McNeill Leave a comment

Another photograph from Castle Espie this week. The photograph is of the Wishing tree at the start/finish of the Secret Swamp. The young man running towards it is my grandson, I had asked him to sit at the bottom of the tree. But running was his option not sitting, way to much energy.

The Wishing tree at Castle Espie, County Down, Northern Ireland.

In the photograph he is slightly blurred due to a low shutter speed I had set for him sitting. But I still like the effect, his wish was to run fast. I think he was granted it.

Camera: nikon D7200 with a Sigma 17-70 mm lens.

Data: ISO 320 : f3.5 @ 1/30 second : lens focal length 39mm.

Thank you for visiting.

George McNeill.

Early Mornings

George McNeill 5 Comments

My how life has changed for most of us, restrictions, work closures and social distancing to name a few. So for the last six weeks I’ve been at home, fuel prices are down the weather is great but I can’t go anywhere. Travel restrictions are in force so traveling to the coast is not going to happen. I have been walking in my local area and get out for sunrise most morning. I walk in a local wood for a few hours and explore trails that take me away from the beaten path. I don’t carry my camera every morning but will use my mobile/cell to photograph sunrise’s and landscapes in the woods. I post to Instagram most days, link at the bottom of the page. So any photos on this blog are taken with my Nikon DSLR. The following where taken over a period of time.

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This shot is across County Down with the Mourne mountains in the back ground.

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The remains of a small hill farm for days long gone.

 

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Been trying to find out more about this Cross on a distance hill. (most of this photos are shot with a telephoto lens which creates a compressed perspective). I have been told it was a site of a Mass rock.  Link:  Mass rock   

Will be finding out more about this cross and I have to find if there is public access to it.

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A cool frosty morning in this shot with frost lying on the fields in the foreground and the hills on the other side of Belfast in the background. A view around 25 miles away. The next shot is to the west and is of Scrabo Tower above the town of Newtownards in County Down. Again this would be around 25 mile away. Link: Scrabo

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Given the warm weather we have been having and the cold nights we get the valley’s full with mist early morning and late evening.

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Where I grew up in Ireland these mists were known has ghost mists due to the distortion effect on objects around you. If you saw somebody walk into the mist you would understand why….

Going to finish the landscape side with another old hill farm shot, this you can just see through a gap in the trees.

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Next a few of the wild life I have managed to photograph on my walks.

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A one legged Mistle Thrush. Link : Mistle Thrush

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Dunnock: Dunnock

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Chaffinch: Link Chaffinch

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A young buck and doe deer.

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These photographs are of Roe deer. I was lucky to get these shots has the first sight or smell of humans and they disappear . I still had my camera in hand has I make my out of the woods, just rounding a bend I spotted them feeding. I slowly pushed into the foliage beside me and stood still. Having a 150 – 600mm lens on the camera helped me get these shots.

I have a list of the birds and animals still to photograph, so my early morning walks will continue while work is suspended.

Thank you for joining me on my walk.

Stay safe and well.

George.

 

High tide seals.

George McNeill 4 Comments

It was high tide on the County Down coast and I knew then would be little happening concerning wildlife. But also knowing high tide brings the seals to Cloghy rocks. It was a high tide has it covered the rock but the seals were there.

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Heads and tails has they lay on the rocks below.

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Next a couple of gull shots.

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Blackheaded gull still in winter plumage.

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Herring gulls.

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The old windmill overlooking Portaferry.

And the final image a monochrome shot of a Mute swan taken on the Qouile River, Downpatrick.

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Thank you for visiting and wherever you are stay safe.

George.

Mud Walker and Thank you..

George McNeill 9 Comments

Hello my friends, well the rain stopped and the sun make a weak showing. So nipped down to the County down coast which is a half hour drive from home. The tide was out and there where plenty on bird life around. but it was to far out on the mudflats for photography. Would have waited for the incoming tide to push them back to the shore but the light drops here around 3.30pm (2.45pm when I got there) and will be dark an hour later.

There were just a few Redshank’s close to the shore, feeding on whatever lives under this liquid mud. So without boring you I’ll post a few photos of these small waders.

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Grabbed a few shots of Rooks flying from the tree behind me.

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The next shots were me just playing around with a redshank photo in B&W.

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I hope you enjoyed this quick trip to the coast with me.

Before I go I want to wish you all Season’s Greeting, and THANK YOU all for your support over the year.

May all your wishes be granted in 2020.

Happy new year.

George..

 

 

 

Black and White Wednesday

George McNeill Leave a comment

Great Black-backed gull. First winter plumage. These gulls are the largest gull we get in the UK and Ireland. At a height of 64-78 cm and a wingspan of 150 – 165 cm. These gulls are as large has most geese.

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This shot was taken on the shore of Strangford lough, County Down, Northern Ireland.

Black and White Wednesday

George McNeill 3 Comments

Has with last weeks photo this weeks follows a similar train of thought. With little detail and blur in the image. A couple of years back I read a book that looked at how a photograph does not always have to be in focus. While unpacking some boxes from storage I came across this book and decided to explore this idea. While not being an award winning image, it is fun to step outside the box or should that be my box.

The Magpie.

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Thank you for visiting.

George.