Kestrel...

It's been a warm sunny day, here in County Down. Probably the warmest day of the year so far.

I'm sure I've said before, that May is my favourite month of the year. I do love to see the wild flowers, the magnolia trees and all the apple and cherry blossom. The birds are singing and the fledglings begin to appear. For me, it is such an uplifting time of the year, and with summer still to come...

The crops I planted a while back, are steadily growing. Especially the potatoes, which are doing really well. I am so pleased about that, as I am not a very good gardener.
Last week I made some carrot and corriander soup with the corriander I planted. And hopefully I'll be able to use my own carrots next time.


my potatoes are growing!

As for birds, well today we saw a Kestrel from our garden. We watched it being mobbed by a magpie and a crow! Poor thing tried to return, but the crow wasn't having it, and chased him right over our garden and down towards the Lough. I doubt we'll see him again, but his appearance today, means my garden bird list is now at 41!


I found this Van Morrison song on YouTube earlier. I don't think it will be there for long, as you only find cover versions of his songs on there these days. It's one of my favourites - so enjoy it while you can.......

Killard Nature Reserve..

I think it was back in 2006 when I became interested in birds. I remember searching the internet for bird blogs and I found two which I followed every week. One was a blog from Hampshire, where I lived, and the other was Peregrines Bird Blog, from Northern Ireland.

Reading Peregrines bird blog, is where I heard about Strangford Lough and various other places in Northern Ireland. One of the main places mentioned in that blog, was Killard Nature Reserve, on the County Down coast. I loved reading about Killard, with the wildflowers, the seals and the birds. How I longed to be there. And so I decided that when I returned to Northern Ireland, I would definitely visit Killard.

I've been living in Northern Ireland for almost eighteen months now, and I've been to Killard quite a few times. Today we were there to see the Sand Martin colony. But while we were walking along the beach we met some butterfly conservationists. They were looking for Wall Brown butterflies and we ended up looking for them too! Didn't find any, just some Small Coppers, basking on the daisies.


Wall Brown butterfly (seen in Hampshire) - if you see any at Killard or any butterflies anywhere in Northern Ireland, please report them to the Butterfly Conservation.

Killard really is a wonderful place to be. Like many parts of the County Down coastline, so wild and unspoilt. And May is a good time to see the spring flowers. We saw primroses, bluebells, daisies, buttercups and lots more I could not identify. We saw lots of birds too. You couldn't miss the Whitethroats singing from the hedgerows, Wrens, Linnets, Shellducks, a Wheatear, some Whimbrels and a Skylark were all seen and heard.


whitethroat

But as well as all the flowers and birds we saw two grey seals close to the shore. I have no idea whether they were male or female, but I like to think they were a couple. One was some distance in front of the other and turned in the water, waited for it's mate to catch up - then off they went together.... how sweet!

Yes, little did I know back in 2006, that in 2010, I too would be living in a village on the shores of Strangford Lough. And that walking/birding at Killard, would not be a dream anymore, but a reality...........

Orchard County...

A couple of weeks ago my sister came to visit us. While she was here, I took her on the walk I do each day. Down to the lough and back through the village. As we were walking along, I couldn't help but stop to point out the various birds to her.
I can only guess she must have enjoyed seeing the birds, because the next day she asked if we would like to join her on a Dawn Chorus walk at Oxford Island, not far from where she lives.
So on Friday we stayed overnight at my sisters. And on Saturday morning we were up bright and early and off to meet twenty or so others at Oxford Island, just before 6am...



I must admit I was very excited, I hardly ever do any proper birding these days, so to be at Oxford Island was a real treat for me.

On our walk we saw/heard lots of birds including blackbirds, wrens, robins, song thrushes, blackcaps and even a reed bunting. But the best bird for me was the sedge warbler. I was overjoyed at seeing and hearing that beautiful little bird. Infact we saw quite a few of them. I think I mentioned before, that I could quite happily listen to sedge warblers all day long. I find their song so enchanting.

Later on, after a couple of hours birding, we were taken to the restaurant, where a very nice breakfast had been laid on, just what we needed! And when we were fed and watered and ready to leave, I knew exactly where I wanted to go next.....



Well, we were in County Armagh, in the month of May, so we had to go to the apple orchards, just outside Portadown, to see if the blossom was out. And lucky for us it was.



If you've never been to the orchard area of County Armagh, then you really ought to. It is very unique.



My own memories of the orchards are going apple picking with my friend and her dad. I think we got paid ten shillings for a days work. No doubt my friend and I spent that money on sweets, brown lemonade, and raspberry ripple ice-cream.... Happy days!

Home...

I've been in agony today. I don't know when or how it happened, but for some reason, my rib cage is aching. I guess I must have bruised it, or maybe I've pulled something, I'm really not sure. I only know it hurts, especially when I laugh! So today I have been trying not to laugh, which is difficult, because living here, there always seems to be something to laugh about.

Take today for instance, all I did was go out for a walk. I set out expecting to see some birds on the Lough. And yes, there were the usual birds, plus a pair of eider ducks and a whimbrel. I also expected to see some boats and to meet some familiar faces, and I did. But what I hadn't expected to see was a man playing tennis with his dog!! I kid you not. So I laughed......what else could I do?? Which means my ribs are hurting, really, really hurting. But I don't care, because I am so happy to be back in this crazy, funny, mixed up place, I call home......