Rathlin Stickybeak
@_Stickybeak
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Two nature nerds on Rathlin Island. Authors of the annual Rathlin Bird Report and avid recorders of the island's biodiversity - well over 2,100 species so far!
Rathlin Island
Joined May 2015
🎉The 2024 Rathlin Bird Report is here! Another action-packed year of birding on the island, with no shortage of good stuff to cram into our 7th annual report. Available now at https://t.co/IejFGy1o7S
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Thankfully today's Rough-legged Buzzard was gloriously showy, appearing again at Kinramer, then at Kebble, before travelling over to Ballyconagan by the evening. The first record on Rathlin since the one enjoyed by @peediepuss and others in 1988!
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Today's elusive Radde's Warbler did eventually show itself again, but only for a few seconds after 4.5 hours of waiting 😅 Luckily it paused just long enough for a couple of snaps. This is the 2nd record for Rathlin, following the one seen in October 2022
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Plenty happening on Rathlin today 🤯 - first a RADDE'S WARBLER popped up briefly, then while waiting for that to show again (sadly it didn't), a flipping ROUGH-LEGGED BUZZARD appeared and soared around overhead!
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Good to see our first Brindled Ochre of the year - another Rathlin speciality and an impressively bulky moth. Others attracted to the building lights this morning included a Rusty-dot Pearl and a Feathered Thorn
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Hummingbird Hawkmoth was a nice surprise today, busily feeding on the last few Red Valerian flowers along the harbour walls. It's been a bumper year for them here - more than double the number of records in any previous year, but this is our first since August
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Sloes are disappearing fast from the Blackthorns - this patch has now been picked clean by hungry Blackbirds gobbling them one by one
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Thrushes suddenly everywhere yesterday, with a couple of hundred Fieldfares and smaller numbers of Redwings descending on the Hawthorns. Long-tailed Tits also made their first appearance here since January, and a frustratingly shy Yellow-browed Warbler gave just one brief glimpse
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While most flowers have finished by now, Ivy is having its heyday and all the insects know it! This patch was absolutely buzzing yesterday and it was mesmerising to watch the frenzy of activity #WildflowerHour
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Wild Angelica is still striking with its spiky star-shaped seed heads, even though most of the seeds are now long gone #WildflowerHour
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Fir Clubmoss giving a bit of bright green among the orangey leaves of Bog Asphodel today, a contrast to the crispy Bracken and all the other autumnal shades of brown #WildflowerHour
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Display of the day definitely goes to this clifftop Gorse bush - quite a surprise to come across so much vivid yellow at this time of year! Burnet Rose and Herb-Robert also making a strong effort #WildflowerHour
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Migrant Treecreepers are rare on Rathlin, but this one today was well away from the small resident population and had likely arrived here from across the water. Also two Hen Harriers included a fab adult male getting chased away by the local crows
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Finally! 5 Greenfinches this morning were the first we've seen on Rathlin all year. We were beginning to think we wouldn't get any at all. A lone White-fronted Goose high overhead was also our first of 2025, while a late Wheatear might be our last
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Great views of a Merlin close to Rathlin harbour this evening - don't often get to see one so well. Two Kestrels present nearby, and the Mediterranean Gull still roosting with the other gulls on the shore
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A few more plastic tags from Canada - one labelled 2005, one from the waters south of Newfoundland (LA 9/10), and a very faded Cod tag #WashedUpOnRathlin #2minutebeachclean
Another creel tag from lobster fishing area 8, which is off the south-east corner of Newfoundland. Regularly find these on the beach in Mill Bay #WashedUpOnRathlin
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More 1980s #vintagelitter - this time a distinctive Head & Shoulders bottle with the H&S logo on the neck. Looks most similar to the branding in these French adverts from 40 years ago https://t.co/ezdoc1LgAd
#WashedUpOnRathlin #2minutebeachclean
Picked up a prime piece of #vintagelitter yesterday - the date on these KP Crispi Meanies is 1988! Turning up on a Rathlin beach 37 years later #WashedUpOnRathlin #2minutebeachclean
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Exciting to notice a tiny piece of Eelgrass on the harbour beach yesterday - it grows out in Church Bay but having never visited it in situ this is the first time we've got our hands on a specimen! #WashedUpOnRathlin
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Christmas has come early to the tideline, thanks to this festive flotsam 🙄 Some fake Holly for our plastic plants collection #WashedUpOnRathlin
And this looked like a giant green sea urchin, but it's one of those fake plant hanging ball thingies 🙄 Also found another specimen for our plastic plant collection, and a bit of stuff with Common Goose Barnacles on it #WashedUpOnRathlin #2minutebeachclean
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Yet more unwanted balloons arriving on Rathlin in the last few days, at opposite ends of the island. One disintegrating into shreds after flapping around the barbed wire in strong winds #BalloonsBlow #WashedUpOnRathlin
Also balloon litter continuing to blight the landscape - picked up this latest one on Tuesday morning and a huge one on 16th Sep. Released from who knows where, we frequently get them arriving on Rathlin... how many more must end up in the sea? #WashedUpOnRathlin #balloonsblow
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It's now three weeks into the Rathlin Grey Seal pupping season and we've already counted at least 143 born so far! Watching from the cliffs this week we've seen pups of all ages and stages, from baggy newborns to fully moulted and everything in between
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