What better way to start 2025 than a bit of winter birdwatching in a friendly group. During winter, the shores of Northern Ireland are home to a range of coastal bird species as large numbers of waders, waterbirds and seabirds migrate here for plentiful food during the colder months. We hope to enjoy these winter nature spectacles with you as we learn identification tips from each other during a half-day of birdwatching. So join us to learn about our winter coastal birds, kickstart your 2025 bird list, and meet more people in the NI nature community.
We’ll also introduce gull identification in a low-pressure environment (as we know gull identification can be daunting!) and go through the simple methodology for the Winter Gull Survey (WinGS). We hope that this event will help you to feel more confident in your gull identification and counting skills, and perhaps ready to count gulls at a site near you for the Winter Gull Survey final count later in January. This event will not aim to identify all gulls to species at range - the WinGS methodology allows for gulls to be identified to ‘small’ or ‘large’ rather than to species at distance and in fading light.
UPDATED location:
We will meet at the Tunnel Brae Car Park & Viewpoint in Castlerock, Co. Derry/Londonderry, and facilitate car sharing to the Barmouth Bird Hide (a 7 minute drive) as parking near the hide is limited.
If you are looking to travel by public transport - there are trains to Castlerock Train Station on the Belfast-Derry/Londonderry line number 3 from both the Belfast direction and Derry/Londonderry direction. It is approximately a 10 minute walk from the station to the Tunnel Brae Car Park.
Free event:
This event is free, but places are limited, so make sure you book your place using the button on the right.
Further details:
This event welcomes both those new to nature and experienced birdwatchers. We're keen to facilitate knowledge sharing in the group and introduce new people to the wonderful world of birds! If you have any questions about the event, please get in touch with Sorrel at sorrel.lyall@bto.org.
To coincide with a falling tide and have sufficient daylight, we have decided on early afternoon 12:30-3:00 pm for this event. Feel free to bring a packed lunch to eat in the car.
We’ll provide binoculars and telescopes for people to borrow, plus tea and coffee to keep us warm. Bring lots of layers and waterproofs. We'll spend most of the time in the hide itself, which is sheltered but without heating so it can get cold sitting for a while!
We will stick to paths on the way to the hide, however these may be uneven in places. Please get in touch with Sorrel at sorrel.lyall@bto.org if you want to discuss anything about accessibility for this event.
