News
Recent Sightings - 30th December 2019
With the passing of another year, lets take a moment a relive some of the bird highlights at Castle Espie in 2019! It's been quite a year with large flocks of passing migrants, infrequent visitors becoming regular features, remarkable breeding successes a
30 December 2019
Recent Sightings - 23rd December 2019
A common winter sight at Castle Epsie is the subtly beautiful Greenshank. Long slender green legs, olive brown wings and bright white belly, make them stand out even at a distance on the mudflats and the Wadermarsh. Their bright bellies and understated co
23 December 2019
Recent Sightings - 15th December 2019
Frosty mornings have given us some beautiful winter scenes and the clear light has given us some excellent opportunities to view wildlife on the reserve. A regular visitor to the reserve as of late has been the charismatic little stonechat.
16 December 2019
Recent Sightings - 2nd December 2019
With all trees now bare, winter is a great time of year to watch our small woodland birds. Diminutive but yet beautiful Tits and finches; darting from branch to branch, and tree to tree, searching for food. The Treecreepers are showing really well around
2 December 2019
Recent Sightings - 25th November 2019
If you've followed the blogs over the past few weeks you'll have noticed a reoccurring theme; birds arriving from colder climes to wait out the winter. This is one of the reasons the British Isles are fantastic for bird life! The climate is great for a va
25 November 2019
Recent Sightings - 18th November 2019
Although there weren't any present this morning, this week we've had a proper wildfowl treat on the reserve; Northern Pintail. Male Pintail are gorgeous; distinct elongated "pin-like" tails, elegant thin necks, lovely silver feathering, a bright yellow pa
18 November 2019
Recent Sightings - 11th November 2019
Once a month, the Reserve team at Castle Espie carry out a Wetland Bird survey (Webs Count) across the area of Strangford Lough that WWT monitor. This is a census of all birds present from mid to high tide, both the species and their numbers. This is carr
11 November 2019
Recent Sightings - 4th November 2019
Wintering wildfowl numbers continue to build out on the Estuary. The Brent geese have peaked, but we are starting to see large flocks of Shelduck and Wigeon beginning to gather in front of the Brent hide. Wigeon are scarce as a breeding bird in the UK and
4 November 2019
Recent Sightings - 28th October 2019
The following sightings were recorded today from the reserve at Castle Espie at Mid-Tide. The last few weeks have seen the number of Shelducks on the estuary increasing. Shelducks breeding in Ireland undergo a moult migration east to the Helgoland Bight
30 October 2019
Recent Sightings - 23rd October 2019
Over the past few weeks, we've been visited by a bird species that has not been recorded here for over a decade! A small flock of Skylarks has been seeing foraging in the Peninsula field and flying over our other habitats. Skylarks are a demure ground nes
23 October 2019
Recent Sightings - 14th October 2019
Wintering wildfowl numbers continue to build here at Castle Espie; including one of the UK's smallest ducks, Eurasian Teal. Locally known as Teal, the males are very striking and easy to distinguish from other UK species: chestnut coloured head, with a br
14 October 2019
Recent Sightings - 7th October 2019
The weather this morning was absolutely abysmal; heavy drizzle and high winds. However this is actually a great time to see birds at Castle Espie because lots of birds will shelter along the shoreline and on the edge of our wetland habitats; this morning
7 October 2019
Recent sightings - 30th Septmeber
Castle Espie is a great site for wintering ducks. In the winter, ducks will leave their breeding grounds and migrate locally to congregate around lakes and other wetlands. The Freshwater lakes here host almost all the Irish (freshwater) duck species at so
30 September 2019
Recent Sightings - 23rd September 2019
Across the crisp, clear autumn air the mournful cry of a Buzzard is frequently heard. Having recovered from a significant decline in the last 100 years in the UK & Ireland, the Buzzard is thriving again and it's distinctive call is part of the living land
23 September 2019
Recent Sightings - 16th September 2019
Brent numbers are building rapidly out on the Lough! There's so many that even at low tide, you can still hear in the distance, the mass of geese making their distinctive gronking calls. Yesterday, during our monthly wetland bird survey, c.2500 Brent gees
16 September 2019