News
Recent Sightings 21st March 2022
The sunny weather and low tide bought a good variety of avian visitors to Castle Espie for our bird count on Monday morning. For the last week, the Main Lake has hosted a pair of Mute swans which can be clearly seen, even from the Kingfisher café, glidin
22 March 2022
Recent Sightings 14th March 2022
The milder weather has been a welcome change for birdwatching at Castle Espie in the last week, and these observations taken on a receding tide show that the numbers of Black-headed gulls are starting to increase as breeding season looms. They can be spot
15 March 2022
Recent Sightings 7th March 2022
The windy and cold weather at low tide on Monday had some birds tucked away, but there were still a few interesting visitors to our ponds, lakes and estuary at Castle Espie. The Green-winged teal was once again spotted on the edge of the shingle bank amon
7 March 2022
Recent Sightings 28th Feb 2022
There’s been some great sightings this week so far, with the numbers below from Monday’s bird count at high tide. The Kingfisher was spotted on its usual perch overlooking the main lake, easily seen from the collection area and the Brent hide. It’s
2 March 2022
Recent Sightings 21st Feb 2022
The following sightings were taken on Monday from the reserve at Castle Espie on a low tide. A group of Eider ducks are often a reliable sight bobbing up and down with the waves out on the lough, easily visible from both the Brent Hide and the Limekiln Ob
21 February 2022
Recent Sightings 14th Feb 2022
The following sightings were taken on Monday from the reserve at Castle Espie on a low tide. The Green-winged Teal is still being spotted on the Main Lake amongst the usual groups of Common Teal and Mallard. It is distinguishable from the Common Teal by i
15 February 2022
Recent Sightings 7th Feb 2022
The following sightings were taken on Monday from the reserve at Castle Espie on a low tide. The Green-winged teal is continuing to remain amongst the flock of Teal on the reserve, and can be best viewed on the shingle bank while loafing on the edge. We
10 February 2022
Recent Sightings 31st Jan 2022
The following sightings were taken yesterday from the reserve at Castle Espie on a high tide. Many will be very familiar with the common sight of Eurasian teal on the reserve. They have started to come into the reserve in numbers in recent years, and al
1 February 2022
Recent Sightings 17th Jan 2022
The following sightings were taken yesterday from the reserve at Castle Espie on a rising tide. This time of year provides an opportunity to catch a glimpse of the Kingfisher on the reserve, which always adds a bit of colour to the damp, grey days. Duri
18 January 2022
Recent Sightings 10th Jan 2022
The following sightings were taken yesterday from the reserve at Castle Espie on a low tide. As we are in the middle of winter, and the day length is short, the movement of migrating birds has slowed down, with many birds settled in their wintering spots
11 January 2022
Recent Sightings 3rd Jan 2022
The following sightings were taken yesterday from the reserve at Castle Espie on a rising tide. Teal continue to be a familiar sight on the reserve, having established a few years ago. These small ducks can be seen mainly on the edge of the Shingle bank,
4 January 2022
Recent Sightings 20th Dec 2021
The following sightings were taken on Monday from the reserve at Castle Espie on a rising tide. A fairly familiar sight around most of the north coast is the Eider duck with a resident population on Strangford Lough that swells during the winter with loc
22 December 2021
Recent Sightings 13th Dec 2021
The following sightings were taken yesterday from the reserve at Castle Espie on a high tide. A calmer start to the week, with the shore birds settling back to their old haunts after the stormy weather last week. The number of Brent on the Lough has vis
14 December 2021
Recent Sightings 6th Dec 2021
The following sightings were taken yesterday from the reserve at Castle Espie on a high tide. A blustery start to the week with many of the wintering geese, ducks and waders hunkering down to avoid the worst of the weather. The hide tide brings those bi
7 December 2021
Recent Sightings 29th Nov 2021
The following sightings were taken yesterday from the reserve at Castle Espie on a high tide. There are still good number of geese and duck on the estuary with Teal now a familiar sight on the Wadermarsh, Shingle bank and Main lake. Wigeon have also bee
30 November 2021