Island Images

30/08/2026

Hamza’s African Birds of Prey, is something special!

Fortunately I’ve been able to travel to various African countries and have been lucky enough to see some of these amazing birds.

If you haven’t seen the programme, it’s worth a watch on BBC iPlayer.

26/08/2026

Birds on the new EU banknotes?

Birders (and others), especially those of you who travel over the border, you can have your say.

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde has invited Europeans to take part in choosing the euro's new look.

The bird series includes:

the wallcreeper paired with the European Parliament,

the kingfisher with the European Commission,

the European bee-eater alongside the European Central Bank,

the white stork with the Court of Justice of the European Union,

the avocet with the European Council and the Council of the European Union and, finally,

the northern gannet with the European Court of Auditors.

There are 5 different bird series proposals; I think design J is quite striking, and 5 opera series, none of which would get my vote.

Click on the link in the article to vote.
I found it a bit confusing at first.

https://www.ecb.europa.eu/euro/banknotes/future_banknotes/html/design-proposals.en.html

The ECB has unveiled ten finalist designs for future euro banknotes. The culture and nature themes feature Leonardo da Vinci, Maria Callas, Beethoven, Marie Curie and birds symbolising Europe's biodiversity.

12/08/2026

*FOCUS ON GULLS*

Black-headed Gull - (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)

UK Birds of Conservation Concern AMBER listed

What the BTO says: “Perhaps the most familiar of our gull species, even though not the most numerous, the Black-headed Gull breeds and winters across most of Britain & Ireland, absent only from upland areas.

The Black-headed Gull is a colonial breeder, nesting at a wide range of coastal and inland waterbodies, both natural and artificial. Colony sizes can vary from just a few pairs to many thousands, and are usually obvious.

A contraction in the wintering range of this species within both Britain and Ireland is apparent in atlas data, with losses in central Wales, and across much of Ireland and parts of Scotland.”

Around 140 thousand breeding pairs around the UK as at 2002, numbers are declining.

The Black-headed Gull reaches the adult plumage in second winter: 3cy (third-calendar year) birds are hardly distinguishable from adults.

BTO British Trust for Ornithology
RSPB Northern Ireland
fans

©️Island Images

10/08/2026

Ring Ouzel is on the verge of extinction as a breeding species in Ireland, according to a recently published paper.

An extensive survey across Ireland during summer 2021 covered 75 tetrads in which Ring Ouzels were know to have bred at some point in the previous 20 years, but found only nine to be occupied by the species.

Of the occupied tetrads, probable or confirmed breeding was noted in four and possible breeding in five.

A dedicated survey in 2021 produced only a handful of confirmed breeding records of Ring Ouzel in Ireland, leaving the species facing imminent extinction there.

09/08/2026

There’s no such thing as a Seagull!

A common sight on our coastlines and a summertime soundtrack, here’s a guide to the six most common UK gull species.

07/08/2026

FOCUS ON GULLS - Black-legged Kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla)

The black-legged kittiwake, or often referred to as just kittiwake, is one of two species; the other is the red-legged kittiwake (Rissa brevirostris), usually found off Alaska.

Kittiwake is an onomatopoeic name.

According to the BTO British Trust for Ornithology, this medium-sized seabird is our most numerous gull species, and also our most maritime, spending much of the non-breeding season on the high seas of the Atlantic Ocean.

Breeding adults have a white head and body with a mid-grey mantle and wings. They also have distinctive, jet black 'ink-dipped' wing tips. Kittiwakes take three years to attain full adult plumage.

The main breeding strongholds are in Scotland, especially Orkney, Shetland and the north-west coast, including Ireland. They breed on Rathlin and Muck islands.

Small compared to the chip-stealing herring gull, and is mostly found around our coasts.

A few images to help you identify this elegant gull:

fans
RSPB Northern Ireland

©️Island Images

05/08/2026

Highlight on Gulls. Gulls in general get a bad rap! Often considered a pest. We’ve all heard anecdotal stories of them taking burgers, ice creams and chips.

How many of you know that the majority of our (UK & Ireland) gulls are Listed as of Conservation Concern.

Focus today is on the herring gull (Larus argentatus) and specifically our subspecies Larus argentatus argenteus. The adult has a silver/grey back and wings, black primary feathers, pink/fleshy coloured legs, bright yellow bill with a red spot, yellow/orange eye-ring against a white head. The head gets streaked in winter and the colour tones are dulled down. Taking 5 years to reach sexual maturity, they transition through a number of plumage moults from brown juvenile in their first year to the adult stage described above. A few different images of herring gulls are shown below with comments.

According to the BTO British Trust for Ornithology our herring gulls are…

“A quintessential sound of the seaside, the beautiful pearly-grey backed and pink-legged Herring Gull is perhaps one of our most familiar.

The Herring Gull feeds mainly on marine vertebrates and invertebrates, with Green Shore Crab being a particular favourite. It is an opportunist, however, and will eat a wide variety of food and can be found feeding in large congregations at refuse dumps, taking advantage of the food we throw away.

Once confined to the coast as a breeding bird, small numbers of Herring Gulls can now be found breeding far inland.”

Herring gulls are UK Birds of Conservation Concern ‘RED’ Listed.

RSPB Northern Ireland

©️Island Images

30/07/2026

The Eagle (1851)

He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ring'd with the azure world, he stands.

The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Scottish White-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) ©️Island Images

Ireland’s white-tailed eagle population is growing and stabilizing, with around 150 birds now established in the wild following a successful reintroduction program.

A pair of white-tailed eagles successfully bred in County Fermanagh in late 2024, marking the species' first nesting in Northern Ireland in over 150 years.