We're pleased to share that booking is now open for our annual conference! 📍Lough Neagh Discovery Centre, Oxford Island 📅Saturday 7th November 💷£25 (concession prices available) Keep an eye on our website in the coming weeks for the full line-up of speakers.

As we head to the beach for the summer, why not get familiar with some of the seabirds you can see around Northern Ireland's coastline? Check out the following posts for some ID tips!

We're looking forward to running this online event in September! Join us if you're NI-based and interested in finding out more about the Wetland Bird Survey and Non-Estuarine Waterbird Survey. bit.ly/BTONI-events

This is one of the nest tubes that our cameras are deployed on. They are cylindrical wraps of wire lined with straw that ducks will nest in.

We have been back to collect cameras deployed around Lough Neagh at the beginning of the breeding season. Resultant footage will help to further understand nesting behaviour of Lough Neagh's breeding wild duck population and the challenges they're facing. Watch this space for what our cameras find!

We enjoy working in partnership with a range of organisations, including Woodland Trust. This morning, Hala, Esther & Jemma visited a couple of Woodland Trust sites in the North West to talk with the team there about how we can work together for nature through our science and engagement efforts.

Romelly has joined the BTO NI team for the summer to gather data for her undergrad dissertation investigating public perceptions of urban gulls. If you live in Northern Ireland, we'd really appreciate it if you would consider filling out this survey to help with the research. bit.ly/NIUrbanGulls

We have to connect to the basestation in the field to download the data. This data will be used within the ACCLIMATISE Project to inform us on feeding habits of Kittiwakes and how they use our seas.

This is a basestation where data from GPS tags on Kittiwakes is collected.

We observe the Kittiwake colony weekly throughout the breeding season, recording at what stage of incubation or chick rearing individual nests. This data informs us on breeding productivity.

Our team are working on the ACCLIMATISE Project, researching how climate change is affecting seabirds. This includes ringing and GPS tagging Kittiwakes in Northern Ireland which can then be monitored to gather information on breeding productivity and foraging habits.

This week, BTO NI Research Ecologist Hala added more miles to the pot by travelling on public transport from Belfast to Maghery to do fieldwork on Lough Neagh. She needed to bring some equipment with her, so her hands were pretty full as she made her way there and back! Well done Hala 👏

Collectively, we're aiming to commute a total of 8,000 miles using trains, buses, ferries, bikes, walking, running, or car-sharing. 8,000 miles is the distance an Osprey would cover on their migration from our headquarters in Thetford to The Gambia in Africa, what a feat!

Here at BTO, we are in the middle of Green Travel Month. Staff are being encouraged to consider the way they commute, and choose public or active transport methods instead of travelling by car. We're keeping a note of the miles that we cover in June to see if we can reach our goal 🏆

Andrew, Head of BTO NI, joined the launch of the Northern Ireland Seabird Conservation Strategy on Rathlin Island yesterday. Check out this article from @daera-ni.gov.uk to find out more about this important framework for looking after our seabirds: www.daera-ni.gov.uk/news/muir-la...

Special shout out of thanks to Lough Neagh Partnership and the local wildfowlers who have been supporting our work, as well as helping us to get around on the Lough 🚤

If you're around Lough Neagh and spot one of our ringed birds, please let us know via email! (northern.ireland@bto.org)

Last year, our Lough Neagh gulls made it all the way to Mauritania! 🌍 The tagging helps us to understand more about where these species are feeding on the Lough, as well as learn more about their behaviour during and outside the breeding season.

Each bird was: ✔️ weighed ✔️ had its bill-length and wingspan measured ✔️ had its moult feathers counted ✔️ it was ringed and colour-ringed ✔️ it was fitted with a GPS harness. (All activities were carried out under licence)

The BTO NI Science team was joined by our gull-tagging experts from BTO Scotland a couple of weeks ago to do a second-year of GPS-tagging of Lesser Black-backed Gulls on Lough Neagh 🪶

6/ Goldfinch is one of the three farmland species in the indicator that are increasing. Goldfinches are generalist species, and are expected to benefit highly from climate change - according to the UK and the Climate Change’s birds published on the BTO website in 2021.