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Take a peek at our day trip on Sunday 12th August. Still some places available.
We’ve had to cancel the day trip on Saturday as the weather is expected to be poor. We’re pleased to say that we have managed to rearrange for Sunday 12th August - and we’re expecting some sun! This is a great opportunity to visit CBO. The trip will leave the Eisenhower pier in Bangor at the later time of 1200 (noon) and depart the island again at 1645 to return to Bangor by 1730. The cost of the trip will be £20pp and booking is essential. A full guided tour of the island will be included. You will need to bring your own refreshments and lunch, stout footwear and waterproofs in case of either rain or spray on the boat. If you want to book a place on the trip please contact wesleysmyth06@aol.com Places are limited and will be allocated on a first come first served basis.
Busy weekend shearwatering on CBO with 150 new birds ringed and over 200 retrapped - at this stage all still adults though the chicks are beginning to peek out of their burrows. Reviewing the retrap data always throws up surprises: EN41434, caught in an area called Alley, was last handled back on 1st Aug 89 - the night it was ringed -29 years ago. The oldest bird was EJ95118 from 1984.
Daytime ringing produced a nice mix including Blackbird (4), Wren (8), Jackdaw (5), Willow Warbler (12), Meadow Pipit (3), Goldfinch (2) and singles of Robin, Reed Bunting, Chiffchaff, Sedge Warbler, Woodpigeon, and our first Cuckoo if the year - a juvenile.
This is a great opportunity to visit CBO and observe the work of the Observatory team, or just hang out in a beautiful place. We will be running a day visit on Saturday 11th August, weather permitting. The trip will leave the Eisenhower pier in Bangor at 1000 and depart the island again at 1530 to return to Bangor by 1630. The cost of the trip will be £20pp and booking is essential. A full guided tour of the island will be included. You will need to bring your own refreshments and lunch, stout footwear and waterproofs in case of either rain or spray on the boat. If you want to book a place on the trip please contact wesleysmyth06@aol.com Places are limited and will be allocated on a first come first served basis.
The weekend team (Steve, David, Larry and Peter) used the opportunity afforded by the heatwave to replace the worn liner in the South Garden pond which had dried down to a tarry gloop. Of course when the new liner was produced on Saturday afternoon the heavens opened and a month’s worth of rain was dumped in a few hours!
Shearwatering continued with 20 new birds ringed (all adults) and 36 re-traps. 12 Storm Petrels were ringed and 1 control caught (a bird previously ringed elsewhere and re-trapped). No passerine movement in the stormy weather but a Black-tailed Godwit was added to the year list and the second Little Gull of the year recorded. The Puffins are still active with 31 counted, and several were spotted bringing sand eels back, and two Peregrine were recorded - one on the Mew light tower.
One of the most interesting records of the weekend was when Steve set up a bat detector and recorded a Leisler’s bat.