Weekend Visit of April 17th – 19th

  • Five species added to ringing list including, Pied Wagtail, Hooded Crow, Goldfinch, Blackcap and Reed Bunting.
  • Crystal clear night sky with great views of the International Space Station (ISS), Milky Way Galaxy, and moons of Jupiter.
  • New door frame fitted to Gully Trap.
  • First Puffin of 2015 seen.
  • Migration underway – notable movements (>40) of Hooded and Carrion Crows, and three Wheatear seen.

Sometimes the weather can be almost too good!

The second weekend team of 2015, covering Friday 17th – Sunday 19th April, certainly got spectacular early spring weather. The clear air in the mornings gave the eye a full sweep from Goat Fell on Arran in the North, to the Calf of Man in the south; a panorama from the old lighthouse stump which easily covered over one hundred miles. This is not, however, the weather that a ringing team necessarily want! When the conditions are so clear the birds often keep moving. Despite this, the weekend provided a steady trickle of birds through the nets and traps. Notable were the first Blackcap and Goldfinch of 2015, and an exciting catch of three Hooded Crow in the walk-in Crow-trap (feeding on old smelly cheese!). Other migrants included two Willow warbler, and singles of Chiffchaff and Goldcrest.

This photo shows the rarely seen underfoot of a Willow warbler – a vibrant yellow sole.
This photo shows the rarely seen underfoot of a Willow warbler – a vibrant yellow sole.

 

Several pairs of Reed Bunting breed on the island. A female was ringed on Sunday morning.
Several pairs of Reed Bunting breed on the island. A female was ringed on Sunday morning.

 

Regular visitors may bemoan the night-time loss of the familiar sweep of the beam from the Mew Island Lighthouse, recently decommissioned and replaced with a fixed flashing light. The night sky, however, somehow seemed enhanced. The Milky Way was clearly visible, and the team also tracked a four-minute transit of the International Space Station across the southern sky.

narcissi

The spring flowers are really starting to show. The early double-flowering daffodils have already turned, but the narcissi probably have another few weeks left.

 

Clumps of Marsh Marigold can be found in wet areas.
Clumps of Marsh Marigold can be found in wet areas.

 

Bird lists and migration logs are updated every day. Large numbers of crows – mainly Hooded, but also some Carrion – were noted on passage. The first Sandwich Tern was heard off Mew, and a Puffin dropped into the sound between Lighthouse and Mew Island on Sunday afternoon. Three Wheatear spent an hour on Sunday morning feeding around the front of the Gully trap.

Some island views…

East jetty under high tide.

East jetty under high tide.

 

South jetty underwater
South jetty, the same…

 

Ship passing behind Mew…
Ship passing behind Mew…

 

Occupied Loo with a View…

Occupied Loo with a View…

 

Scopes ready for the next species…

Scopes ready for the next species…

 

Chris closing the nets on Saturday evening.
Chris closing the nets on Saturday evening.

 

If you would like to arrange a weekend stay, contact our Bookings Secretary – davidgalbraith903@btinternet.com

Remember, your membership support is essential to us. Please consider joining or renewing your membership today!

CBO – First overnight Weekend Visit of 2015 (April 10th – 12th)

  • Coastline clean-up removes 4 large bags of rubbish.
  • Species list increases: Peregrine, Water Rail, Manx Shearwater, Fieldfare, Wheatear, and Jack Snipe added.
  • Important work continues: mesh wire fitted to Gully Trap, and jetties spruced up for new season.

The CBO 2015 overnight manning season commenced on Friday 10th April when a small team departed a blustery Donaghadee onboard our Rigid-Hulled Inflatable, the Copeland Shearwater.

Unfortunately the deterioration in the weather conditions over the weekend restricted the passage of migrants through the island, and hence the ringing return was zero. The team, however, still completed very useful work making the jetties safe by removing the winter growth of green weed, and made significant steps in getting the Gully trap ready for catching.

Seventeen species were added to the bird list, including Grey Heron, Peregrine, Water Rail, Moorhen, Jack snipe and Wheatear.

Depressingly, a beach clean-up around the island on Saturday afternoon removed four large bin-bags full of waste, including hundreds of plastic bottles, a coil of discarded rope, 5 gallons of used engine oil and various large lengths of plastic pipe….. everything excluding the kitchen sink. (In fact it could be argued that we got the kitchen sink too in the form of a plastic basin!)

Where does it all come from?

Where does it all come from?

Kitchen sink!

Kitchen sink!

Rubbish!

Rubbish!

On a positive note, progress was made with the refit of the Gully Trap; wire mesh was fitted to one wall and all the support wires are now in place and fully tensioned.

Refit of Gully Trap

Refit of Gully Trap

This weekend illustrates how important overnight visitors are to maintaining CBO as a functioning observatory. There is always something to do.

If you are thinking of planning a weekend stay, contact our Bookings Secretary through our Visiting page.

Remember, your membership support is essential to us.

Please consider joining or renewing your membership today!

Join, visit, donate…

CBO grant cuts – your continued support is essential to us!

This week the Department of the Environment (DoE) announced drastic cuts to the funding which they provide to a range of environmental organisations across Northern Ireland.

Unfortunately, Copeland Bird Observatory was not immune to this severe action and it is with deep regret that we have received word that our entire Natural Heritage Grant has been slashed/terminated.

Like so many of our fellow environmental sector NGOs, we expected a significant reduction in our Natural Heritage grant, but we are still astonished that any NI government would consider completely cutting this massively important source of funding.

The Natural Heritage grant allowed CBO to maintain an intensive habitat management and restoration programme – essential to our nationally important colony of Manx Shearwaters – continue with our ongoing (for sixty years) seabird and passerine ringing operations AND helped the Northern Ireland Government meet its statutory obligations, under European Law, as regards monitoring and reporting on priority species within the Areas of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) and Special Protection Areas (SPA). This high-quality service was provided, for relatively little outlay, by CBO volunteers.

Failure to adequately monitor and report on our protected areas could lead to Northern Ireland failing to meet our commitments to European Directives such as water quality, biodiversity, air quality, habitats and birds; which, in turn, will lead to Northern Ireland being fined for non-compliance. Fines which will amount to totals much greater than the £1.5m cut from the Natural Heritage Grant Programme. In the grand scheme of things, this is a relatively small amount for the DoE to pay for the support and information they receive from groups across NI.

You can find out more about the impact of these cuts on environmental NGOs on the Northern Ireland Environment Link Facebook page.

In terms of CBO, the loss of this grant will not stop us from continuing to actively monitor and manage one of Northern Ireland’s most important wildlife sites. Your help, however, will be critical.

Here’s how…

Join
Please consider becoming a member of CBO or, if you’re already a member, renew your membership now!

Visit
By visiting the Island you not only support the Observatory financially through your visit fees, but you also contribute to over 60 years of data monitoring the wildlife here, some of which is found nowhere else in Northern Ireland. Remember, you don’t even have to be a birdwatcher or ringer – you can help in so many other ways.

Donate
You can help the Observatory by fund-raising or making a donation. The loss of NIEA funding will make operating the Observatory very difficult as the cost of providing the boat service is the main financial challenge which we face.

This will be a difficult year for CBO and we face many challenges, so we appreciate the help and assistance from all our supporters.