CBO Facebook feed

3 weeks ago

Wednesday 22nd November at 7.30pm at the Queen's University MBC Building in the North Lecture Theatre at 97 Lisburn Road, Belfast (Parking is Free). Come along and get an update on what the Observatory has been up to in 2023 and hear a fantastic talk by Ulster Wildlife’s Ross McIlwrath on Northern Ireland’s Barn Owls. Everyone is welcome, Tea and Coffee will be provided with an admission of £2.00. Hoping to see you there ... See MoreSee Less

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Copeland Bird Observatory

6 months ago

We’ve really packed a lot in during May and early June, including the exciting addition of a new species to our bird list, as well as both the continuation of our core monitoring and ringing programmes and the commencement of a new colour ringing project; we fitted in some much-needed upkeep around the buildings (painting) and continued with our habitat works to ensure the path network is accessible; and we expanded our outreach by hosting student groups from both Oxford and QUB. The daily log entries for early May note plenty of bird movement with Willow warbler, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Whitethroat, Whinchat and Wheatear all recorded. Of particular note, over 40 Whimbrel were seen in flight heading north throughout the day on Sat 6th – the highest single-day record for over 15 years. During the first weekend in May, 35 birds were ringed - mostly Willow warbler, but also including Blackcap, Reed bunting, Woodpigeon, Whitethroat, Sedge warbler, Meadow pipit and Blackbird. Also, in early May CBO hosted a party of 14 students from Oxford University who spent a week on Lighthouse Island as part of their Field Studies course. On Tue, 9th May, the group witnessed the spectacular addition of Nightjar (Caprimulgus europaeus) to our species list, when one was spotted in the Thicket plantation at the front of the buildings, and subsequently caught in a mist net in Bluebell, and ringed by Ollie Padjet (OxNav). We think this is very likely the first Nightjar ringed in NI and possibly only the 7th for Ireland (data is patchy pre-1975). We had superb weather on Saturday, 13th May, for both an Eider ringing trip to Mew Island, and our annual large gull nest census (Herring gull and Lesser Black-backed gull) on Lighthouse Island. The gull nest census commenced in 2018 and this year’s trip was funded by The Seabird Group (www.seabirdgroup.org.uk). 16 volunteers – including several folks new to the island and to gull nest surveying - travelled out from Bangor. The methodology is simple, just requiring a team of volunteers to walk in a line around the island perimeter and mark any Apparently Occupied Nests (AON) with a pasta shell. In total, 1552 large gull AON were counted, and the split between numbers of Herring gull and Lesser Black-backed gull AON was estimated by making vantage point counts of Apparently Occupied Territories (AOTs) from nine locations spanning the extent of the colony. This presented a ratio of 1/1.3 Lesser Black-backed/Herring gull which translated into 683 AON Lesser Black-backed and 869 AON Herring gull. [In 2022 the totals were 602 LBBG/680 HG].The Mew eider team ringed 3 new birds and retrapped 29 (all females on nest). Another 34 nests were counted, meaning 66 occupied nests on Mew (in addition the Lighthouse gull team also recorded 9 nests and ringed 1 new bird, with 5 retraps). The CBO eider ringing project has been on-going since the mid 2000’s and is returning valuable information about the life of these wonderful sea ducks. For example, this year, the must common clutch size was 4 eggs (31 nests), and the oldest bird was originally ringed (as an adult) in 2008, fifteen years ago. Also, there were around 25% fewer nests recorded this year on both Mew and LHI compared to 2022, and a lack of new birds (only 4 this year but 20 last year) which may indicate a sign of poor recruitment.Ringing numbers throughout the rest of May were generally thin (no Spotted flycatcher this year after a near record number in 2022), but did include 2 Whitethroat, 2 Sedge warbler, and single Wheatear, Willow Warbler, Swallow and Cuckoo. An unusual addition to the year list was a Canada Goose on Sun 14th May which brings the year total up to 94 species. Also, in addition to our ongoing seabird (Manx shearwater and Black guillemot) and eider ringing projects, this year we have commenced a new CBO large gull (Lesser Black-backed & Herring gull) colour ringing project under the direction of CBO ringer, Roisin Kearney. Roisin added the first 4 birds (all LBBGU) to the scheme on 13th May. Ten students from the QUB Marine Biology and Zoology Society overnighted from Tue 30th – Wed 31st May and spent an intensive 24 hrs surveying everything from seaweed to moths. This was one of the most enthusiastic groups we have encountered, and we hope this will develop further – investing in the future! Finally, and very exciting news, for the first time in several years there appears to be a serious attempt by Arctic terns to breed on Lighthouse Island with around 40 pairs taking up residence. More to follow… ... See MoreSee Less

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Copeland Bird Observatory

7 months ago

Hi Everyone, we haven't posted in a while so, here's the rest of our April update on what's been going on at Copeland Bird Observatory. Its a long one so grab a cuppa and dig right in!10th April 2023Wesley Smyth organised a number of people to get out to the island for a day Work trip. The east jetty was scraped clear of seaweed (thanks, Tim from The Copeland Distillery) and the Porch and Dorm 2 were painted. Both rooms look far better now than they did prior to the touch up. Thanks to everyone involved! Wesley even managed to fit in some Botany (a recently newly found passion) and came across Common Dog Violet, Viola riviniana in flower, (see photo). If anyone is interested in getting involved in this sort of work on the island, please do message us!14th - 16th April 2023Steven Fyffe, Peter Smyth, Daire Rodgers and Alusia Malinowska were out on the island this weekend. They arrived to the sight of a buzzard sitting on a post above the cliff. A few common gulls were noticed hanging around their usual spot east of the south jetty but none had any Colour rings. In the past we had colour ringed this species as part of our Common Gull CR Study. There were plenty of eiders about about with one female being chased by quite a few males. The next day, nets were open by 6:30. Willow warblers could be heard throughout the island but only 4 were caught along with Chiffchaff and Goldcrest. Peter set camera traps across the island and put in a few hours of hard work completing some much-needed DIY tasks. He fixed the door to the ‘loo with the view’ and removed gunk from one of the gutters on the building.At 11.00am we were joined by Niall Waterman along with Dawn Patterson (UW) who was leading an Ulster Wildlife youth trip to the island. They got to see a ringing demonstration, hear about the amazing work that goes on at the Observatory, and asked many questions on life at the observatory and how to get into conservation roles. Alusia, a PhD student from Queen's University Belfast, who is currently undertaking research on Rathlin in relation to the Life Raft Project. She came out to use the island as a control site (an island without rodents – fingers crossed things stay that way) and set out a few song meters across the island. Her work will continue throughout the summer. In the evening a female sparrowhawk was seen flying over the island although its presence alerted the gulls and so was mobbed until it decided to move on.We had quite a bit of rain/wind throughout the night as well as into the morning so, nets were opened up a little later. Ten birds were caught bringing the weekend total to 14 new birds and 3 re-traps (re-traps = birds ringed on the island caught again by us on the island). See below for weekend totals. Numbers in brackets are re-traps.Willow Warbler 10 (-)Chiffchaff 2 (-)Goldcrest - (1)Blackcap 2 (-)Dunnock - (1)Wren - (1) 16th - 22nd April 2023Chris Acheson and Larry Donnelly arrived as the weekend team were coming off the Island. The are stayed on the island for a week. The Garden and NWG nets were opened, and four new Willow Warblers a Chiffchaff and a young male Sparrowhawk was caught. A Whimbrel was seen feeding on the Cricket Pitch.On Monday, Chris and Larry were fairly busy day with nets open by 6.55am. With all the excitement of the day, breakfast wasn’t taken until 2.00pm. there were 46 new birds ringed today with both Chris and Larry looking forward to the next day. 35 Willow Warbler, 5 Chiffchaff, 4 Blackcap, 1 Greenland Wheatear and 1 Wren.Tuesday saw, Chris and Larry ring 5 Chiffchaff, 10 Willow Warblers, 2 Blackcaps, 1 Goldcrest, 2 Blackbirds, 2 Meadow Pipits, a Robin and this a Mallard (see photo). This morning (Wednesday) our dynamic duo had their very own Beast from the North East (F 4-5). Very few arrivals, with no birds caught before 09.00am and then... a new Wren in the South Trap! With significant moderation in the wind around noon, this allowed the two garden nets to be opened, proving the old CBO adage that, often, when there are very few birds about, something good turns up. Yes, a Reed Warbler (see photo)!Although, there was a continuous strong NE wind and beautiful wall to wall sunshine on Thursday, there wasn’t any massive movement today at all. Total haul this morning was a Goldcrest and a single Willow Warbler seen as well! Chris and Larry, in the absence of birds went to start some work on the South Trap. This far into the week, we think Chris had gone mad thinking clouds were UFO’s (see photo).With the weather not improving on Friday, the realisation of being stranded until Saturday evening at the earliest began to set in. What better place to be stranded eh!Finally, by Saturday Chris and Larry got off the island at around 03.00pm. After all the silliness through the week, they did quite well in terms of ringing of 82 birds throughout the week (see list below). Larry's sea watching was overall disappointing. Highlights were 29 Red-throated Divers, 1 Great Northern and about 20 Common Scoter. He did see a Swallow and some Meadow Pipits coming in from the sea.Willow Warbler 51Chiffchaff 11Blackcap 7Reed Warbler 1Goldcrest 2Greenland Wheatear 1Meadow Pipit 2Wren 2Blackbird 2Robin 1Sparrowhawk 1Mallard 119th April 2023At 7pm the Observatory held our AGM at Queen's University Belfast MBC building. We heard a great talk from Conservation Scientist James Crymble, who is currently working on the RSPB Northern Ireland Life Raft project on the research and efforts being made to eradicate rodents from the island. We also said Goodbye to our long time President Joe Furphy who has been serving for 10 years. Thanks to Joe’s connections he has firmly helped to place Copeland Bird Observatory on the map. We passed the title over to Kez Armstrong who is the Observatory's first female President. Kez has a great background in raptor research and has many links in the academic world. We welcome her in her role as president and eagerly await the great things she'll accomplish.30th April 2023Philip and Emma had a decent arrival at the island today at about 1000am when the heavy rain stopped. Around 60 Willow Warbler, 12 Blackcap, 3 Whitethroat 1 Sedge Warbler and 10 Wheatears. Most except the wheatears had left by 1330, when torrential thunderstorms began. House and sand Martin added to year list. Interesting sightings include male Red Breasted Merganser and 57 Hooded Crow going east.That's all from us now but we hope that you have a lovely weekend wherever you are!Bye! ... See MoreSee Less

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Copeland Bird Observatory

8 months ago

Early season ringing; return of breeding birds; and catching up with old friends.It’s been a busy period recently on CBO with two ringing teams covering the period from 19th-25th March and 7th-10th April.The March team – who were stranded for an additional day – added 26 new species to the year list (which now stands at 66) including passing winter thrushes (Fieldfare & Redwing), potential breeders (Red-breasted Merganser) and quite a rare visitor when a Treecreeper was ringed on 21st. Encouragingly, they also recorded a pair of Stonechat - once a regular breeder on Lighthouse Island - and on 22nd March they marked the return of the CBO Manx shearwaters from their winter sojourn in the South Atlantic. Due to poor weather the hoped for ‘fall’ of Goldcrest didn’t materialise (only 12 were ringed), nevertheless they added 12 species to the ringing list (42 birds in total). Time spent sea-watching was productive with a Great-northern diver, 3 Mediterranean gull, and 1000’s of auks spotted.Just two weeks later, and the early April team marked the return of the CBO Puffins when 20 were spotted on 8th April in Mew sound. Willow warbler migration is underway, and they ringed 10 birds despite very poor weather on 9th - which did bring the opportunity to do a spring clean of the common room.On Monday 10th April, a work party of 10 visited and undertook various tasks including painting the porch and Dorm 2, cleaning the back paths, and scraping weed from the jetties.On the island, the early flowerers are displaying, with Bluebell showing well, and stands of Marsh marigold in the ditches. The slopes on the East Side are dotted with Common Dog-violet.One very notable bird record was the return of a Common gull with colour ring 2HHJ. This bird was colour ringed – as an adult - on 19th May 2018 (5 years ago) and has returned to the Gavney Common gull colony each year since. Once again, it was spotted on its usual nest site.We will have lots of weekend trips throughout the season (until late October), so check out our website for details on how to join & visit. ... See MoreSee Less

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Copeland Bird Observatory

8 months ago

Did you see the fabulous Manx Shearwaters on Wild Isles tonight? Copeland Bird Observatory is home to thousands of breeding pairs & they make for an amazing wildlife spectacle. Nights offer a unique experience in Northern Ireland where the island comes alive with the sound of thousands of Shearwaters as the soar over the island and clumsily shuffle between your feet.Add to that, Puffins, Black Guillemots, Grey Seals, amazing sunrises and sunsets, Bird ringing, fantastic wildflower displays, migratory birds... need we say more?For the first time since autumn 2019 (Covid & Avian Influenza), we are in a position to take bookings for weekend stays at the Observatory from members of the public. We have planned weekend trips for most of the spring and hope to add further opportunities through the summer and autumn.If you'd like to visit and want to find out more, click on our website link below:thecbo.org.uk ... See MoreSee Less

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