Tag: Donaghadee

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!

First trip of 2015

  • Exciting start to new season – work progressing on refit of Gully trap.
  • Buildings and jetties intact after winter storms.
  • 6 species ringed – 1st bird ringed of 2015: Song thrush.
  • 33 species sighted – including Snipe, Swallow, Chiffchaff, Willow warbler and Goldcrest.

On Tuesday 7th April a team of seven volunteers paid the first visit of 2015 to the observatory – mainly with the purpose of preparing the Gully trap (our East-facing Heligoland walk-in trap) for the new season, but also to check over the buildings and jetties after the winter storms.

This was also the first outing of the season for our Rigid-Hulled Inflatable, the Copeland Shearwater.

The sea conditions from Donaghadee to Lighthouse Island were superb; flat calm, with the sky and sea merging into horizon.

journey

After five minutes the team had their first sight of the island

approachingCBO

Landing at the South Jetty just ten minutes after leaving Donaghadee, disembarkation was watched with interest from the cliff-top by a group of ten Shelduck. A dozen drake Eider were milling around the Gavney channel after a few females, and calling with their distinctive nasal mew.

The island is still looking very sparse and spring is yet to get a grip; the Bluebell carpet is just beginning to show and the thick patch of Narcissi around the front of the buildings is still waiting to flower.

frontgarden

Despite the recent spell of dry weather, conditions underfoot were soggy. Both the ponds were full to the brim.

pond

pond1

Mew Island was resonating with the calls of Grey seals.

Mew

Early double-flowering daffodils were out above the Seat.

Mew1

Philip Galbraith set a mist net in the garden, and worked the Wall and Heli Traps. On the first run of the Wall trap, a Song Thrush was caught and ringed – the first bird ringed in 2015.

After that, the Garden net provided a steady catch throughout the day. Six Goldfinch were caught and single Willow warbler and Chiffchaff.

Interestingly, the Chiffchaff had a pollen cone at the base of its bill – probably built-up during feeding in Africa and Iberia.

Chiffchaff

You can find out more about this at the following link

http://www.britishbirds.co.uk/article/unlocking-the-time-capsules-of-migrating-warblers/

Meanwhile, work progressed with the refit of the Gully trap. All the support wire was replaced and tensioned, and the trap is now waiting for a team to refit the wire mesh.

Gully

In addition to the birds, a group of eight Porpoise were spotted just beyond Mew, and a Peacock butterfly beside the wall trap.

Peacock

In total 33 species were counted. The bird list is a follows:

Species sighted Number counted
1.       Cormorant 1
2.       Gannet 6
3.       Mallard 3
4.       Eider 30
5.       Shelduck 16
6.       Greylag Goose 2
7.       Buzzard 1
8.       Snipe 2
9.       Curlew 6
10.   Oystercatcher 6
11.   Whimbrel 1
12.   Common (Mew) Gull 100
13.   Black-headed Gull 20
14.   Black Guillemot 80
15.   Pied Wagtail 2
16.   Meadow Pipit 10
17.   Woodpigeon 1
18.   Stock Dove 10
19.   Robin 2
20.   Song Thrush 1
21.   Blackbird 1
22.   Dunnock 1 (singing)
23.   Wren 20
24.   Willow Warbler 3
25.   Chiffchaff 2
26.   Goldcrest 12
27.   Swallow 3
28.   Raven 3
29.   Chaffinch 1
30.   Linnet 5
31.   Lesser Redpoll 1
32.   Goldfinch 1
33.   Reed Bunting 8

 

In total, 12 birds of 6 species were ringed:

Species ringed Number ringed
1.   Song Thrush 1
2.   Willow Warbler 1
3.   Chiffchaff 1
4.   Wren 2
5.   Dunnock 1
6.   Goldcrest 6

The team departed at 4.30 pm, again in near perfect conditions.

Your support is essential to us. Please consider joining CBO or renewing your membership – check out our new Direct Debit option with our Membership Secretary.

Why not consider a weekend visit?