Copeland Bird Sanctuary

Projects for 2009

The plans include the commissioning of the new lab and workshop, hopefully the creation of another dorm in the old lab, more coppicing of willows in late May/early June, balsam pulling from May to October. All the usual birding activities will continue – routine ringing of migrants and breeding birds, the special shearwater studies, tern, gull and Black Guillemot ringing. All are welcome to help with these projects. No one has to take part in any of these activities. Everyone is welcome to come and simply soak in the lovely atmosphere of the island, maybe doing some photography, or just looking around and learning more about the wildlife. A telescope may be available to borrow for seawatching for both passing seabirds and porpoises, or bigger!

There could be more day trips in June and one in early July. There will also be many short trips by day or evening from May to July to Big Copeland and Mew Island. Further news of these will be sent out nearer the time by CBO e-news. We hope more of you will be able to come on these trips this year.

These visits are part of special census, monitoring and ringing projects. They are subsidized by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency and everyone should take advantage of visiting these islands now as the grants-aid for these other-island visits may not be available indefinitely. Some of these projects are short term. Though our Annual Reports always fully acknowledge the importance of the support for much of the Observatory’s work by NIEA, I often forget to mention our appreciation when sending out these CBO e-news bulletins. The great advances in every aspect of the observatory’s work and infrastructure in recent years has only been possible because of the great support from NIEA (formerly EHS).

Now is the time to think of a weekend visit! You can enquire or book by e-mail or by phoning me at (028) 9443 3068.

Subscriptions

There has been a very pleasing response to the subscription reminder in the last mailing to members. If you haven’t sent your subscription yet, it would greatly help with the planned work for 2009 if you could renew as soon as possible. If you would like to become a new member, please e-mail me by “reply”.

Secretary: Neville McKee

mobile 07770368856

Website:http://www.cbo.org.uk/

Belfast Lough Tide Tables for 2009

Review of the year 2008

Rock Pipits are breeding near the well. They have been very secretive. The main reason they have not been seen often until they are feeding the young is because they mostly feed on Mew Island. This picture was taken from the “loo with a view” on 7th July 2008.

Self-sufficiency

There has been a great crop of field mushrooms in the south garden which the balsam pullers are enjoying. The only problem is to harvest them before the slugs and rabbits eat them! Asked about whether they are better than shop mushrooms, Ken Wilson, in his Yorkshire dialect, said they were “bootiful”!

Orchids

There isn’t a single orchid flowering this year in the north garden. The plants have been heavily grazed by rabbits. Over half the flowers were eaten in 2007 too but this year it was a total feast. The leaves also have been so heavily grazed that the plants are hard to find in parts. The total number of visible plants is down by over 50% to under 1000 plants. When the rabbit population has its next major crash, no doubt the orchids will return to normal. However there is another concern. There are signs of a considerable death rate among the orchids themselves. This is a mystery. Dead ones are randomly scattered across the sward. The possible causes are disease or drought. The drought had been very severe on the island until just recently.

The North Garden Exclosure

The rational of this experiment is explained in the 2006 Annual Report. To save you searching for that report, here is short summary of what it is for. The ground was heavily mowed and the cuttings lifted to reduce the soil nutrient levels for about 7 years before the fence was installed. Since then the mowing has been confined to September to May. The plants inside are left to flower during the summer. Comparisons of the plant life and abundance between inside and outside are now possible.

The big difference is between selective grazing by rabbits and unselected “grazing” by a mower.

Northern Marsh Orchids have become well established inside. About 100 spikes are thriving at the moment inside the exclosure. They are very healthy and, of course, ungrazed. There are also 2 Common Spotted Orchids. This exclosure is the only refuge for orchids on the island in a year such as this when the rabbit population is high.

There are many differences developing in the species present, their abundance and their form. When ungrazed, plants such as Eyebright do not do well. They seem to thrive when heavily grazed. The two photographs show a spindly ungrazed Eyebright compared with a heavily grazed one near the Garden mist net site.

The Black Guillemot survey on Sunday 6th July

This trip went ahead with just 5 people on a very rainy day. In the breaks, the colony was counted at about 31 nests. The survey on the day only found 25 but the more dangerous northern part of the colony was not visited for safety reasons and there are usually 6 in that missed section. Some chicks were too small to ring, so only 16 were ringed on this visit. Another day trip will be made next Sunday 13 July to finish the job. Departure will be at 10am. Please book in advance for this trip. The cost will be £10 each.

The Mew Arctic Tern Colony

To our incredulity and great disappointment, the entire colony has failed. The reason is not entirely clear. It happened during the past week. The chicks had just hatched and then on 29th there was a cloudburst. There have been 2 further days of prolonged and heavy rainfall since. Severe weather may have been the main cause. This is known to be very harmful.. Another problem has been the big Lesser Black-backed Gull colony nearby. The gulls and the terns may both have been short of food and the gulls would still do well by eating young terns. The local fishermen say that fish are very scarce so far this summer. On some days the weather has been difficult for the terns to fish.

Visit to Big Copeland on Tuesday evening 8th July at 6pm

There is plenty of room on this trip so there is no need to book in advance. Please be there a bit before 6pm. The purpose is primarily to monitor progress of the seabirds. Evidence from passing by in the boat is that all the large gulls and Common Gulls continue to do well but the terns may also be in trouble there too. We will know what is happening on Tuesday. If there are young terns to ring (they should now be big enough) we will do so.

If you have had problems with this type of e-news with the embedded photographs please let me know and I can send a version without photographs.

Neville

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Copeland Bird Observatory

Manx Shearwater

Album of Copeland Islands Photos

Planning your visit and booking

Despite the improvements still ongoing, weekend manning will continue with almost no disruption for the rest of the year. The extra bedrooms will not be converted this year. You may book at any time up to the Thursday afternoon before departure, though earlier booking is recommended, as some weekends are traditionally quite full. Trainee ringers should phone me fairly soon if they are interested in midweek visits from Sunday to Friday to discuss the possibilities. July weekends can be a most pleasant time to visit, Willow and Sedge Warblers are at their best, but already there are not many places left. Seeing the sights and sounds of the Shearwater colony is best from June to August when there is no moon. Storm Petrels are at their best in July and August when there is a moon and high tide near midnight. August is generally a quieter time for passerine migrants, and this lull continues into early September, but seawatching continues to be good. From mid September to the end of October, ringable migrants (Pipits, Goldcrests, Thrushes and Finches) can be very good as is the seawatching. The first half of September is the peak time for ringing the shearwater chicks.

Day and evening visits

8th July (Wednesday) 7pm departure for Mew Island. The plan is to try to find some rafts of shearwaters on both the way out and the way back. We will arrive on Mew at 7.45pm and walk to the south end, recording all birds seen, and looking for evidence of breeding success. By 8.15pm we will arrive back at the lighthouse and settle down behind the east wall to look out to sea for passing seabirds. It would be unusual to see very few. Quite big numbers are more likely. Nothing unusual is likely, but Gannets, Kittiwakes, Razorbills, Guillemots, Black Guillemots, terns, other gulls, and just possibly a skua could be seen. They may be quite close by seawatching standards. The weather is likely to be NW 3 or 4, dry and bright but cool. By 8.45pm we will leave Mew and look again for shearwaters. If we don’t find rafts, we will probably see some passing the boat at less than 100 metres distance. By 9.30pm we will be back in Donaghadee harbour. If the evening is successful, we will try another evening in early August.

11th July (Saturday) 10.30am departure from Donaghadee harbour to the Observatory. There will be a guided tour of the island and there will be an opportunity to inspect the work in progress. Black Guillemots should be very easy to see. A team of ringers will ring the young Black Guillemots. The day party will pause at one of the nests as the ringers are at work and it will be possible to photograph a chick in the hand. A nest of Swallow chicks will also be at the right age to ring. Return to Donaghadee will be at 4pm.

Though the forecast can never be certain a week in advance, the likelihood is that the wind will be a light breeze from the NW 2-3, it could be quite sunny but cool, though the sun will be strong. Warm clothing for the boat, light clothing for the sunny south part of the island, a packed lunch, flask of cans/bottles will be needed. With deference to the people staying overnight, day trippers do not use the cooking facilities.

The paths should be dry despite the soaking the island had in April and May, so light footwear should be fine, though most will always prefer walking boots. There is current hazard on the island in the form of Hogweed. Its leaves should be avoided. If they come into contact with your skin, purple patches may form and then watery bubbly blisters which leave scars for a long time. Hogweed is particularly common this year. It is a large obvious umbrella-flowered plant up to 5 feet tall in places. We will show you them when we arrive. If you stay on the paths and wear long trousers, you will have no problem. The hazard fades as soon as the plants finish flowering, by the end of July. The leaves are only dangerous when the sun is shining, but I expect the sun and UV levels to be strong.

Early August – Fulmar chick ringing

We do not know yet how many Fulmars chicks will be reared this year. Almost none have fledged over the last two years. Fulmars are nationally in decline. Until the chicks are hatched and left unattended, we will not know the situation. If there are a reasonable number, an evening will be organised near the time. Currently about 20 sites look promising on Big Copeland and 10 on the Observatory. A large number of adults sitting on ledges does not mean there are eggs under them because false incubation behaviour is common.

Visits other than weekends

If it is possible to have more day trips later in the year, these will be arranged nearer the time. During the Manx Shearwater chick ringing period from the last week of August to the third week of September, it may be possible to arrange for one- or two-night midweek visits. If you are interested in such visits, please phone me to discuss the possibilities.

News from the islands

On Big Copeland, it is the opinion of the surveyors that predation by Great and Lesser-black backed Gulls has been the main cause of the number fledging to probably less than 50. Well over 1000 eggs hatched just about 2 weeks ago. Predation was observed during the short visits that have been made. The gull predation is very worrying. They have “discovered” the terns and are now using them as a major food source. Great Black-backs in particular are undergoing a fairly steep population rise, unlike the Herring Gulls, which still remain at much the same low numbers that they have been at for nearly 20 years now.

On Mew Island 70 Arctic Terns are still present and displaying. The Eider ducks are now moulting, so the tagging project has finished for this year, as the birds will now have dropped their tags as they moult.

A pair of Hooded Crows on the Observatory reared 4 young. They have also caused mayhem amongst many of our island birds. Eggs of nearly all breeding species have been found eaten, such as Shelduck, Mallard, Eider, Oystercatcher, Pheasant and Ringed Plover. Chicks of other species of passerines, particularly Meadow Pipit, have been wolfed down. Swallows, Pied Wagtails and Linnets seem to be having a good year. A flock of 30 Linnets, mainly young birds, was swirling around the island today.

Grey Wagtail

Late May migration

A weather-curtailed weekend 9-10th May brought in a nice mix of birds. A Cuckoo was present, and ringing included 19 Willow Warblers, 2 Chiffchaffs, 2 Common Whitethroats, a Blackcap and a nice Garden Warbler. A pair of Otters were seen at the jetty.

Late May is too late for seeing many spring migrants as they have usually nearly all arrived by then. Only a tiny trickle will appear on some days, though there is thought to be a better chance of rare migrants that are a bit lost turning up. This year, there were some notable occurrences. It has generally been an amazing spring for Greenland Wheatears. Up to 6 were still coming through daily up to the 29th May. The only manning in the second half of May was from 24th to 29th when John and Kay Stewart, who now live in New Zealand, returned to the island as part of their holiday to NI and England. John had always been hopeful of catching a Lesser Whitethroat during his previous ringing career here, but was hardly really expecting that he would get one on this visit especially after one was caught in late April. So he was thrilled indeed when he arrived at the garden net on the first round of the 27th to find a Lesser Whitethroat waiting for him. It was quite a good day too for other birds. A fine Fieldfare was present all day but not caught until late afternoon. Also late in the day 2 Spotted Flycatchers arrived and both were caught and ringed. These were the first for 2 years. They are becoming increasingly scarce.

Three Chiffchaffs also arrived during the 5 days, and one regularly sang. A Willow Warbler also seemed to be in residence, and a Blackcap sang occasionally in Bluebell Gully. About 30 Black-headed Gulls eventually settled on Mew Island and were joined by 100 Arctic Terns – both drastically down from last year. On Big Copeland, 1400 terns arrived near the end of the month, but it is not yet clear how many will eventually lay. Early signs are that Herring Gulls and Great Black-backed Gulls are still in their usual low numbers but Lesser Black-backed Gulls have greatly increased, maybe around 30% up. They have moved in force on to the tern grounds of Mew Island. There is also a pair of Hooded Crows in Bluebell Gully which have been eating eggs of Shelduck, Oystercatcher, Black-headed Gulls and even Pheasant. They have fledged 4 young and the situation can only get worse. It is both worrying and distressing.

A pair of Mediterranean Gull arrived on Mew Island on 28th and were quickly spotted by Kay who diligently did counts of all the breeders on the two outer islands. They looked around for a nest site and all looked hopeful, but they had moved on by the next day. The Otters were seen again at the jetty, causing consternation among the Black Guillemots.

Ringing totals for the autumn

Since 31st August 2008, about 1700 birds have been ringed on the island of 28 species.

Over 600 of these were young Shearwaters, now all approaching the Brazilian coast, if not already there. 636 Redpolls ringed constitute a big new record for this species.

Redpolls have had a major population explosion and many other ringing sites across England have also had record numbers. It has also been a good autumn for Goldcrests (234), but very poor for Meadow Pipits, Swallows and House Martins.

The specials were the 5 Long-tailed Tits, Reed Warbler, Crossbill and Radde’s Warbler.

During the 40 days manned during this period, over 1000 Passerines were ringed, an average of over 25 per day, not counting the shearwaters.

Siberian Visitor to Copelands

Radde’s Warbler from the taiga of Siberia

It was fully measured, weighed, ringed and of course identified by David Galbraith and Kerry Leonard. Philip Galbraith, David’s son, found it in the net and immediately knew it was something unusual. It is another of a surprising number of “firsts” that the observatory has found for Northern Ireland. On a scale of rarity, it is probably just pushed narrowly into 4th place after Fox Sparrow, Scarlet Tanager, and White’s Thrush, but ahead of Red-throated Pipit and Nightingale.

It is actually quite easy to identify (if you have ever heard of the species!) It is a leaf warbler, related to our own Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff. It has a very conspicuous supercilium and a distinctive “orangey” wash on the vent and under-tail coverts. The only really closely similar species is the Dusky Warbler which also breeds in Siberia. In the next e-news, I will give a more detailed account of the particular features of the species (as an attachment for the enthusiasts). The photographs of the bird were all taken by Philip Galbraith. Click on Photos to Enlarge

Weather and the chick Shearwaters

The island has been deluged by extraordinarily heavy rain with amazing frequency through July, August and early September. Walking around the island is an odd experience as one squelches across the spongy ground. Much more serious is the state of some of the shearwater burrows. In several places, burrows have filled with water. Some of the chicks have been forced out for hours at a time. While the routine ringing of the chicks has been going on in the last 2 weeks, many birds have been found with soaking and muddy bellies. Some even have dried matted mud stuck hard to the feathers. The progress of the breeding season in the study burrows is about 2 weeks behind the average year, so it is a bit early to say whether less are being reared this year than usual. So far 420 chicks have been ringed up to 11 September.

Small bird migrants

Autumn is usually a more reliable time to see small birds on migration than the spring on Copeland. However this year, there have been many days when no migrants have arrived on the island. There have been only a few good days. 35 Meadow Pipits, 20 Goldcrests, 10 Chiffchaffs and 3 Willow Warblers arrived on 31 Aug. Three more days saw good Goldcrest arrivals, including about 50 on 8 September, when there were also 7 Chiffchaffs and a late Willow Warbler. The 10th brought a Copeland rarity, our fourth Reed Warbler ever. Notable absentees from the island this autumn have been Swallows and House Martins. On 12 September, the first Redpolls arrived and over 50 had been ringed by 11.30am. Most of these autumn migrants are noticeably early this year.

An autumn Chiffchaff

Seabirds

There have been enormous numbers of many species of seabird around or passing the island in the last few weeks. Up to 4000 shearwaters have been seen on many days, either feeding or passing. Gannets (hundreds), Kittiwakes (>500), Common Guillemots (<1000) have provided the bulk of the sightings but a large number of species have been seen, including Arctic Skuas, Balearic Shearwater, Little Tern and a very high daily count of 127 Sandwich Terns on 7th September.

Balsam and mowing

The wet weather has seriously disrupted the mowing programme too. Paths had become quite overgrown and some net sits were unusable, particularly Withy. Ian McKee had travelled over from Scotland for the first weekend in September to continue the mowing programme only to have to sit through 27 hours of continuous rain and gale. Luckily he made good progress on the final day. All visitors have been hunting down the final balsam stragglers. It is addictive work. There are high hopes that only a very few plants have eluded us and dropped seeds for next year. Next year will be the most difficult year in the elimination programme because the very few plants that will grow will be much harder to find. Early season searching for seedlings might be the best strategy from April.

Late News !

A juvenile Crossbill was caught, ringed and photographed at 11.30am on 12th September 2008.

This is only the second ever to have been ringed on the observatory. The last one was on 4th August 1962

Ring-Billed Gull

Breeding Record for N. Ireland

The story began on the 25th April 2004 when Anthony McGeehan found an adult Ring-billed Gull at the Common Gull colony on Big Isle, Copeland Islands, Co. Down. The bird appeared to be holding territory. It, or another adult, was then seen again by Wilton Farrelly at the same location on the 8th May.

Fast forward events to February 2008 when Derek Charles was photographing a Black Brant near the pool at Millisle, Co. Down (within sight of the Copeland Islands!) when his attention was drawn to a gull flying with a couple of Herring Gulls around the pool. He identified it as an adult Ring-billed Gull and took a few photographs. It drifted off and Derek continued photographing the Black Brant.

Nothing more was thought of it until a few days later when he noticed from the pictures that the bird was ringed. This was a major event in itself and local birders were notified. Despite several more visits Derek didn’t see the gull again and that looked like being the end of the story.

But events took a major turn on the weekend of 22nd-23rd March when Richard Weyl found the gull again and spent hours chasing it around Millisle avoiding the hundreds of dog walkers, joggers and weekend visitors. What a sight that must have been, but amazingly he managed to read enough of the ring for the details to be submitted.

When details of ring number EG55164 came back the location the bird was ringed was not, as expected, Lake Ontario, but the nearby Copeland Islands! This threw everyone into a state of confusion for a moment or two. Luckily Richard had taken photographs of the gull and when matched with Derek’s it appears to be the same bird. Things began to get serious now.

Careful examination of the photographs seems to show a few features at odds with a pure Ring-billed Gull and it was suspected that it was a hybrid Ring-billed x Common hybrid.

The Copeland Bird Observatory was contacted next. Kerry Leonard and John Stewart have been managing the census and ringing studies on Big Copeland Island for the past 10 years. The details were checked again and there was no doubt that the bird had been ringed as a chick on Big Isle, Copeland Islands on 16th June 2004.

Derek Charles re-visited Millisle over the weekend of 12-13th April and took more photographs, which leave little doubt that the bird is a hybrid.

©D.Charles

Confirmation that the bird is a Ring-billed Gull x Common Gull hybrid means that a Ring-billed Gull bred on the Copeland Islands in the summer of 2004. This is the first confirmed breeding record for the UK and Ireland (and indeed, the Western Palaearctic, as far as we know). There is likelihood that there may be one or two other hybrids from the same nest in the general area.

Praise must go to Richard, for without his valiant effort on reading the ring, this fantastic breeding record may well have gone undetected. A close eye will be kept on the Common Gull colony this summer to see if this bird returns to breed or if there are any other surprises lurking out there!

This is a fantastic reward for everyone associated with the Copeland Bird Observatory and especially the ringers who have put in so much work over the years.

This is a joint announcement to members and friends of the Northern Ireland Birdwatchers’ Association and the Copeland Bird Observatory.

Derek Charles [ Derek@metsteel.co.uk ] will be happy to answer any further queries

Secretary: Neville McKee on mobile 07770368856 Website:http://www.cbo.org.uk/

Eider surveys on the Copeland Islands

Kerry Leonard is co-ordinating a survey of Eiders on the Copeland Islands. The work includes counts of birds on the water around the islands and also attempts to find nests, count eggs, and ring and colour mark some of the breeding females. No-one is really sure where our adult females go to after they leave their nests, or during the moult period and over the winter. To try to find out, a sample of females have had a small coloured patch with a number or letter code attached with super glue to the feathers on the back of their heads. Although this doesn’t exactly enhance the appearance of the birds, it has the advantages of being easily seen, is almost weightless and will fall off when the birds moult in 2-3 months time. The tags are coloured blue, red or yellow.

The first nest finding and ringing trip took place on Saturday 17th May when Kerry, Chris Acheson, Darrell Abernethy, David and Philip Galbraith surveyed Lighthouse Island. Twenty-seven nests were found. Among the Eiders retrapped were five of the original six which were caught on the first ringing trip in 2004. Fourteen birds were colour marked.

On the next day Kerry, John Stewart, Wesley Smith, Niall Waterman and Philip and David formed the catching team for a survey of Mew Island. Kay Milton acted as scribe, allowing Kerry to concentrate on applying the colour marks and greatly speeding up the handling process. They found an astounding 59 nests and that was from only around two-thirds of the area of the Island. The parts occupied by breeding Black-headed Gulls and Arctic Terns were not disturbed. Neville McKee had set up his telescope to watch the pair of nesting Mediterranean Gulls, and while we paused for a break from the Eiders and a look at the Meds, Kerry and Neville heard the call of a Little Gull. We were treated to great views of a beautiful summer plumage bird.

Nineteen female Eiders were ringed and 17 were colour-marked.

The third ringing trip took place on Tuesday 20th with the aim of catching a sample of the birds on Big Copeland. Sunday’s team came out again and was joined by Darrell. The catching team were all outshone by Elaine Galbraith who caught a female without a net or any scrambling through the undergrowth – simply picking up a bird as it left its nest. She did the same last year, so maybe we could take a few lessons!

This was another very successful effort with 42 nests found, 14 birds ringed and 8 retrapped from last year’s effort. Twenty-one were colour marked. In total, there are now over 50 females carrying a coloured neck mark and hopefully there will be many sightings over the next few months. It is likely that there are over 200 breeding pairs scattered over the three Islands. This estimate will be refined over the next few years.

A second-year Mediterranean Gull with a green colour ring was seen for the second time on Big Copeland during the evening.

The next stage in the survey is to collect as many records as possible of the colour marked females. Please send details of any sightings to eiders@hotmail.co.uk and include details of the colour of the tag, the number or letter, the number of chicks, any associations with other adults and, of course, the date, time and location. Information on any Eider chick sightings, whether with a ringed parent or not, are also very welcome.

Little Gull, Mediterranean Gull and Dark-bellied Brent Goose on Mew Island

Mew Island is fast regaining some of the breeding populations which must have made it a Mecca for local birders in the 1940s when it supported a huge tern colony.

Arctic Terns are hopefully now firmly re-established and a count of 390 individuals was made on Sunday 18th May. Black-headed Gulls are also breeding at the south end.

A pair of Mediterranean Gulls are also breeding on Mew. Interestingly, not among the Black-headed Gulls, but slightly apart on a rocky crest.

On Sunday, Neville McKee had set up his telescope to watch the pair of nesting Mediterranean Gulls, and while the ringing party paused for a break from the Eiders and take look at the Meds, Kerry Leonard and Neville heard the call of a Little Gull. All those present were treated to great views of a beautiful summer plumage bird.

The other interesting species present this spring has been a Dark-bellied Brent Goose which was first spotted on a weekend visit on the 10th May and was still present on the 18th. This is the first sighting of this sub-species on any of the Copeland Islands. Strangely, another was seen close to the Cairn on Big Copeland on the return boat trip on the 11th May.

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