Copeland Bird Obs.

Current exhibitor, Adele Pound, has a very distinctive style, using graphic stories to express her passion for birds. Here is an extract from her Shearwater story, as the young bird emerges alone from the nest. Show runs until 7 Nov. Full story here: the-soc.org.uk/files/docs/Ade…

The BTO NI Birdwatchers' Conference 2021 is to be held online on 5th & 6th November. The lineup looks great this year, including a talk from Niamh Esmonde/@QUBEcology on her work w/ @CopelandBirdObs For more details and to book a place, please see: bto.org/community/even…

The hoped for rarity didn't materialise at @CopelandBirdObs over the weekend but a trickle of migrants (32 birds ringed inc. 14 L Redpoll, 4 Goldcrest, 3 Blackbird), nice sunsets/rises, balmy October nights & a record count of 55 Grey Seal pups made for another great trip

A young grey seal peacefully sleeping ! Had a gd number of young pups hiding among the rocks on the copleland islands yesterday @CopelandBirdObs #WexMondays #fsprintmonday

Seawatching produced all four skuas, little gull and a surprise hobby-thanks @temiller17, who spent hrs on the old lighthouse spotting skuas and getting us onto them by radio! My own highlight was this buzzard- the 2nd ringed on CBO. Thanks to @CopelandBirdObs-we’ll be back! 4/4

Manx shearwaters are clearly the highlight, but our eager team put some effort into mist netting and seawatching from the old lighthouse too, with good numbers and fantastic diversity of birds caught which was brilliant all-round experience for our trainees @CopelandBirdObs 3/4

Thanks to a super enthusiastic crew including @temiller17 @joewynn_birds @KatBoothJones @animal__alice @P_Lewin26 and others we managed to ring more than 1,880 shearwaters in 9 days-a considerable proportion of those that will fledge this year. Some were still pretty fluffy! 2/4

Last week a group of us visited @CopelandBirdObs to ring #Manx #shearwater fledglings as they emerge from their nest before heading on their first migration. Breeding Manxies can’t be aged by plumage or morphology so the aim is to provide demographic info for future studies. 1/4

I always love getting my copy of Wings but even more so this issue with a wee interview with me about our work on @CopelandBirdObs & our long term study on #ManxShearwaters. Delighted to have been asked to contribute

.@BTO_NIreland .@ANDborough .@NationalTrustNI .@sebcoe .@officialShaky when Manx shearwater EJ13537 was ringed in Aug 1981 Maggie T was PM, Shakin’ Stevens was charting with Green Door, and Coe & Ovett breaking world mile record. Re-trapped on CBO on 24th July- almost 40 yrs on!

A glorious #SeabirdSaturday & weekend on @CopelandBirdObs resulted in the team ringing 18 Black Guillemot chicks, 39 Herring & 31 Lesser Black-backed Gull chicks, 14 Manx Shearwaters & 8 Storm Petrels. Great work by duty officer @Roisink1 leading the charge. #Seabirds

And black guillemot fieldwork for @MarPAMM_project is officially complete! The deployment of 23 tags has left us brimming with excitement (and data!), final nest checks @CopelandBirdObs have left us brimming with excrement (and data too). Now for the analysis #MarPAMMSeabirds!

Fantastic day birding and ringing at NI’s only bird observatory @CopelandBirdObs in Co.Down.

It’s been a busy spring, having assisted (incl luckily in the field) with #seabirdcounts of cliff-nesters on Rathlin (several 00,000 birds!) & Manxies on the Copelands - the gems of NI seabird colonies @MarPAMM_project @SEUPB @CopelandBirdObs @RSPBNI @daera_ni @BTO_NIreland

Great to catch a 19-year old #ManxShearwater control from @CopelandBirdObs. This bird originally ringed as a fledgling in Sep 2002, was previously recorded here in 2007 and again last night. It is likely that this is one of the early birds that helped to recolonise the Calf.

Great features on Manx Shearwater census and research at @CopelandBirdObs on @BBCSpringwatch , with @EcologicalKrc giving me serious fieldwork envy! I've really enjoyed the Northern Ireland features on the show this season - hopefully @BBCSpringwatch will be back in the autumn!

The CBO Manx Shearwaters will feature on @BBCSpringwatch tonight. Tune in to @BBCTwo at 8pm to see if Gillian Burke will follow in the footsteps of @ChrisGPackham and sniff a Copeland Manxie, as he did back in 2010! @michaelastracha @IoloWilliams2 @MarPAMM_project @EcologicalKrc