Birdwatching
Birdwatchers flock to North Down for the variety of its native birds and seasonal migrants. Arctic and common terns arrive in early spring to breed off Groomsport. When they depart in September, flocks of lapwings start to appear, a wonderful sight in the sky.
Other seasonal variations are our summer visitors, the willow warblers, chiff-chaffs, swifts and swallows. In winter there are red-breasted mergansers, plus red-necked and great northern divers.
Groomsport Harbour is the place for ringed plover.
Belfast Lough also has significant populations of redshank, black-tailed godwit, oystercatcher, curlew, turnstone and purple sandpiper.
Our famous ‘Bangor Penguins’ (black guillemots) have risen in numbers thanks to the recent provision of artificial nesting under Eisenhower Pier.