Newstead Abbey fell out badly. In 1808, Lord Grey left at the end of his lease and Byron returned to live at Newstead and began extensive and expensive renovations. His works were mainly decorative, however, rather than structural, so that rain and damp obscured his changes within just a few years. Byron had a beloved Newfoundland dog named Boatswain, who died of rabies in 1808. Boatswain was buried at Newstead Abbey and has a monument larger than his master's. The inscription, from Byron's poem "Epitaph to a Dog", has become one of his best-known works: Near this Spot Are deposited the Remains
Boatswain Bird Island southern coast of the island has an impressive natural arch. There are thousands of inhabitants on this tiny island, all of which are birds, which give the island its white colour. Among the many seabirds nesting there are boobies, petrels, noddies, as well as the tropicbirds (boatswain birds) for which the island is named. The island is the home of the majority of Ascension's birds due to rats (accidentally introduced by passing ships) and then cats (introduced to catch the rats, as well as pets) eating the birds and their eggs on Ascension. Since the mid-1990s there has been a