A well overdue post, which I began yesterday (Saturday). After my visit to Antrim Marina last Monday, I was due to start compiling this latest post on Wednesday, by which time I was due a couple of ringing recoveries from the BTO.
However, on Wednesday morning, on getting out of bed I was in sheer agony, with what I assumed was a trapped nerve around my right hip bone. I couldn't put one leg in front of the other, without hitting the ceiling with pain. On trying to move my good left leg, meant my weight was being transferred to my right hip, with disatrous consequences. Still, I had to move about my home, as I still had to go to the toilet, feed myself, etc. At times, when I was downstairs, it took a good 15 minute round trip, to go upstairs to the toilet and back down again.
Throughout Wednesday and Thursday, the pain was unrelenting, and thoughts of a trapped nerve, torn muscle or even worse, the possibility of damage to my hip, preventing me from being mobile, ran through my head. I couldn't concentrate on working on my blog, answer emails and so on. Friday morning, saw a slight inprovement and by Saturday afternoon, I began to walk kind of normal again. It is now approaching midday on Sunday, and I'm about to publish this post.
On getting up this morning, I'm feeling a slight discomfort, but as you can tell, I have not been out this weekend. I've just finished the post, having began work on it last night. I'm going to undertake my weekly visit to Antrim Marina tomorrow, and have a stab at going to work tomorrow night.
I'm worried about my hip - is this the first sign of future problems? During my thoughts over the last couple of days, I've decided to give up on any Raptor Survey work, as running around the hills may cause more problems. Now approaching sixty years of age, perhaps it's time to find some 'cotton wool' for protection, time to take things a little easier.
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| Antrim Marina - Monday 20th January 2020 |
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Having used the best of my available time on Saturday and Sunday, to visit other sites, my weekly visit to Antrim Marina was made on Monday morning. Arriving shortly after 9:35, I departed at 1pm.
Around 80 Black-headed Gulls were present on my arrival, with numbers reaching a high of around 120 birds just before midday. Of the 36 colour-ringed birds which have either been re-sighted or ringed (6 in total) this winter, just 22 of these were recorded during today's visit.
Looking through my 'Antrim Marina Spreadsheet', a number of gulls have yet to return. There are three possible reasons for this. The most obvious, would be the death of these birds, followed by the likelihood that some gulls were just passing through when they were caught and ringed here, whilst others have re-located their wintering sites following the severe disturbance at the Marina last winter.
Within the spreadsheet, Black-headed Gulls which were known to visit regularly over the years and then disappear, are considered to have died, and weekly entries thereafter are coloured in Red. The spreadsheet also contains several columns, which are blank, or with a couple of weekly sightings, soon after a particular gull was ringed. It is likely, these birds may have been passing through at the time, or perhaps staying for a week or two before moving on, never to return. I have now coloured these 'amber' with a question mark, as they might still be alive somewhere.
It is now approaching that time of the year, when some gulls will be on the move back towards their breeding sites, which may be enhanced by the very mild winter we've experienced. As this is my seventh winter 'Ring Reading' at Antrim Marina, my final visit will be made around the 29th March or the 5th April. I have made the decision to give up on Raptor Surveying in the future, with the view of concentrating on my Common Gull Project.
This will also free up time, where I can do a write up of all of the colour-ringed Black-headed Gulls that I've recorded since I began reading rings at the Marina back in September 2013, and the current status of each bird. It will be a stand alone article, which will become the main reference point going into my eighth winter. It should provide some interesting reading, along with my best photo for each bird.
Colour Ringed Black-headed Gulls Recorded at Antrim Marina on Monday 20th January 2020
| 2FDK | 2ABK | 2AAA | 2AAN | 2CJT | 2BRA | 2CSA | 2CSJ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2AAR | 2CTC | 2CSR | 2ABL | 2FDN | 2ABS | 2CSK | 2ABN |
| 2CTB | 2AAP | 2AAK | 2CSH | 2FDL | 2FDJ |
Black-headed Gulls Re-Sighted or Ringed This Winter, but not Recorded Today
| 2ABA | 2AAB | 2AAV | 2ACV | 2ADV | 2AFD | 2BRD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2ANS | 2CSB | 2CSL | 2CSX | 2CTA | 2CTR | 2FBA |
Other Species at Antrim Marina
The adult Herring Gull, that was absent on my previous visit, was present on my arrival today, and was present throughout my visit. The lower number of Black-headed Gulls, was also mirrored by a lower number of Common Gulls. The first adult appeared at 10:10, with a second arriving at 10:16, and a third at 10:21. A head count at 10:53, saw the arrival of a further two adults, and six adults were counted at 11:54. There was no sign of any metal-rung birds, and the final Common Gull, this time a juvenile, arrived at 12:25.
Six adult Mute Swans, and this time, two cygnets, were on the slipway on my arrival. One of the cygnets, was the very large headed bird which has been here for several weeks now. The new youngster, was with it's parents, which minded me on the same pair which was here at the beginning of the winter, being very aggressive and at that time had five cygnets in tow.
Now that the new cafe/restaurant is open, I must organise a meeting with Debbie Hanna and Aiden Crean, to see if we can get a colour-ringing programme started. It would be great to start this fairly shortly, especially if two metal-ringed birds which I'm expecting, should return. It would be good to follow the swans during my eighth winter of ring reading here.
Two other pairs of Mute Swans, both arrived in from the Lough at 10:13 and 10:20. I was able to get a look at most legs, but still no metals as yet.
Mallard numbers, also took a slight dip this week. Numbers increased from just 13 birds, up to a maximum of 39 at 11am. Again, most legs were checked for rings, but still no joy.
Other species noted today, were the two Hooded Crows, which I'm fairly sure, are a pair, 9 Jackdaws, 1 Magpie and a pair of Pied Wagtails. A Kingfisher was heard again, but could I find it!!
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| From Steven Lawton |
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On Friday 17th January 2020, I received an interesting email from a Steven Lawton. Steven contacted me after doing some research on the internet, concerning a colour-ringed Caspian Gull, which he had spotted at Redcar Tarn, near Keighly in West Yorkshire, England. Having found my blog entry (read), Steven was kind enough to inform me, that the gull was alive and well.
X86A , had been spotted here in Northern Ireland, by Graham McElwaine, at Millquarter Bay in County Down, but he was unsure what species of gull it was, as like many of us, it can be difficult to identify juvenile gulls. Having reported the sighting to me, I checked out the cr-birding website, and discovered his bird was a Caspian Gull, which is a rare sighting here. After the usual flurry of emails, we learnt that X86A , had been ringed as a chick, at the Laußig Gravel Pits, near Leipzig, Germany.
My thanks goes to Steven, for providing the update and several photographs. The re-sighting history for X86A , can be read (here).
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Caspian Gull - X86A - Redcar Tarn, Keighley, West Yorkshire, England (17 Jan 2020)
(Ringed as a Chick, on the 3rd June 2018, at Laußig Gravel Pits, near Leipzig, Germany)
(Photo Courtesy of Steven Lawton)
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| Saturday 18th January 2020 |
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Via an email from Richard Donaghey in mid December, I knew the Brent Geese were now back on the Myroe Levels, beside Lough Foyle in County Londonderry. Today, I decided to have a 'crack' at reading a few colour-rings on these birds. My previous visit to Myroe, was made on the 3rd November 2019, and though no geese were present, there was a good 500 strong flock of Whooper Swans, with four colour-rings having been read.
Arriving on the levels, I moved up to the northern end, where the geese would normally be found, but there wasn't a bird in sight. Moving southwards along the sea wall, I scoped a small number of Oystercatchers and Curlews, but surprisingly, very few gulls were to be seen. Back in November, there was at least 1,000 Common Gulls, though goodness knows where they have gone to now.
Reaching the southern end of the levels, just one small group of Brent Geese were found, but they were too distant to be scoped. However, in what was a potato field, which had long since been harvested, a viewable flock of around 150 Whooper Swans were present. Scoping through these, I read two colour-rings, and after returning home and consulting my spreadsheet, both birds were new sightings.
ZYJ , was a more recently rung bird, having been ringed as an adult male, on the 14th August 2017, at Havnnamostjorn in Iceland. I tried to locate the site on what maps I have available to me online, but was not able to find it. Prior to my sighting today, ZYJ , was spotted not so far away, on the 26th October 2019, beside Station Road, at Eglinton, by an unknown observer. These are the first two sightings since the swan was ringed. I have reported both swans to the BTO, but as yet, the recoveries have not arrived, so I cannot really quote the distance involved. My thanks to Steve, for supplying the ringing information.
Whilst I was busy with the Whooper Swans, I saw a large flock of Brent Geese flying in from Lough Foyle, and landing in a distant field. I carefully drove alongside them and began photographing the many rings. The group numbered around 500 birds, and all were within camera range, despite a tidal channel keeping us apart.
On returning home, and sorting through the photos, I had recorded 31 individuals altogether. I reported these to Graham McElwaine of the Irish Brent Goose Research Group. At the minute, their proposed 'Live' online ringing database, is still not up and running, so I'm going to have a long wait, for the ringing and re-sighting histories for these birds.
25 of the 31 birds, were first sightings for me, with 5 of the other 6, being recorded here in the past. The sixth one I spotted on Strangford Lough in County Down, last winter. For now, I've added six of the photos which I took.
My third and final ring sighting of the day, belonged to a Herring Gull at Ballywalter Harbour, which I had first recorded nearly five years ago. Rung 4C:W , both of my previous sightings were also made at Ballywalter Harbour, on the 31st January 2016, and on the 12th March 2016.
4C:W , is another of the Copeland Island Herring Gulls like 4X:W mentioned above. As far as I'm aware, no-one else has ever recorded this bird. Adam McClure, was the former ringing coordinator for the Copeland Project. I know Lee Barber, is the contact addressee on the cr-birding website, but experience has already told us (Suzanne Belshaw & myself), he does not hold all of the re-sighting data for these gulls.
The distance from Big Copeland Island, to Ballywalter Harbour, is a mere 14 kms / 9 miles (SSE), and the duration now stands at 4 years, 8 months and 13 days.
On the 18th January, I received an email from Graham McElwaine, concerning the sighting of a colour-ringed Black-headed Gull, which he had spotted on the beach at Kircubbin in County Down. Rung 2S13 , these rings are registered to Kane Brides, but from past experience, I knew to contact Scott Petrek.
Scott replied two days later, to say that 2S13 had been ringed by Kane as a chick, on the 3rd June 2019, at the WWT Martin Mere Nature Reserve, in Lancashire, England. Graham's sighting of the gull, was the first record of it since being ringed. The distance from Martin Mere to Kircubbin, is 199 kms / 123 miles (WNW), and the duration was now 7 months and 15 days, since being ringed.
My thanks to Scott for sending the info, and to Graham for reporting the gull to me. As mentioned in the past, Graham rarely takes photos.
An email from Ian Enlander on the 20th January 2020, has provided me with the second sighting this winter, of the Danish Black-headed Gull - (White) 5HA. For some unknown reason, 5HA has been a 'tad' elusive this winter. Normally returning to the coastal village in November each year, it took me a few attempts to record it, finally spotting the bird on the 14th December 2019.
This is the fourth winter running that 5HA, has appeared at Whitehead. Ringed as an adult male, on the 28th March 2015, at Gentofte, near Copenhagan in Denmark, the duration as of Ian's sighting on the 20th January, is now 4 years, 9 months and 23 days. The distance to Whitehead, is 1,160 kms / 720 miles (W). My thanks to Ian for reporting his latest sighting of 5HA, but there was no photo to go along with it this time.
Arriving on the levels, I moved up to the northern end, where the geese would normally be found, but there wasn't a bird in sight. Moving southwards along the sea wall, I scoped a small number of Oystercatchers and Curlews, but surprisingly, very few gulls were to be seen. Back in November, there was at least 1,000 Common Gulls, though goodness knows where they have gone to now.
Reaching the southern end of the levels, just one small group of Brent Geese were found, but they were too distant to be scoped. However, in what was a potato field, which had long since been harvested, a viewable flock of around 150 Whooper Swans were present. Scoping through these, I read two colour-rings, and after returning home and consulting my spreadsheet, both birds were new sightings.
The first of these, despite being covered in mud, read AFT , and that of the second bird, was ZYJ . I reported both birds to Kane Brides, who passed my email on to Steve Heaven of the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT). I soon had a reply from Steven, giving me the ringing and re-sighting history for both birds.
AFT , was ringed as an adult female, on the 9th August 2011, at Lake Kálfborgárarvatn in Northern Iceland. Before my sighting today, AFT was spotted at Teviot Haughs, Nisbet, Roxburghshire, Scotland, on the 25th October 2012, and a second sighting was made on the 15th February 2017, at Whitmuirhaugh Farm, Sprouston, Borders, Scotland. These are the only records for the swan, which has now been recorded in Northern Ireland for the first time.
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Whooper Swan - AFT - Myroe Levels, Lough Foyle, Co. Londonderry (18 Jan 2020)
(Ringed as an Adult Female, on the 9th August 2011, at Lake Kálfborgárarvatn, Fljótsheiði, N. Iceland)
ZYJ , was a more recently rung bird, having been ringed as an adult male, on the 14th August 2017, at Havnnamostjorn in Iceland. I tried to locate the site on what maps I have available to me online, but was not able to find it. Prior to my sighting today, ZYJ , was spotted not so far away, on the 26th October 2019, beside Station Road, at Eglinton, by an unknown observer. These are the first two sightings since the swan was ringed. I have reported both swans to the BTO, but as yet, the recoveries have not arrived, so I cannot really quote the distance involved. My thanks to Steve, for supplying the ringing information.
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Whooper Swan - ZYJ - Myroe Levels, Lough Foyle, Co. Londonderry (18 Jan 2020)
(Ringed as an Adult Male, on the 14th August 2017, at Havnnamostjorn, Myvatnsheidi, Iceland)
Whilst I was busy with the Whooper Swans, I saw a large flock of Brent Geese flying in from Lough Foyle, and landing in a distant field. I carefully drove alongside them and began photographing the many rings. The group numbered around 500 birds, and all were within camera range, despite a tidal channel keeping us apart.
On returning home, and sorting through the photos, I had recorded 31 individuals altogether. I reported these to Graham McElwaine of the Irish Brent Goose Research Group. At the minute, their proposed 'Live' online ringing database, is still not up and running, so I'm going to have a long wait, for the ringing and re-sighting histories for these birds.
25 of the 31 birds, were first sightings for me, with 5 of the other 6, being recorded here in the past. The sixth one I spotted on Strangford Lough in County Down, last winter. For now, I've added six of the photos which I took.
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| Sunday 19th January 2020 |
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Today, I worked my way down the east coast side of the Ards peninsular, but made a quick stop at Kinnegar Beach, before making my way to Groomsport, and then working my way south, finishing at the village of Cloughey. The tide was already well out when I began the day, but the main feature throughout, was the lack of gulls and waders to be seen.
With very few flocks of birds around, I found myself stopping constantly to scope birds in their ones and two's, which was very laborious. By the end of the afternoon, only three colour rings had been discovered, two of which, were re-sightings, the third being a first re-sighting.
This new sighting, was the first ring of the day to be spotted, being 4X:W , on a Herring Gull. Off hand, I did not recognise the code, and it was not until I returned home, and ran it through my spreadsheet, did I realise this was a first ever re-sighting. 4X:W , belonged to a study which began on the nearby Copeland Islands in 2014, and seems to have ended the following year. I had received a copy of all of the ringing data for the project, when I took over Shane Wolsey's former Common Gull Study, which was also based on Big Copeland Island.
4X:W , was quite far away from me on the beach at Donaghadee, but my camera managed to capture the code. The gull was ringed as an un-sexed adult (probably breeding), on the 6th May 2015, and the duration was now 4 years, 8 months and 13 days. It surprising, just how often big gulls such as these, do go about un-noticed. Such comments having also been made by Graham Prole in Dublin, and Mark Fitzpatrick, on the Isle of Man.
Big Copeland Island, is a mere 3 kms away from Donaghadee. There are several other Herring Gulls from the same project, which have yet to be recorded, so there are a number which must still be alive and flying around somewhere.
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Herring Gull - 4X:W - Donaghadee Seafront, Co. Down (19 Jan 2020)
(Ringed as an Un-Sexed Adult, on the 6th May 2015, on Big Copeland Island, Co. Down)
Having reached Donaghadee, I was hoping to re-sight a Black-headed Gull from Adam McClure's former NI project. I wasn't to be disappointed, as I spotted 2BAL , also well out on the beach.
2BAL , had been ringed as a chick on the Copeland Islands, on the 22nd June 2014, and it's first re-sighted occurred here at Donaghadee, on the 31st August 2015, when spotted by Suzanne Belshaw. A further five sightings were made at Donaghadee between the 5th March 2016 and the 20th February 2018.
On the 10th May 2018, 2BAL was discovered by David Nixon, on one of the breeding platforms at the RSPB's Window on Wildlife Reserve in Belfast, where I also saw the gull two days later. I next recorded 2BAL , back wintering in Donaghadee, in November 2018. On the 13th April 2019, 2BAL was back on the breeding platforms of the Window on Wildlife Reserve, which was it's final sighting until today. Glad to see the gull is still going strong, the duration now being 5 years, 6 months and 28 days, since being ringed.
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Black-headed Gull - 2BAL - Donaghadee Seafront, Donaghadee, Co. Down (19 Jan 2020)
(Ringed as a Chick, on the 22nd June 2014, on the Copeland Islands, Co. Down)
My third and final ring sighting of the day, belonged to a Herring Gull at Ballywalter Harbour, which I had first recorded nearly five years ago. Rung 4C:W , both of my previous sightings were also made at Ballywalter Harbour, on the 31st January 2016, and on the 12th March 2016.
4C:W , is another of the Copeland Island Herring Gulls like 4X:W mentioned above. As far as I'm aware, no-one else has ever recorded this bird. Adam McClure, was the former ringing coordinator for the Copeland Project. I know Lee Barber, is the contact addressee on the cr-birding website, but experience has already told us (Suzanne Belshaw & myself), he does not hold all of the re-sighting data for these gulls.
The distance from Big Copeland Island, to Ballywalter Harbour, is a mere 14 kms / 9 miles (SSE), and the duration now stands at 4 years, 8 months and 13 days.
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Herring Gull - 4C:W - Ballywalter Harbour, Ballywalter, Co. Down (19 Jan 2020)
(Ringed as an Un-Sexed Adult, on the 6th May 2015, on Big Copeland Island, Co. Down)
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| From Graham McElwaine |
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Scott replied two days later, to say that 2S13 had been ringed by Kane as a chick, on the 3rd June 2019, at the WWT Martin Mere Nature Reserve, in Lancashire, England. Graham's sighting of the gull, was the first record of it since being ringed. The distance from Martin Mere to Kircubbin, is 199 kms / 123 miles (WNW), and the duration was now 7 months and 15 days, since being ringed.
My thanks to Scott for sending the info, and to Graham for reporting the gull to me. As mentioned in the past, Graham rarely takes photos.
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| From Ian Enlander |
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This is the fourth winter running that 5HA, has appeared at Whitehead. Ringed as an adult male, on the 28th March 2015, at Gentofte, near Copenhagan in Denmark, the duration as of Ian's sighting on the 20th January, is now 4 years, 9 months and 23 days. The distance to Whitehead, is 1,160 kms / 720 miles (W). My thanks to Ian for reporting his latest sighting of 5HA, but there was no photo to go along with it this time.
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