As always, it's been a busy week for me, especially with the number of emails which have been 'flying' forwards and backwards. The most noteworthy of these was that of a colour-ringed Common Gull from Germany, that was spotted at Dundrum in County Down. It now looks certain, that this bird, spotted by David Nixon, is the first ringed Common Gull from Germany, to have been recorded in Northern Ireland.
Due to this bird, I gained a couple of new contacts in Germany, who with their help, I have finally received the ringing details of a German-rung Black-headed Gull, which I recorded back in February of this year. Read about these birds, further down this post.
Richard Donaghey has also been in touch, with news concerning the Copeland Bird Observatory. After much debate, it has been decided that two new colour-ringing project will commence on Lighthouse Island, home to the Observatory. Black Guillemots and Jackdaws, will become the new recipients, and there may be further colour-ringing of Herring Gulls on the island, and there will also be the possibility, that Lesser Black-backed Gulls, will be colour-ringed for the first time there. Good news all round, and the chance to look out for more Darvics.
I have also received news (this morning (Friday)), from my ringer trainer, John Clark, to say that the metal rings for my Mute Swans at Antrim Marina, have arrived. Initially, I was proposing to colour-ring the swans, but having received an email from my 'Ring Reading' counterpart in Dublin - Graham Prole, I've opted for metals only. Graham runs a Mute Swan colour-ringing project in his area, but some birds are being reported so frequently, it must be presenting Graham, with quite a headache. In Graham's words - 'be careful of what you wish for'. I think I'll heed to his advice. Nonetheless, it will be interesting to see where the youngsters at Antrim Marina end up. My younger son, was to help me with the ringing of the swans, but has had to isolate due to the Coronavirus Pandemic. Although his test results came back negative, two close work colleagues, tested positive. Once free again, I hope we can ring the swans over the coming weeks, before the youngsters begin to disperse.
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| Today's Black-headed Gulls At Antrim Marina - Sunday 23rd August 2020 |
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Today was the fourth of my weekly autumn/winter visits to Antrim Marina, to record colour-ringed Black-headed Gulls that were ringed here, and belonged to Adam McClure's former Northern Ireland project which ran from 2012-2018. I began my own study of the Black-headed Gulls here, with the view of helping Adam with his former project. Despite Adam having given up, I have continued my study, with this now being the 8th year of my 'Ring Reading' here. During that time, I retrained to ring birds myself, and have caught and ringed Black-headed Gulls at Antrim Marina, so as to keep a viable population of ringed birds to study.
Today's visit, was a complete diaster, as when I arrived at the Marina at 9:45am, the whole area was buzzing with people. Two replica 'Viking Longboats' were moored alongside the low wooden jetty, and curios onlookers came and went throughout the morning. Also present, were several support boats and a crew from the Lough Neagh Rescue Service. These 'Longboats' were to be given sea trials out on the Lough, and they couldn't have picked a better day for it. The morning was quite breezy and dull, and heavy rain began falling around 11:00am. By the time I departed at 1pm, the sails for both boats had been rigged, though they still remained moored. Even the relentless rain failed to put people off from having a look at the boats on show.
Viking Longboats at Antrim Marina (23 Aug 2020)
With all of the activity around the Marina, Black-headed Gull numbers were virually non-existent, with just elevan colour-ringed birds being recorded. Over the previous three weeks, 18 colour-ringed individuals have been recorded altogether, but there were no additions to the list during today's visit.
Colour Ringed Black-headed Gulls Recorded Today - 23rd August 2020
| 2ABS | 2CSX | 2CJT | 2ACV | 2CTC | 2AAK |
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| 2CSA | 2AAA | 2FDK | 2ABN | 2CSR |
Previously Recorded Birds This Autumn/Winter Season - Not Present Today
| 2AAN | 2AAV | 2ABK | 2AAB | 2BRA | 2CSB | 2CSJ |
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Other Birds at Antrim Marina
With all of the commotion going on around the Marina, this did not deter the Mallards in any way. With a head count of 42 birds on my arrival, numbers easily topped the 80 mark by the time of my departure. Once again, most legs were checked, but still none with rings.
There was an initial problem with the Mute Swan family, which included six cygnets. The female was absent, which was not normal, as she had never left her youngsters before. On previous visits, the male would sometimes be absent, but would re-appear at some point. The absense of the female led to speculation, that something had happened to her. However, just before 10:30, a swan swam in from the Lough, which turned out to be the youngsters mother.
This week, an adult pair of Herring Gulls were on site, which I'm assuming, included the bird which is a regular here. They remained throughout my visit, and opted to perch on the lampposts in the main car park, preferring to keep clear of the people viewing the longboats. A single adult Common Gull arrived at 12:03, and was still present when I left the Marina around 1pm.
4 Hooded Crows, 4 Jackdaws and a single Magpie, were the only other species to be recorded. On leaving Antrim Marina, I drove up to the car park in the centre of Antrim town. On throwing out bits of bread, just two Black-headed Gulls appeared - both un-rung. I was in two minds, whether to visit the other three sites around Antrim, but seeing as I would be pushed for time, I decided to head off for counties Armagh and Down, to look for rings.
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| From Graham McElwaine |
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As I have often said, photos are 'the life and soul' of my blog, as not only are the rings recorded, but photos act as a 'hardcopy', for those sightings. Over recent weeks, Graham McElwaine has spotted many colour-ringed Great Black-backed and Herring Gulls in County Down, which were from projects either on the Isle of Man, or from County Dublin, in the Republic of Ireland. Had these sightings, been accompanied with photos, I would have added them to my posts.
However, a more recent email, concerned the sighting of a Herring Gull from the Copeland Islands, here in County Down, which was colour-ringed - 4X:W . This latest sighting of 4X:W , is just the third record of the gull, since it was ringed as an un-sexed adult, on the 6th May 2015. Earlier this year, on the 19th January 2020, I made the first ever re-sighting, when I recorded the bird on the beach at Donaghadee, just 3 kms / 2 miles (SSE), of Big Copeland Island. During my first ever (and only visit so far), to Big Copeland Island, on the 16th June 2020, I recorded 4X:W for the second time, along with a mate in a breeding colony. The pair either had a chick, or chicks, hidden in the fern undergrowth.
This third and latest sighting, occurred on the 16th August 2020, when Graham spotted 4X:W at Mill Bay, on the County Down side of Carlingford Lough, 77 kms / 47 miles (SSW), of Big Copeland Island. The duration since being ringed, was 5 years, 3 months and 10 days.
My thanks to Graham for this sighting, and I've added the photo, which I took on Big Copeland Island back in June.
Herring Gull - 4X:W - Big Copeland Island, The Copeland Islands, Co. Down (16 Jun 2020)
(Ringed as an Un-Sexed Adult, on the 6th May 2015, on Big Copeland Island)
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| From David Nixon |
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Every now and again, 'Ring Readers' here in Northern Ireland record first ever sightings from other countries. Recent examples in the last couple of years, are, a metal-rung juvenile Black-headed Gull from Russia (Brad Robson and Suzanne Belshaw), a colour-ringed Caspian Gull from Germany (Graham McElwaine), and two birds that I recorded - a metal-rung Sandwich Tern from Germany, and a colour-ringed Common Gull from Poland, this latter bird was also spotted by Suzanne Belshaw. A colour-ringed Mediterranean Gull from France, is another one that comes to mind, this gull having been recorded at the same site, and actually bred there (RSPB WoW Reserve in Belfast), and was seen by several observers.
On the 18th August 2020, an email arrived with me from David Nixon. Earlier in the day, whilst out 'Ring Reading' at his local site (the Inner Bay, at Dundrum, Co. Down), he recorded a colour-ringed Common Gull with a White Darvic. Having seen '724' on the ring, David suspected that a letter or a fourth number was missing. If I had seen that bird, my initial thoughts would be, that the bird was from Norway, as they use both Green and White Darvics on their Common Gulls, beginning with the letter 'J'.
All credit to David, as he kept his telescope on the gull, and was eventually rewarded, when the bird lifted it's leg to reveal an 'A'. Having received the email from David, I knew straight away, that we had an unusual bird. I checked out the 'cr-birding' colour-ringing site, and discovered that David's Common Gull was from Germany.
I replied to David, and stated, that he may well have recorded the first ever ringed German Common Gull, to have ever been recorded here in Northern Ireland. I also copied in, Bernhard Kondziella from Germany. Replies were received from Bernhard and Andreas Zours, congratulating David on his sighting, which indeed, was a first for our small county.
(White) A724, had been ringed as a chick, on the 20th June 2018, on a rooftop Common Gull breeding colony, in Hamburg. The first ever re-sighting of (White) A724, occurred on the 9th July 2020, when a Frank Moffat, spotted the gull at Spurn Point, in Yorkshire, England. This second re-sighting is an excellent record from David, the gull having travelled 1051 kms / 653 miles (W) from Germany, to reach Dundrum. The duration since being ringed, was 2 years, 1 month and 29 days.
Unfortuantely, the bird moved off before David could obtain a photo, but I could not ignore this sighting record. My thanks to David, for reporting this very special bird.
Another colour-ring sighting made by David at Inner Dundrum Bay, was a Redshank, which had everybody stumpped, as to who it belonged too. Also spotted on the 18th August 2020, this bird was reported as having a plain Orange ring on it's left tibia, along with a Black coded ring - AW, on the right tibia, and I had been copied into the emails. Having recorded a similar Redshank last winter at Dargan (which, incedently, I re-sighted on the 23rd August 2020 - read below), I replied to David, and copied in Tony Cross in Wales, as I was sure the bird was one of theirs.
Tony replied to say that O-N(AW), was ringed as a juvenile, on the 27th October 2018, at Ynylas National Nature Reserve on the west coast of Wales. David's sighting, was a first for this bird, occurring 1 year, 9 months and 22 days after being ringed. I'm still waiting for an offical distance from the BTO, but it is roughly 226 kms / 140 miles (NW), between Ynylas and Dundrum. Again, my thanks to David for this sighting as well.
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| Saturday 22nd August 2020 |
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As usual, having been at work until the early hours, it was another late start to the day. I decided to go to Kinnegar Beach on the south side of Belfast Lough first, and then work other sites around Belfast after that. High tide, was roughly around 2pm, so I parked overlooking Kinnegar Beach, around 2:30pm and waited for the tide to recede. At 3:15, I was rewarded when the first five, of many Oystercatchers, alighted on the far left hand side of the beach from where I was parked. Amongst those five, was a colour-ringed bird, which I immediately assumed, was one of the older 'type' Oystercatchers, having been ringed in Iceland.
My bird was ringed Orange over Black, on it's left leg, and on the right leg, it had a single Orange ring. I suspected, that the bird would have originally carried a 'colour-flag' type ring on the right leg, but it was well known, that these older 'type' Oystercatchers, had a habit of managing to loose their 'flags'. Nowadays, the Icelandic Oystercatchers, are ringed with a single coded ring, along with two plain coloured rings on the opposite leg.
Consulting my spreadsheet on returning home, this bird was a new sighting to me, and I emailed Böddi in Iceland, along with photos, and suggested that this bird was missing a 'flag'. Böddi, has since replied, but is having problems with trying to confirm the bird as an individual, due to the missing 'flag'. There are several possibilites - some birds were colour-ringed as breeding adults, whilst other were colour-ringed as chicks. At present, Boddi is checking all ringing and re-sighting data, which will include this summers sightings which as yet have not been submitted, to try and identify my bird.
Oystercatcher - ON-O(?f) - Kinnegar Beach, Belfast Lough, Co. Down (22 Aug 2020)
(Waiting for Ringing Details - if this bird can be identified)
Despite a lengthy period scoping through the other gulls and waders, no more rings were spotted, so I hurridly moved round to Whitehouse Lagoon, before it emptied out too much. Here, for the second weekend running, I was hoping to record the return of another Icelandic Oystercatcher, as well as a Polish Black-headed Gull. Neither bird was spotted, but a very distant Common Gull then caught my eye. Scoping it's leg, against a background of seaweed, it looked as if was carrying a colour-ring. Zooming in with my camera, which easily out-reaches my telescope, the bird had a Blue Darvic. Looking at a multitude of photos on returning home, it looked as if the ring read - 2AIN .
I can easily remember 2AIN from the past, but I knew it had been a long time since I had previous recorded the bird. Firstly, I checked my spreadsheet, and my last sighting of 2AIN , was here at Whitehouse Lagoon, on the 25th September 2016. Although I was fairly sure about the code, I still had nagging thoughts, and the way that the ring was fitted, helped to convince me, that I had recorded the 'one and, same bird'. The ring of 2AIN , had been fitted upside-down - instead of reading upwards, the ring read downwards. I then checked my folder for 2AIN , and previous photos showed that the ring did indeed read downwards, which for me, clinched the sighting.
2AIN , was ringed as a chick, on the 23rd June 2012, on Big Copeland Island in County Down, and belonged to Shane Wolsey's former project (2009-2014), which I now take care of. Today's if the fifth record of 2AIN , since being ringed, with all sightings having been made by me. I first recorded the bird at the nearby Whiteabbey Shore, on the 24th October 2015. The next three sighting was made here at Whitehouse Lagoon, on the 27th August, 11th September and on the 25th September 2016. After all these years, I was well pleased to record 2AIN once again. The duration since ringing, is now 8 years, 1 month and 30 days, and Whitehouse Lagoon, is situated 23 kms / 14 miles (W), of Big Copeland Island.
Common Gull - 2AIN - Whitehouse Lagoon, Belfast Lough (22 Aug 2020)
(Ringed as a Chick, on the 23rd June 2012, on Big Copeland Island, The Copeland Islands, Co. Down)
With no more rings spotted at Whitehouse Lagoon, I then drove round to the nearby mudflats, at the Dargan Industrial Estate. Here, there were loads of gulls and waders, and these included many Black-tailed Godwits. With so many birds about, I spent ages scoping for rings, eventually re-sighting two previously known birds.
One of these, was the Scottish colour-ringed Oystercatcher - T64 , which I reported on, in my previous post, with the bird having been recorded back here, by Suzanne Belshaw.
Oystercatcher - T64 - Dargan Mudflats, Belfast (22 Aug 2020)
(Ringed as an Un-Sexed Adult, on the 29th March 2014, at Ballater, Aberdeenshire, Scotland)
The other bird, was a colour-ringed Redshank, spotted almost in the exact same spot on the mudflats, where I had recorded the bird on the 8th September 2019. Having reported my sighting to Tony Cross in Wales, O-N(FV), has not been recorded since I first recorded the bird at Dargan. Ringed as an un-sexed 2nd calendar year bird, on the 7th March 2019, at the Ynylas National Nature Reserve in west Wales, the duration is now 1 year, 5 months and 15 days, with the distance between the sites, being 264 kms / 164 miles (NNW). My thanks goes to Tony for the updates, for both my Redshank, and the one reported by David Nixon.
Having stayed until the tide was well on it's way out, I decided to call it a day, and returned home.
Redshank - O-N(FV) - Dargan Mudflats, Belfast (22 Aug 2020)
(Ringed as an Un-Sexed 2nd Calendar Year bird, on the 7th March 2019, at Ynylas NNR, West Wales)
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| Sunday 23rd August 2020 |
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On leaving Antrim Marina, I visited many sites in both counties Armagh and Down. To cut a long story down, despite having checked seemingly 'hundreds' of pair of legs, only two colour-ringed birds were spotted. Both of these were Curlews, recorded at the Inner Bay, in Dundrum, County Down.
Through a comment in an email about a separate bird via another observer, I knew both Curlew's were ringed by Kendrew Colhoun. Having emailed Kendrew, he was unable to furnish details on these birds, albeit to say, that both birds had been caught and ringed at the Inner Bay last winter.
As per ususal, I reported the Curlew's to the BTO, along with my other sightings during the weekend. Having had to submit the Curlew's, by their colour-marks, even the BTO were stumpped, as they could not find a scheme on the cr-birding site, which matched the combinations used on the colour-rings. After a few emails had circulated, the colour-rings Kendrew used, were registered as having two letters, instead of three, which were now in use. Apparently, Kendrew applied for a three letter code around a year ago, but for some reason, the cr-birding site was not updated.
In his reply to me, Kendrew stated that he was running behind, having not submitted the ringing or known re-sighting data, but would get back to me on these.
Curlew - Y(AAV)-B - Dundrum Inner Bay, Dundrum, Co. Down (23 Aug 2020)
(Waiting for the Ringing and Re-Sighting Details)
Curlew - Y(ACC)-B - Dundrum Inner Bay, Dundrum, Co. Down (23 Aug 2020)
(Waiting for the Ringing and Re-Sighting Details)
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| Ringing Details Received |
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In my post two weeks ago, I reported on a Great Black-backed Gull, that had landed on David Galbraith's boat on two occasions. David uses 'Creels' to catch lobsters, and in more recent times, more and more Great Black-backed Gulls have been following his boat. I reported David's sighting to Iain Livingstone, who sent me the birds ringing details. However, when I went to submit David's two sightings onto the DemOn Ringing Database, I discovered on entering the gull's metal number, the ringing date did not correspond to that given to me by Iain.
I emailed Iain again, informing him about the error, and have now received a reply. Congratulating me on spotting the mistake, Iain apologised, and furnished me with the correct details, which this time, matched the ringing date on DemOn.
The gull - (White) 9H5:C, was ringed on Horse Isle Nature Reserve, as a chick, on the 26th June 2017. The reserve is situated just off the coast, from Ardrossan, in Ayrshire, Scotland. David's two sightings of (White) 9H5:C, are the only ones since the bird was ringed. The duration, as of David's second sighting on the 7th August 2020, is now 3 years, 1 month and 12 days.
The first sighting was made, on the 29th July 2020, a short distance out to sea from the Isle of Muck, which is quite close to the town of Larne, in County Antrim. The second sighting at Drain's Bay, is slightly further north of Larne, but the Isle of Muck, was used to submit both sightings. The distance from Horse Isle to the Isle of Muck, is roughly 104 kms / 65 miles (SW).
My thanks again to David for his sightings, along with the photos, and to Iain for supplying the ringing details. We got there in the end, but few mistakes gets past me these days.
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The ringing details for a German colour-ringed Black-headed Gull, which I spotted back in February 2020, have now arrived. Having reported the bird to Hendrik Trapp in Germany, no details were ever sent back.
However, through the sighting of the German Common Gull (read above), reported to me by David Nixon, a Bernhard Kondziella, who replied to David, helped me to obtain the ringing details for - X17L . I gambled on Bernhard having contacts within Germany, who would help me with my sighting, and this worked a treat.
Hendrik Trapp himself, replied about - X17L , which had been ringed as an un-sexed breeding adult, on the 20th May 2017, at Riether Werder, an island sitting right on the north-east border of German and Poland. My sighting on the 23rd February 2020, on the Connswater mudflats in Belfast, was the second for this bird, though Hendrik did state where the original sighting was made. Riether Werder, is home to around 10,000 pairs of Black-headed Gulls, which makes it one of the largest colonies in Europe.
My sighting came 2 years, 9 months and 3 days, since the gull was ringed, and the distance from the ringing site to the Connswater mudflats, is 1,315 kms / 817 miles (W). My thanks goes to Hendrik for the belated ringing details, and to Bernhard for his assistance.
Black-headed Gull - X17L - Connswater Mudflats, Belfast (23 Feb 2020)
(Ringed as an Un-Sexed Breeding Adult, on the 20th May 2017, at Riether Werder, NE Germany)
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