I did not get out last Saturday, as I responed to a data request from Kev Leighton at the BTO. It appears that I have many sighting records on my spreadsheet from some foreign countries, where their ringing departments have not forwarded sightings back to the BTO. Before re-training as a ringer, and then having access to the BTO's Ringing Database, I would have reported sightings to the countries concerned. Kev, now has these details from me, via a copy of my spreadsheet, which also has hyperlinks to the PDF Files, for those sightings.
Sunday saw me heading off to County Down, where I had planned to cover the western edge of Strangford Lough, before doubling back, to work the coastal edge of the Ards Peninsula. Having got to Ardglass, I called it a day and headed home, as I was not feeling great. My head cold, has not gone away, which sees me tire easily. I hit 60 years of age back in September, and though I'm still quite fit and agile for my age, the slightest problem seems to hit me for 'six'.
My weekly visit to Antrim Marina, took place on Monday morning, and over the two days, a couple more gulls have been added to this winter's re-sighting list, plus another one was reported by Cameron Moore. It's still November, and the list of birds that have been recorded over past years or winters is ever increasing, thus adding a lot more knowledge of our ringed birds.
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| Black-headed Gulls at Antrim Marina - Monday 9th November 2020 |
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New fencing had been put in place, in front of the long wooden jetty, and beside the low wooden jetty. The thick wooden walkway along both jetties have been pulled up since my previous visit, which made me wonder, what was the sense of the power washing on the long wooden jetty last week. I know there are plans to give the Marina, a whole new facelift, and is this the start of it. A couple of Council employees turned up here later this morning, but on chatting to them, they had no idea of the Councils plans for the Marina.
Prior to today's visit to Antrim Marina, my overall total of colour-ringed Black-headed Gulls, which had been ringed at the Marina, and recorded so far over this autmn and winter season, had stood at 25. With the capture and ringing of a juvenile last week, the overall total had increased to 26 birds.
I began, scoping through the gulls present, with 2BRA , 2CSA , and 2CJT , being the first three recorded at 09:10. My 4th Black-headed Gull (at 09:11), was a delight to see - this one being 2AAR - which has returned from Poland, despite being slightly overdue. I had expected the return of 2AAR , by the weekend of the 24th to 26th October, but there had been no sign of him until today. There is also every chance, that he did return to Antrim on time, but was not present here over my last couple of visits.
2AAR , is one of Adam McClure's earliest ringed gulls belonging to his former Northern Ireland Study. Ringed as an adult male, at Antrim Marina, on the 21st December 2012, the gull was spotted twice in Poland in April 2013, which are still the only sightings of 2AAR , away from Antrim Marina.
The arrival and departure dates each year at Antrim Marina, are as follows :-
Ringed - 21st December 2012, Departure - after the 12th March 2013.
5th April 2013 - Spotted at Gdańsk in Northern Poland.
11th April 2013 - Spotted at a Breeding Colony at Hryniewicze in NE Poland.
Returned - 20th October 2013, Departure - after the 9th March 2014.
Returned - 17th October 2014, Departure - after the 15th March 2015.
Returned - 11th October 2015, Departure - after the 6th March 2016.
Returned - 16th October 2016, Departure - after the 5th March 2017.
Returned - 22nd October 2017, Departure - after the 12th March 2018.
Returned - 15th October 2018, Departure - after the 11th March 2019.
Returned - 21st October 2019, Departure - after the 9th March 2020.
Returned - 9th November 2020.
As can been seen from the return dates, until today, 2AAR is normally fairly predictable. It is now 7 years, 10 months and 19 days since 2AAR was ringed, and for now, 2AAR became the 27th gull from my own Antrim Marina Study, to be either re-sighted or ringed so far this season. It's just a pity, that more sightings are made, on this gull's travels.
Black-headed Gull - 2AAR - Antrim Marina, Antrim Town, Co. Antrim (09 Nov 2020)
(Ringed as an Adult Male, on the 21st December 2012, at Antrim Marina)
My ninth sighting at 09:23, took me by surprise, this bird being 2CSX . 2CSX , was ringed here at the Marina, as a juvenile, on the 3rd December 2018. My final sighting during the 2018/2019 winter, was made on the 11th March 2019. Having resumed my weekly winter visits in August 2019, 2CSX was not recorded until the 2nd September. The gull was recorded on a further four occasions up until the 11th October 2019, and then on the 18th October 2019, Suzanne Belshaw spotted the bird at the former Waterworks in Belfast. From that time, 2CSX was not seen again, until the 16th March 2020, when it re-appeared at Antrim Marina, this also being the final sighting of the 2019/2020 winter season.
I began this winters weekly visits on the first weekend of August, and 2CSX was recorded on the 16th August 2020. Re-sightings at the Marina were made regularly up until the 20th September 2020. On the 28th September, an email arrived with me from Suzanne Belshaw, who had once again spotted 2CSX at the Belfast Waterworks. Going by what had happened over the previous winter, I did not expect to see 2CSX until next March, so today's sighting came totally unexpected.
It will now be interesting to see what this gull, gets up to next - will it remain, or will it go back to Belfast. The duration since being ringed, is now 1 year, 11 months and 6 days.
Black-headed Gull - 2CSX - Antrim Marina, Antrim Town, Co. Antrim (09 Nov 2020)
(Ringed as a 1st Winter Bird, on the 3rd December 2018, at Antrim Marina)
Black-headed Gull numbers increased slowly over the next couple of hours. Judging by the colour-ringed gulls that had been recorded, birds were obviously coming and going. By 11:30, there were at least 120 to 150 Black-headed Gulls present. There was no sign of 2ADV , which should have returned around the same time as 2AAR (mentioned above), or at least a week later. Perhaps, it is in the area, but has not ventured to the Marina whilst I was on my visits. Another gull, 2CSH , is also due back, but again, there was no sign of that bird.
With the ringing of 2FDP last week, and the return of 2AAR , my overall total for this winter, was 27. A total of 19 of the colour-ringed Black-headed Gulls, were recorded during today's visit.
Colour Ringed Black-headed Gulls at Antrim Marina Today - Monday 9th November 2020
| 2BRA | 2CSA | 2CJT | 2AAR | 2AAN | 2FDK | 2CSR | 2CSB | 2CSX | 2ABS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2ABK | 2AAK | 2FDJ | 2CSJ | 2AAA | 2ABL | 2CSL | 2CSK | 2AAB |
Black-headed Gulls Recorded or Ringed During This Autum/Winter, but Absent Today
| 2ABA | 2AAV | 2ABN | 2ACV | 2BRD | 2CTA | 2CTC | 2FDP |
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Around 11am, I decided to have a go at catching some more Black-headed Gulls to add to my study. Crouching among, and feeding the swans, I dropped bread onto the ground, hopeful that one or two gulls would steal in for a bite. Older gulls, were still rather cautious, but I did catch two juveniles. The first youngster caught, was duly ringed, and given the code - 2FDT . Trying for a second bird, I noticed that the English metal-rung - EZ78694 , suddenly appeared. I could have caught an un-ringed youngster, but I bided my time, as not to scare the birds off, and duly captured - EZ78694 . This juvenile had been ringed on the 13th July 2020, at Marsh House Farm, at Stockton-on-Tees in England. Having flown 323 kms / 200 miles (W), to get to Antrim Marina, this youngster now carries the code - 2FDV .
I was really pleased to have caught this juvenile, as I came close to catching it during my previous visit, as with a Danish metal-rung juvenile, which did not show up today. The good thing about catching first winter Black-headed Gulls at the Marina, is that they are of known age, and their survival rate is greatly enhanced, due to the folk coming to feed the ducks. I personally spend a lot of time feeding the juveniles, not only to help them along, but also to gain their confidence. Another point to remember, is that these juveniles have possibly arrived here not only as Northern Ireland bred birds, but some would be from foreign countries as well.
With the addition of these two, I have now recorded 26 returning birds, and with the addition of three gulls ringed so far this winter, the overall total is now 29.
Juvenile Black-headed Gull - 2FDT - Caught and Colour-Ringed Today at Antrim Marina
Juvenile Black-headed Gull - EZ78694 - Antrim Marina, Antrim Town, Co. Antrim (09 Nov 2020)
(Ringed as a Chick, on the 13th July 2020, at Marsh House Farm, Stockton-on-Tees, England)
(Caught and Colour-Ringed - 2FDV - Today at Antrim Marina)
Other Birds at Antrim Marina
As mentioned above, one of the first things to catch my eye, as I was about to park my car, was the large number of Mute Swans. Having initially scoped the Black-headed Gulls for colour-rings, I then made a count of the swans, to find that there were 10 adults, and 10 cygnets. This was the highest number so far recorded this winter. Looking at the cygnets, nine were of similar age, with quite a few white feathers now showing in their plumage. The final cygnet, was smaller and browner, and would have hatched many weeks later than the other nine.
It was impossible to tell which adults were the parents of which youngsters, but, by going on previous observations, six cygnets and their parents have been here throughout my weekly visits. The other three large cygnets and their parents, appeared here just a few weeks ago, and it seems likely, that this is the same family, that was reported to have five cygnets during the late summer (I also recorded this family).
Of the four remaining adults, I identified 'Lumpy' and her mate, and they did not have any youngsters, which leaves two adults, as being the parents of the small brown cygnet. I had not seen this youngster before, but what I found really striking, was just how people friendly it was. Readily coming off the water to be hand fed, this young bird was certainly used to being around people, but where?
With so many swans about, it's looking like I've missed my chance to ring any of these. My idea, was to ring them in their family groups, so as the ring numbers would run consecutively. This does not seem possible now, plus I would need someone with me, which is not always possible either.
Mallard numbers remained at a constant 40 to 50 birds throughout my visit. Again, most legs were checked, but still no rings.
An adult Herring Gull arrived at 9:50, but flew away again minutes later. I wasn't positive, but I reckoned this bird was not the usual adult that appears here. The regular juvenile Herring Gull arrived shortly after the adult, and remained for about an hour.
One adult Common Gull, was perched on the long wooden jetty with the Black-headed Gulls on my arrival (09:10). A juvenile Common Gull appeared at 09:52, and I presume that this same bird, came and went throughout my visit. At 10:40, three adults were present, and then at 10:51, there were four adults. I've been eagerly watching for the return of the small Scottish rung bird over recent weeks, and then at 11:06, the fifth adult Common Gull to arrive, was carrying a metal-ring.
Perched on the end of the long wooden jetty (which now has no walkway), I had to take photos from a bit of a distance. Looking at these, I could see the final two digits on the metal ring, which read ' 36 '. At last, EY64036 , was back. The gull was ringed as a chick, on the 20th June 2013, at Hunterston, in Ayrshire, Scotland. I first recorded the then juvenile, at Antrim Marina, on the 9th February 2014. It is only during the depths of winter, which would see Common Gulls being frequent visitors to the Marina, so there is usually no regular pattern to re-sightings. However, it was great to see EY64036 back again. Below are the first and last dates each winter, that the gull has been recorded.
First Sighting - 9th February 2014, Only sighting during the 2013/2014 winter.
Return - 21st September 2014, Departure - after the 15th March 2015.
Return - 22nd November 2015, Departure - after the 6th March 2016.
Return - 4th September 2016, Departure - after the 22nd January 2017.
Return - 25th September 2017, Departure - after the 26th February 2018.
Return - 15th October 2018, Departure - unknown.
Return - 18th November 2019, Departure - after the 12th January 2020.
Return - 9th November 2020.
As can be seen by the dates, there is much irregularity, no doubt caused by the lack of frequent visits by the Common Gulls in general. I'd say, that EY64036 , does visit the Marina more often than this recorded, but I'm not going to pick these sightings up, with just making a single weekly visit. The unknown departure date for 2019, was more than likely due to the construction work of the new 'Gateway Centre', which at that time, caused me all sorts of problems when trying to read rings.
The distance from Hunterston to Antrim Marina, is 141 kms / 87 miles (SW), and the duration since EY64036 was ringed, is now 7 years, 4 months and 20 days.
Common Gull - EY64036 - Antrim Marina, Antrim Town, Co. Antrim (09 Nov 2020)
(Ringed as a Chick, on the 20th June 2013, at Hunterston, North Ayrshire, Scotland)
Other species recorded during my visit, were 1 Hooded Crow, 5 Jackdaws, a pair of Pied Wagtails, 1 Grey Wagtail and a single male Chaffinch. As is usual for a Monday visit, I had to return home to grab a couple of hours sleep before starting my evening shift at work.
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| Sunday 8th November 2020 |
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Having spent Saturday at home, sorting out historical foreign ring sightings of gulls for the BTO, on Sunday, I headed off to County Down. I decided to work the western side of Strangford Lough, beginning with Kiltonga Nature Reserve at Newtownards. Despite checking many gulls, waders, and a small number of Whooper Swans, only two colour-ringed birds were spotted.
The first of these, was a Common Gull at Killyleagh, this one bearing a Blue Darvic. Having scoped the gull as it was walking across the beach, it parked itself in a pool of water, and therefore the ring could not be read. Keeping a close watch on the bird as it preened itself, it eventually took off and headed inland. The gull may have been - 2AJT , which Suzanne Belshaw spotted here, on the 18th July 2020. If it was, then it would have been one of my study birds, which was ringed as a chick, on Rathlin Island in 2017.
Ardglass harbour was my final stop of the day, and despite a total lack of gulls, I made my second ring sighting. I did not recognise the code - S39:M , on the adult Great Black-backed Gull, but on returning home and running the code through my spreadsheet, I had recorded the bird before. S39:M , had been caught and ringed as an un-sexed adult, on the 22nd May 2018, on the Calf of Man, just off the southern coast of the Isle of Man.
S39:M , was first brought to my attention, via an email from Fulton Sommerville, who recorded the gull here at Ardglass Harbour, on the 31st December 2019. I then spotted S39:M , at the harbour, on the 2nd February 2019, which was the last record I had for this gull until today.
I emailed Mark Fitzpatrick, who is the ringing co-ordinator for the Isle of Man birds, and also submitted my sighting through my BTO DemOn account. Mark never replied, but this is usual practice when I submit sightings of Isle of Man gulls, as I would often be copied in, to other peoples sightings, where I would submit those to the BTO. However, once I had entered the birds metal number onto the DemOn Ringing Database, I noticed that there were two other sighting dates. The first of these, was on the 28th May 2018, just six days after S39:M , had been ringed. It would be safe to guess, that S39:M , was still on the Calf of Man on that date. The second date, was made after my sighting in February 2019. The gull had been recorded on the 20th May 2019, but DemOn does not show the locations of sightings. Wherever the sighting was made, this was the last record of S39:M , until today. The distance from the Calf of Man to Ardglass Harbour, is 57 kms / 35 miles (WNW), and the duration since being ringed, is 2 years, 5 months and 17 days.
(Ringed as an Un-Sexed Adult, on the 22nd May 2018, on the Calf of Man, Isle of Man)
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| From Declan Clarke |
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On Thursday 5th November, I received an email from Declan Clarke, which I had been copied into. Earlier that day, Declan came across a juvenile Great Black-backed Gull, with a colour-ring which read R32:D . The email was sent to Graham Prole, who is the ringing co-ordinator for the Irish Midlands Ringing Group. Graham finally replied on Friday afternoon, just as I was finishing off this post. He apologised for the delay, but apparently Eircom had stopped their .net accounts, much to everyone's displeasure. Instead of publishing this post, I held off until I returned home from work in the early hours of Saturday morning, as I had to re-write this article about Declan's sighting.
R32:D , was ringed as a chick, on the 4th July 2020, on Dalkey Island, situated 3 kms south from Dún Laoghaire, in County Dublin, Republic of Ireland. The young gull was re-sighted twice on Dalkey Island, on the 15th & 29th July 2020, and was not seen again, until it turned up at Ardglass Harbour, in County Down, where it was photographed by Declan. The distance from Dalkey Island to Ardglass, is 114 kms / 70 miles (NNE), and the duration since being ringed, was 4 months and 1 day.
However, the story does not end there, as R32:D , was next spotted on the 12th November 2020, at Bullock Harbour, just 2 kms (NW), from where it had been ringed, on Dalkey Island.
My thanks goes to Declan for reporting his sighting, and also to Graham Prole, who provided the ringing and re-sighting history for this young gull.
Juvenile Great Black-backed Gull - R32:D - Ardglass Harbour, Ardglass, Co. Down (05 Nov 2020)
(Ringed as a Chick, on the 4th July 2020, at Dalkey Island, Co. Dublin, Republic of Ireland)
(Photo Courtesy of Declan Clarke)
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| From Cameron Moore |
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On Monday the 9th November 2020, Cameron Moore sent me an email, to say that the Danish Black-headed Gull - (White) 5HA, has returned to Whitehead. (White) 5HA, was ringed as an adult male, on the 28 March 2015, at Gentofte Sø, Gentofte, just north of Copenhagen, in Denmark. The gulls first re-sighting was made at Whitehead, by Cameron, on the 26th November 2016. This is now the fifth year running that (White) 5HA, has been reported wintering at Whitehead.
I reported Cameron's latest sighting to Kjeld Tommy Pedersen, who replied with an updated PDF File (Read Here). As can be seen, (White) 5HA, has only been re-sighted back in Denmark, on a single occasion. The distance from the lake at Gentofte, to Whitehead, is 1,160 kms / 720 miles (W), and the duration since being ringed, is now 5 years, 7 months and 12 days.
My thanks goes to Cameron, for his latest re-sighting report, which unfortunately was not accompanied by a photograph. Instead, I've added a photo which was taken by Cameron, back in November 2018.
Black-headed Gull - (White) 5HA - Whitehead, Co. Antrim (19 Nov 2018)
(Ringed as an Adult Male, on the 28th March 2015, at Gentofte Sø, Gentofte, Denmark)
(Photo from 2018 Courtesy of Cameron Moore)
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| Ringing Recovery Received |
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I have now received the ringing details for a German metal-rung Black-headed Gull, which I had recorded on two occasions at Antrim, in County Antrim. The first of these, was at my study site at Antrim Marina, on the 5th October 2020, and then on the 25th October, I recorded the bird for a second time, at the Castle Way car park, in the centre of the town of Antrim. IA200180 , was caught and ringed as an adult female, on the 22nd May 2020, at Inseln Böhmke Und Werder, which is a body of water close to the border with Poland, on the north-east coast of Germany. The distance to the Castle Way car park, is 1,313 kms / 815 miles (WNW), and the duration since being ringed, was 5 months and 3 days.
The ringing details, also answered another query which I had. Back in February 2020, I spotted a Black-headed Gull at the Castle Way car park, which had a metal-ring. I now know, that, that bird was not IA200180 , as IA200180 , was ringed three months later. Hopefully, over the coming months, this unknown gull will return to the car park, where I'll attempt to read it's ring number. Whilst photographing the ring of IA200180 , on the 25th October, I did not realise until I returned home, that I took a photo of a Swedish Black-headed Gull, whose ring number ended in 371 . It would be good, if I can get that bird's ring number as well.
Black-headed Gull - Germany IA200180 - Castle Way, Antrim Town, Co. Antrim (25 Oct 2020)
(Ringed as an Adult Female, on the 22nd May 2020, at Inseln Böhmke Und Werder, NE Germany)
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