Stuck at Home...

I never got out at all during the weekend past.  Saturday saw me finishing off my previous post, whilst on Sunday it poured with rain until late into the afternoon.  It was so dark with the conditions, the house lights were turned on early.  With my wife being at work, someone had to remain in the house to look after our sick cat, named 'Fat Cat'.  Originally arriving with us as a stray, she had spent two nights at the Vets on a drip, and it was touch and go, whether she would be put to sleep.  The vet aged her around the fifteen year mark, so she's getting on in years.  It is now Thursday, and I'm about to publish this post.  Last night, 'Fat Cat' ate for the first time in nearly two weeks, so you can imagine, that she's no longer a fat cat.  There are three cats here, all belonging to my wife.  Personally, I'm against keeping pets, but seeing as they are here, I need to do my bit.  Now that 'Fat Cat' is on the mend, our eleven year old white fluff ball 'Weed', appears to becoming down with the same symptoms.  Even the recent addition, 'Rusty', is much quiter than normal, so we might have another two sick cats soon.

Unlike the previous weekend, where emails came flooding in, which included a few ring sightings, this weekend was largely on the quiet side.  This weeks post, is therefore quite short, and just involves my weekly visit to Antrim Marina.  I've booked a half day holiday tomorrow night, which will help me to get out and about again early on Saturday morning.  I'm itching to get away from the house for a while.

_______________________________________________________________________________

 

Black-headed Gulls at Antrim Marina - Monday 14th December 2020

Having remained at home over the weekend to look after a very sick cat, I went to Antrim Marina on Monday morning.  With the wife off work today, she was able to look after 'Fat Cat', and I arrived at the Marina at 9am.  The dredging operations had begun, which I thought would lead to a poor visit.  On the plus side, the workmen who are replacing the wooden timbers on the two jetties, were nowhere to be seen today.  The work on the low wooden jetty seems to have been completed, which is just as well, as the digger was scooping the dredged mud from the barge, over the low wooden jetty, and onto waiting lorries.  For now at least, the gulls still had the long wooden jetty all to themselves which was a great help.  What was even more surprising, was that the gulls themselves, were largely unfazed, by the dredging going on just beyond the end of the long wooden jetty.

 

Around 60 Black-headed Gulls were already perched on the long jetty when I arrived, and by 11:30, numbers had increased to around the 150 mark.  Having caught and ringed a juvenile/1st winter bird during last weeks visit, I was on the lookout for 34 of the colour-ringed Study birds, eight of which have been caught and ringed this winter.  No new returnees were recorded this week, and 28 out of the 34 gulls previously recorded were re-sighted during today's visit.  Among these, were rare visits by both   2ABA  and   2AAV .    2AAA  which did not appear today, had passed a milestone, which I hadn't realised until I updated some of the durations on my main spreadsheet over the weekend.    2AAA  was the very first gull to be ringed when Adam McClure began what is now, his former Northern Ireland Black-headed Gull Study.

 

  2AAA , was ringed as an adult male, on the 12th November 2012, here at the Marina.  When I recorded   2AAA , during last week's visit, the bird had past the 8 year mark since being ringed, the duration now being 8 years, and 25 days.    2ADJ , was also caught and ringed on the 12th November 2012, but this gull died during the summer of 2019.  On a random visit on the 17th June 2019,   2ADJ , was standing in the car park near the slipway, hunched up and not looking too good.  That was the last time that I saw that bird.    2AAB , was the third bird to be ringed by Adam here at the Marina.  Caught on the 11th December 2012, as an un-sexed adult,   2AAB  was recorded today, taking it's duration past the eight year mark, to 8 years and 3 days.

 

Of the six absentees today, I see that   2CSX  appears to have gone missing again.  Last seen on the 23rd November, has this bird headed back off to the former Belfast Waterworks?  Two of the absentees included gulls that I caught and ringed this winter.    2FDP , has not been seen since the day after I ringed it, on the 2nd November 2020, and   2FDX , ringed on the 23rd November, has not been seen since.  Both were juvenile/1st winter birds, but I'd like to think they were passing through, and are still alive.

 

Another two of my study birds from the Marina, have still not appeared here this winter, though I know they are alive.  One is   2CSS , which had been found sick in the town of Antrim, and has since been released, and the other is   2AFD , who we know breeds in Latvia, but I recorded it's return on the 22nd November 2020, at the Castle Way car park in the centre of Antrim town.

 

Three other gulls which should have returned long before now, are   2AAP ,   2ADV  and   2CSH .  I have decided to write off   2AAP  as dead, but for now I'm not so sure about the other two.  The gulls can surprise you sometimes by their movements so I still hold out some hope for the latter two birds.  Another gull which I'm still hopeful of recording is   2ANS .    2ANS , was caught and ringed here at the Marina, as a juvenile/1st winter bird, on the 12th November 2015.  As the gull has aged, its visits to the Marina have become less frequent.  The last sighting here at the Marina, was on the 11th November 2019, but on the 22nd March 2020, I discovered   2ANS  at Glynn on Larne Lough.  This was just prior to the onset of the breeding season, so   2ANS  may have nested on the nearby Blue Circle Island, which is a nature reserve belonging to the RSPB.

 

The three photos below, are of   2FFC , recorded for the first time since being caught and ringed on the 23rd November 2020,   2FFH , caught and ringed last week (7th December), and   2FFK  (juvenile), one of four gulls caught and ringed during today's visit.  The other three that were caught today, are   2FFJ  (Adult),   2FFL  (Juvenile), and   2FFN  (Adult).  These four newly rung birds, means that I'll be on the lookout for 38 in total next week.    

 

Black-headed Gull  -    2FFC   -  Antrim Marina, Antrim Town, Co. Antrim  (14 Dec 2020)

(Ringed as an Un-Sexed Adult, on the 30th November 2020, at Antrim Marina)

 

Black-headed Gull  -    2FFH   -  Antrim Marina, Antrim Town, Co. Antrim  (14 Dec 2020)

(Ringed as a Juvenile/1st Winter Bird, on the 7th December 2020, at Antrim Marina)

 

Black-headed Gull  -    2FFK   -  Antrim Marina, Antrim Town, Co. Antrim  (14 Dec 2020)

(Ringed as a Juvenile/1st Winter Bird, today 14th December 2020, at Antrim Marina)

 

Colour Ringed Black-headed Gulls at Antrim Marina Today - Monday 14th December 2020

2CJT	2AAN	2CTC	2FDV	2FFF	2FFA	2CSJ	2BRA	2AAR	2AAK
2FDT	2CSA	2CSK	2ABK	2ABN	2CSR	2ABL	2FFH	2FFC	2ACV
2FDJ	2CSL	2FDK	2CSB	2ABA	2AAB	2AAV	2ABS

Black-headed Gulls Recorded or Ringed this Autmn/Winter, but Absent Today

2AAA	2BRD	2CSX	2CTA	2FDP	2FDX

Black-headed Gulls Caught and Ringed this Autumn/Winter

2FDP	2FDT	2FDV	2FDX	2FFA	2FFC
2FFF	2FFH	2FFJ	2FFK	2FFL	2FFN

Other Birds at Antrim Marina

The Mute Swans were not bothered by the dredging operations, nor were the Mallards.  Once again, just the nine cygnets were present, with all coming ashore at one point, either on the small sandy beach, or onto the slipway.  This gave me the chance to look at their legs at the same time.  Four cygnets were ringed by Debbie 'Doolittle' Nelson, on the 15th November 2020, three of which were also colour-ringed.    NJX  is still missing among the four, not having been seen since the 23rd November.  The other three,   NJY ,   NJZ  and   Z78580 , were accounted for.  Only seven adults were present today.

 

Mallard numbers remained around the forty mark throughout the visit, and once again, most legs were checked.

 

The adult Herring Gull was also present throughout my visit, with a second adult arriving just before 10am.  This bird, I haven't seen before, had a very slender looking head.  Both birds then made some head bowing, whilst calling to each other.  About 10 minutes later, the new bird departed.

 

Common Gull numbers, were down on last week's high of nine birds.  Just five adults appeared today, which also included a previously unknown bird.  It had one of the thinnest looking beaks that I've ever seen on a Common Gull, and it's head was very streaked with black markings, which made it stand out from the others.  The small Scottish female, which appeared for the second time this winter during last week's visit, was absent again today.

 

I fared better with other species during today's visit, recording 2 Magpies, 10 Jackdaws, 1 Hooded Crow, a pair of Pied Wagtails, and a male Grey Wagtail.  I departed from the Marina around 12:30 and headed home to grab a couple of hours sleep to set me up for work this evening.

 

******************************************************