From Neil McCartney...

From Neil McCartney

On the 20th May 2024, I received an email from Neil McCartney, which had been redirected to me via Lee Barber.  On the 16th May, Neil spotted a colour-ringed Black-headed Gull at Peatlands Park, near Dungannon in County Armagh.  Thinking the ring read (Red) -  2ABN , he contacted Lee, who said the ring did not belong to him, hence the re-direction.

The ring was actually (Orange) -  2ABN , which is a gull that winter's at Antrim Marina in County Antrim where I study a wintering population of Black-headed Gulls.   2ABN , belongs to Adam McClure's former Northern Ireland Black-headed Gull Study which ran from 2012 until 2018.  The initial gulls belonging to the study were ringed at Antrim Marina, with  2ABN  being ringed there as an adult female, on the 23rd January 2013.  I began my study at the Marina in September 2013 and now respond to sightings for all of Adam's gulls.

Over the years since 2013, it became established that this gull was a winter visitor to the Marina, arriving back each year in late July or early August.  Where it went to, to breed, was unknown until the the 15th March 2022, when first spotted away from Antrim for the first time.  The sighting was made by Ronan Owens who spotted the gull at Peatlands Park in County Armagh, which lies 35 kms / 21 miles south-west from the Marina.  This south-westerly sighting if carried on in a straight line, would have taken the gull into the County Fermanagh Lakelands or beyond into the Republic of Ireland for possible breeding sites.

Neil's sighting at Peatlands Park now throws the previous guess at a breeding site into the 'trash can'.  This mid May sighting must surely mean that -  2ABN  must be nesting somewhere close to Peatlands Park.  I have never been there, and Neil himself does not think there is a colony at Peatlands.  If any Northern Ireland Ornithologists know of a breeding colony in that area, please drop me a line at plattgareth@yahoo.co.uk.  The duration as of the 16th May 2024, is 11 years, 3 months and 23 days, since being ringed.  A point to remember concerning Red Rings, is that the characters used are White and not Black, which helps to identify dubious background colours.

My thanks to Neil for his sighting and for his permission to use his photo.  Neil is currently residing in Dundee in Scotland and is already back home.

Black-headed Gull  -   2ABN   -  Peatlands Park, Dungannon, Co. Armagh  (16 May 2024)

(Ringed as an Adult Female, on the 23rd January 2013, at Antrim Marina, Antrim Town, Co. Antrim)

(Photo Courtesy of Neil McCartney)

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