Antrim Marina - Sunday 3rd November 2024...

Antrim Marina - Sunday 3rd November 2024

Not so long ago I made mention about good weeks and bad weeks when visiting Antrim Marina, but today's visit has to go down as being the worst so far this winter.  I arrived at 9:50 this morning, with nice calm but dull weather conditions and the temperature gauge in my car read 11ºC.  A few light showers of drizzle fell before I departed at 2pm.

So far this winter, 25 colour-ringed Black-headed Gulls have been recorded, and I have a few birds now overdue to return.  I'm now wondering if the mild weather conditions are a factor and the gulls are in no rush to come back.  Three gulls of known origin - Estonia, Poland and Sweden should have appeared by now, whilst a fourth from Latvia is due back in the second or third week of this month.  Two others that were ringed last winter have not returned as yet either.

Around 40 Black-headed Gulls were scattered around the jetties on my arrival, and soon after, numbers decreased slightly and never made it back to the 40 mark.  In my first hour, just 8 colour-rings were read with -  2BRA  being the first at 09:59, whilst the 8th ring read at 10:46 belonged to -  2FIL .  Sightings after this were few and far between, with just five more rings being read by the time of my departure at 2pm.  The 13th and final ring belonged to -  2CSR  read at 13:24.  This meant I had 12 absentees today, and most notable about these, was they were nearly all ringed with Blue Darvics.  The Blue Darvics were introduced as I ran out of Orange Darvics.

A well known ringer collected the remainder of Adam's Orange Darvics which included the remaining ones from the  2C**  series and the complete  2D**  series on my behalf and still refuses to pass them on to me.  This happened just before the 'Covid Outbreak', so I've been waiting a long time now.  His excuse at the time was "they were on an island and due to Covid, could not be collected'.  Despite my requests I'm being ignored and after I brought up my issues with the BTO, they too have failed to intervene.

Black-headed Gull  -   2CSR   -  Antrim Marina, Antrim Town, Co. Antrim  (03 Nov 2024)

( A year round resident, it was ringed an an unsexed 2nd Winter Bird, on the 24th December 2017, at Antrim Marina)

The best sighting today was the 2nd appearance this winter of -  2CTA , spotted at 11:57.  I reckon this gull is of foreign origin, though it has never been seen anywhere other than at Antrim Marina.  This winter, the gull arrived back on the 13th October 2024, which happens to be it's earliest return.  Once back, further sightings over the winter are normally quite scarce.  I reckon it spends most of it's time in the town of Antrim, possibly around one of the housing estates, but I cannot go running around strange housing estates with either the binoculars or a camera - some woman might thing she's been elected.  Can't get anyone's hopes up!!!

 2CTA , was also ringed as a 2nd winter bird, on the 10th December 2018, here at the Marina.  The duration since being ringed, is now 5 years, 10 months and 24 days.

Black-headed Gulls  -   2CTA   &  2BRA   -  Antrim Marina, Antrim Town, Co. Antrim  (03 Nov 2024)

(  2CTA , was ringed as an unsexed 2nd Winter Bird, on the 10th December 2018 at Antrim Marina)

( Year Round Resident,  2BRA , was ringed as an Adult Female, on the 1st February 2015, at Antrim Marina)

Colour Ringed Black-headed Gulls Recorded at Antrim Marina on Sunday 3rd November 2024

2BRA	2AAB	2FFA	2CSK	2ACV	2CJT	2FJT
2FIL	2FJN	2CTA	2ABN	2FIF	2CSR

Black-headed Gulls Recorded at Antrim Marina This Autumn/Winter but Absent Today

2AAN	2BRD	2FFH	2FFT	2FFX	2FHC
2FHV	2FIJ	2FJA	2FJF	2FJK	2FJL

The metal-rung Icelandic Black-headed Gull -  543335 , was also spotted again today at 11:51.  Ringed on the 14th July 2023, it returned to the Marina for the second winter running, on the 11th August 2024, and has been recorded on most weeks since it's return.  It still comes quite close to me to obtain bread, but I really do need a few swans here if I have any chance to capture it and add a colour-ring to it's right leg.  I still have plenty of time before it heads back to Iceland in the spring.

Other Birds at Antrim Marina

As can be read in the above paragraph, not a single Mute Swan was seen today.  Many passers-by are commenting on their absence.  It's been several weeks now since I last saw any here.

Mallard numbers were very low with around 30 birds throughout today's visit.  As usual, most if not all legs were checked over the course of my visit, but again no rings.

Just a single adult Common Gull appeared today.  Arriving at 11:15, I'd be certain that it was still the same bird seen chasing the Black-headed Gulls just before I departed.  The resident male Herring Gull arrived at 11:20, and his juvenile off-spring appeared at 11:45.  Both remained throughout the remainder of my visit.  Once again, there was no sign of the female.

Just the two Jackdaws once again, and a single male Pied Wagtails were the only other species noted today.

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