Antrim Marina - Sunday 24th November 2024...

Antrim Marina - Sunday 24th November 2024

Today, I arrived at Antrim Marina at the slightly later time of 10:30, as I had checked out a couple of other Black-headed Gull sites around the town of Antrim beforehand.  Oh dear, there was not one Black-headed Gull to be seen at these - the Junction One Shopping Centre Car Park (Roadworks in Progress), and the Castle Way Car Park in the centre of the town.

It was a sunny day with around 70% blue sky, meaning plenty of sunshine, though a fairly strong wind was blowing in from Lough Neagh.  The temperature gauge in my car was reading 11ºC, which is still very mild for this time of the year.  However, the forecast for the week ahead gave for frost and snow.

So far this winter, 25 colour-ringed Black-headed Gulls have been recorded, and of late, a few foreign gulls which were expected to return have failed to appear.  This weekend should have seen the return of my Latvian breeding -  2AFD , which would normally be the last gull to return.  Having remained until 2:30pm, no further returnees were recorded.  Surely, I have not lost a Latvian bird, as well as birds from Sweden, Poland and Estonia, all in one go.  Then, there are also the two adults that I colour-ringed here last winter, which have also failed to show.

In the past from winter to winter, I might have lost a couple of gulls, but not so many in one go.  Last winter, I lost around half of 50 colour-ringed Black-headed Gulls, which was likely to have been the result of 'Bird Flu'.  This past summer, there has been very little mention of 'Bird Flu', so I was expecting better returns.

On my arrival today, around 60 Black-headed Gulls were present, with numbers slowly increasing as the morning wore on.  Shortly after 1pm, I made a head count, as most were nicely settled having had several feeds from passers by feeding the ducks.  I had a count of 99 gulls, which was easily the highest total so far this winter.  With 25 colour-rings to look for, from 10:30 till 11:26, I reached a total of 16 with the arrival of -  2AAB  at 11:26.  My total for the visit ended on 18, with the sighting of -  2FFT  at 12:26 and -  2FJN  being the last one at 13:44.

The stand out sightings, were those of -  2CTA  and -  2FFT .   2CTA  I reckon is a foreign breeder, and once it does return, I assume it spends most of it's time somewhere around the town of Antrim.  This winter, it arrived back on the 13th October 2024, but today's sighting makes this the fourth week in row that it has appeared at the Marina.

Black-headed Gull  -   2CTA   -  Antrim Marina, Antrim Town, Co. Antrim  (24 Nov 2024)

(Ringed as an Unsexed 2nd Winter Bird, on the 10th December 2018, at Antrim Marina)

 2FFT  could also be a foreign breeding gull, and like the aforementioned -  2CTA , has yet to be spotted away from Antrim Marina.  Ringed at the Marina as an adult bird in December 2020, sightings here are few and far between, which was leading me to think that this gull was using the Marina as a 'staging post' before moving on to it's wintering site wherever that may be.  Since being ringed in 2020, only six sightings had been made up until the 1st October 2023, which happened to be the only sighting here last winter.

This winter, I recorded it's return on the 4th August 2024, with further sightings on the 11th, 18th and 26th August.  With a 5th sighting this winter on the 27th October, and now today's, the overall total of sightings has jumped by half this winter to a total of 12.  Perhaps it too, can be found somewhere around the town of Antrim.

The durations for both birds are 5 years, 11 months and 21 days for -  2CTA , and 3 years, 11 months and 3 days for -  2FFT .

Black-headed Gull  -   2FFT   -  Antrim Marina, Antrim Town, Co. Antrim  (24 Nov 2024)

(Ringed as an Unsexed Adult, on the 21st December 2020, at Antrim Marina)

With the higher number of gulls present today, there was far more competition for the birds trying to obtain a share of the bread being fed to the ducks.  For some reason (possibly bad press in England), nobody seems to like the gulls and many folk try to shoo them away.  I had my rings ready today hoping to catch one or two, but they are still slightly shy of taking chances.  With a pair of Mute Swans present on the slipway, dropping bread around their feet, the gulls were almost in reach.  It can only be a matter of time now before I ring the first gulls for this winter.

The metal-rung Icelandic Black-headed Gull -  543335 , was recorded at 10:39.  It is not in the least shy in it's approach, and still eludes me.  Only centimetres remain between it and myself.  I really want to get a colour-ring fitted to this bird before it returns to Iceland next spring.

Colour Ringed Black-headed Gulls Recorded at Antrim Marina on Sunday 24th November 2024

2FFX	2FFA	2FHC	2CJT	2FJF	2CTA	2FJT	2BRA	2CSR
2FIL	2AAN	2FJL	2ACV	2FJA	2ABN	2AAB	2FFT	2FJN

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

2BRD	2CSK	2FFH	2FHV	2FIF	2FIJ	2FJK

Other Birds at Antrim Marina

At last, I had a pair of Mute Swans on the slipway today.  It's been several weeks since I had birds on the slipway, although a pair with two cygnets swam past last week.  I tried to coax them onto the slipway, but they swan on down towards Lough Neagh.  Neither of today's swans were ringed, but I used their friendly nature to try and catch a gull or two without success.

Only a few weeks back, I mentioned about the lack of Common Gulls visiting the Marina so far this winter.  No sooner had I mentioned it, when they began to show up.  Today was a very good day, as I ended up with a total of 7 adults plus one juvenile present before I departed.

One adult was present on my arrival, with the 2nd at 11:15, 3rd at 11:49, juvenile at 12:08, 4th at 12:23, 5th at 12:48, 6th at 12:56 and the 7th at 13:15.  The small Scottish metal-rung Common Gull did not appear today, which means at least 8 adults are now visiting.  In past winter, numbers would have gone into double digits.

The resident adult male Herring Gull arrived at 11:29, and his youngster arrived at 12:08.  Much quieter now, the youngster tried to beg from daddy, but he was having none of it.  Even at that, this youngster looks to be more independent now.  There is still no sign of the female.

Around 50 Mallards were also present on my arrival.  Even after numerous feeds, the numbers remained around the 50 mark throughout my visit.

A pair of Pied Wagtails and 3 Jackdaws were the only other birds seen here today.  One of the Jackdaws was the small but noisy Jackdaw that first appeared a week or two back.  I've never seen such a small Jackdaw before. 

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