Antrim Marina - Sunday 8th December 2024...

Antrim Marina - Sunday 8th December 2024

This week's weekly visit to Antrim Marina, was quite enjoyable even though Black-headed Gull numbers were not quite high.  Around 70 gulls were present on my arrival, with numbers remaining around that mark until just before 1pm, when none were present at all.  Up until then, there seemed to be a high turnover of gulls coming and going, whilst using colour-ringed birds as a marker.  Right from the start of my visit, lots of feeds were provided by the public, with a lot of bread, pellets and flakes being fed to the ducks which also saw the gulls gaining more than their fair share.

I arrived at 10:05 this morning, and it was another mild morning after the damage in Northern Ireland the day before when Storm Darragh ploughed through causing 100's of trees to be blown over with the high wind speeds.  The sky was at least 80% blue, with a fairly nippy easterly wind blowing in, and the temperature gauge in my car read 10ºC.  I had aimed to remain until 2pm, but with no gulls around since just before 1pm, I was going to quit for the day at 1:40.  How glad was I, having decided to wait as a small group of gulls arrived.  Along the slipway, were loads of uneaten bread and pellets, showing that the earlier birds had more than their fill.  At 2:17, a rather special Common Gull arrived which left me very excited (read below).

On my arrival today, I was on the lookout for 29 colour-ringed Black-headed Gulls, four of which were added to this winter's list last Sunday, the return of -  2AFD  from Latvia, and three newly ringed gulls -  2FJV ,  2FJX  and  2FKA .   2FJV  was an adult whose photo I managed to capture a short time after being ringed, but I now needed to obtain the first photos of juveniles -   2FJX  and  2FKA .  I was also hoping for more returnees, especially of those that are now well overdue, from Sweden, Estonia and Poland.

The first three rings read were -  2CJT  at 10:05,  2FHC  at 10:10,  2CSK  at 10:11, with the fourth also at 10:11 seeing me reach for my camera.  Having appeared with a very dirty ring, I had a new returnee -  2FJH .   2FJH , was one of eight Black-headed Gulls that I ringed here last winter, and up until now, was one of two which had not appeared until now, the other being -  2FJP .  With this late return, does it mean that -  2FJH  is a foreign breeder, hopefully time will tell.  It is now 1 year and 26 days since I ringed this gull.  Later on in the morning, I obtained a better photo of -  2FJH , when the ring was a lot cleaner.

Black-headed Gull  -   2FJH   -  Antrim Marina, Antrim Town, Co. Antrim  (08 Dec 2024)

(Ringed as an Unsexed Adult, on the 12th November 2023, at Antrim Marina)

All three of the Black-headed Gulls which were caught and ringed last Sunday, were recorded today, and I managed to obtain my first photos of juveniles -  2FJX  and  2FKA .

Black-headed Gull  -   2FJX   -  Antrim Marina, Antrim Town, Co. Antrim  (08 Dec 2024)

(Ringed as a Juvenile/1st Winter Bird, on the 1st December 2024, at Antrim Marina)

Black-headed Gull  -   2FKA   -  Antrim Marina, Antrim Town, Co. Antrim  (08 Dec 2024)

(Ringed as a Juvenile/1st Winter Bird, on the 1st December 2024, at Antrim Marina)

My 16th sighting at 11:53, is really starting to impress me.   2CTA , announced it's arrival by landing on top of the security fencing in front of my car.  This gull ate from my hand for the first time ever last week, and sticking my hand out of my car window with bread, it came straight over to claim it.  As mentioned in my previous post, I believe this one is a foreign breeder, but once it does to return to the Marina, further sightings are normally few and far between.  Having said that, this is now the sixth week in a row that it has appeared here.

The returning Latvian -  2AFD , which arrived back last Sunday, was the 20th ring read today at 12:26.  With all the gulls having left just before 1pm, by 1:40, I was contemplating my departure, and a few gulls began to arrive back.   2ACV  at 13:50 and  2FJN  at 13:51 took my total for the day to 21, leaving me with 8 absentees.  By 2:15, gull numbers had increased to around 50 birds, but a Common Gull was about to 'steal the day'.

Colour Ringed Black-headed Gulls Recorded at Antrim Marina on Sunday 8th December 2024

2CJT	2FHC	2CSK	2FJH	2FKA	2BRA	2FFA	2FIL
2CSR	2FJX	2FJL	2FJA	2AAN	2FJV	2FFX	2CTA
2AAB	2FJT	2FJK	2AFD	2ACV	2FJN

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

2ABN	2BRD	2FFH	2FFT	2FHV	2FIF	2FIJ	2FJF

The metal-rung Icelandic Black-headed Gull -  543335 , was recorded at 10:29.  I had no chance of catching any gulls today, as far too many people arrived to feed the ducks.  With the addition of -  2FJH  today, I will be on the lookout for 30 colour-rings next week, and fingers crossed another returnee or two.

Other Birds at Antrim Marina

Things are really looking upwards concerning the Mute Swans.  I like to use the swans to try and catch gulls on the slipway to be ringed.  Two pairs of swans were on the slipway on my arrival.  One pair, was the same which turned up recently, after weeks without any swans.  The other pair, when coaxed out of the water included the metal-rung -  X4707 .

 X4707 , was ringed as an adult male, on the 5th April 2024, at Bartins Bay, situated on the eastern edge of Lough Neagh, 21 kms / 13 miles (SSW) from Antrim Marina.  This swan was first recorded here during my random summer visits on the 21st and 24th May, and 7th and 23rd June 2024, along with it's partner.  Having began my weekly visits on the 4th August, it did not appear again until the 26th August 2024.  By the 1st September it's partner was missing, and still was not present on the 8th September.  Having had a chat with Danny, who is a volunteer with the Lough Neagh Rescue Service, I learnt that a Mute Swan had been found dead a couple of weeks back, which may have been the partner of -  X4707 .

The swan was not seen again until today, but having arrived back with a new partner, perhaps it was on it's 'honeymoon'.  It is now 8 months and 3 days since -  X4707  was ringed.

Mute Swan  -   X4707   -  Antrim Marina, Antrim Town, Co. Antrim  (08 Dec 2024)

(Ringed as an Adult Male, on the 5th April 2024, at Bartins Bay, Lough Neagh, Co. Antrim)

A count of the Mallards on my arrival gave me a total of 39 birds.  Shortly afterwards, the total easily surpassed the 50 mark, but after several feeds of bread and pellets, numbers had dropped to around 20 ducks by the time of my extended departure time of 2:40.  As usual, most if not all legs were checked for rings.

Not a single Common Gull was present when I arrived, with the first two adults arriving at 10:39 and 10:55.  A further two adults arrived at 12:03, and the total increased to five birds with the arrival of a juvenile at 12:45.  At this point, there was no sign of the metal-rung Scottish female.

As mentioned earlier, all of the gulls had disappeared shortly before 1pm, and by 1:40 I was going to call it a day.  Then the first gulls began to arrive back, and shortly afterwards, numbers had increased to around 50 birds, and seemingly lots of Common Gulls.  Once settled, I began counting the Common Gulls, with 6 on the small concrete jetty in front of me, including one with a metal-ring.  Zooming in with my camera, the Scottish female -  EY64036  was confirmed - now it's 6th sighting this winter, having returned on the 4th August 2024.

A juvenile Common Gull standing on the Yellow Navigation Pole was the 7th, whilst two others on the low wooden jetty took the total to 9 Common Gulls.  I then noticed one of the Common Gulls on the low wooden jetty was metal-rung.  After checking to see if -  EY64036  was still on the concrete jetty, I then knew I had a new gull.  Grabbing my camera, I took a photo of the bird before zooming into it's ring.  I had a problem, as the bird was standing on the outside edge of the jetty, and I was finding it difficult to photograph the ring at different angles to complete the number.

The ring was slightly taller than the standard BTO ring used on our Common Gulls so I knew I had a foreign bird here.  Having spotted the first two letters - ' ST ', I knew I had a Finnish bird, so I now needed six numbers, with a ' . ' between the first and last three numbers.  Unfortunately, a foreign gent moved away from his family on the slipway and walked towards to low wooden jetty.  I called for him to stop, but the gulls took off.  After explaining what had just happened, I tried to relocate the gull but could not find it.  Looking through the photos, the best I had, was -  ST1  at the start, and  028  at the end.  I gave up and headed home at 2:40.

Back at home, I downloaded today's photos onto my laptop.  Thinking about the  028 , was it possible that I had this bird here a few years back?  Checking my spreadsheet, my last sighting of a Finnish Common Gull here was in 2018, rung -  ST177.028  - surely this must be that same bird.

 ST177.028 , was ringed in Finland as a juvenile on the 6th August 1995.  My first encounter with this bird was made on the 14th February 2016, when I obtained a partial number -  S----.-28 , before completing the whole number two weeks later on the 28th February 2016.

Further sightings were made in January 2017 (twice), January, February and 19th March 2018, with this latter date taking the duration to 22 years, 7 months and 13 days since being ringed.  Having not seen it since, I had presumed that this gull had died.  My ex-ringing trainer, Neville McKee, also recorded a partial number on a Finnish Common Gull here in January 2010 -  ST1--.--8 .  

If today's sighting is -  ST177.028 , the duration would now be a nice 29 years, 4 months and 2 days since being ringed.  Previously, I knew the British record for a Common Gull had been 27 year plus, but on checking the Online Ringing Database, that record has now increased to 30 years plus.  Another point of interest, is the return date, which is the earliest ever, having never been recorded here before the turn of the year.  This means I should have plenty of time to obtain photos of the whole ring number.  I am going to need these before submitting the sighting to Finland, as the photos will have a date and time stamp for verification.

Common Gull  -   ST1**028   -  Antrim Marina, Antrim Town, Co. Antrim  (08 Dec 2024)

The resident adult male Herring Gull was present on my arrival, and his youngster arrived at 12:54, with both moving on fairly quickly.  No sign of the female this time.

Whilst all of the gulls were away, a pair of Hooded Crows made repeated visits to gather and hide the loads of bread and pellets that had been left behind uneaten.  The pair of Jackdaws that had been present all morning did the same.  The Pied Wagtail pair seemed to be having a field day of their own feeding on the smaller crumbs.

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