From Scott Black...

From Scott Black

During the evening of Friday 17th January 2025, I received an email from Scott Black, to which I replied 'This is Insane'.  Earlier that day, Scott came across one of my Black-headed Gulls from my study at Antrim Marina where I work with a wintering population of these gulls.  Scott wrote :-

Hi Gareth,

Pleased to find one of your birds at Strathclyde Country Park Motherwell today.

One of the local Indian restaurants feed the gulls daily with their left overs and scraps, this provides a 20 minute feeding frenzy that often gives us a chance to read a few darvics. There was no sign today of any our regular birds and the only ring was from your scheme, guess it’s that time of the year again when the gulls are on the move.

These words 'mirrored' exactly what I had stated in my previous Antrim Marina post, that I reckoned some of the gulls could possibly be making an early move towards their breeding sites.

The gull that Scott spotted was -  2FJF .  Interestingly,  2FJF  was the only juvenile among 8 Black-headed Gulls that I caught and ringed last winter.  Ringed as a 1st Winter Bird on the 12th November 2023, this bird was regularly recorded through to my final weekly visit at the Marina on the 31st March 2024.

During the breeding season in the summer of 2024, several random visits were made to record resident colour-ringed Black-headed Gulls which likely nested on the nearby 'Torpedo Platform' - (Used in World War Two to test Torpedo's).   2FJF  was not recorded during these visits, but had returned to the Marina by the 4th August 2024, when I resumed my weekly visits to cover the 2024/2025 winter.

Over following weeks, the gull was recorded regularly during my weekly visits until the 15th September 2024 and then it disappeared.  As September and October passed by, I began to think the bird had possibly succumbed to it's fate.  Finally, on the 17th November 2024,  2FJF  was back again and was recorded through to Sunday 12th January 2025 and then 5 days later Scott came across the gull.

Could it have been possible, that -  2FJF  may have paid a visit to Strathclyde Country Park whilst absent from Antrim between mid September until mid November 2024?  The answer to that question will never be known, but I have come up with my own theory.  Is there any chance that -  2FJF  was reared as a chick in one of the Scandinavian Countries, flew across the North Sea stopping at Strathclyde Country Park before moving on to Antrim Marina for the winter where I caught and colour-ringed it?  With a regular supply of food through the winter, there was no need for it go any further.

Strathclyde Country Park lies 183 kms / 114 miles (NE) from Antrim Marina, which, if that line was extended, would take the bird on course to Scandinavia.

I cannot wait now for further sightings of this bird.  It will not reach maturity until next year, but I expect it will try to find a breeding site this coming summer and will likely go through the motions of breeding.  Another thought, has it simply popped across to get a 'takeaway' and will return to Antrim before my final weekly visit at the end of March?  The duration since being ringed as a juvenile, is now 1 year, 2 months and 5 days.

Black-headed Gull  -   2FJF   -  Strathclyde Country Park, Motherwell, South Lanarkshire, Scotland  (17 Jan 2025)

(Ringed as a Juvenile/1st Winter Bird, on the 12th November 2023, at Antrim Marina)

(Photo Courtesy of Scott Black)

In the past, Scott recorded another one of my Antrim Black-headed Gulls at Strathclyde Country Park.  On the 5th February 2021, he spotted -  2FDJ , and by the 4th April 2021, that gull was then spotted in eastern Estonia.   2FDJ , has returned to Antrim Marina each winter, but has failed to show up here so far this winter.

My thanks goes to Scott for the sighting report along with the photo of -  2FJF .

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