Norwegian Common Gull - JX402...

Common Gull - (White) JX402

On Thursday 27th February 2027, I worked the east coast of County Antrim looking for ringed Gulls and Waders.  I began at Glynn, which is just south from the Ferry Port Town of Larne.  I arrived shortly before the tide began to recede, and positioned myself on the railway platform of Glynn Station.  Scoping over Larne Lough, Common Gulls were spread out in their hundreds.  As the day panned out, the only rings spotted, were at Glynn.

As the shore began to be revealed, the gulls came in the bathe in the freshwater of the Glynn River which flows past the railway station and into the Lough.  As more shore was revealed, the gulls would rest up with most having a good preening sessions.

Common Gull numbers reached a fairly impressive 300 to 400 birds, spread out over the shore in four areas.  Although there is a Black-headed Gull breeding colony close by (Blue Circle Island), roughly 50 of these birds were present, and were the second most numerous species of gull.  Smaller numbers of Herring, Lesser Black-backed and Great Black-backed Gulls were also present.  A Mediterranean Gull was heard calling in the air, but it must have flew on towards Blue Circle Island.

A small number of Oystercatchers, Redshanks and two pairs of Greenshanks were the only waders present, though non of these were ringed.  Mallards and Widgeon were present in small numbers, whilst a female Goldeneye was a distant 'spot' through my telescope, as were a few Eider Duck and Red-breasted Mergansers  One adult Mute Swan was often seen chasing a group of three cygnets, and later in the morning two groups of Brent Geese arrived, though to my disappointment, non of these were ringed either.  Two Greylag Geese made a flyby heading inland.

With so many Common Gulls about, I stayed on site for at least three hours, with three rings being spotted.  One had a tall metal on it's right leg, but due to the distance, I had no chance of capturing any details on that ring of this, a definite foreign bird.  A badly damaged Blue Ring, was most likely to be one of my Common Gulls that was ringed on Rathlin Island.  I was able to zoom right into the ring with my camera hoping to capture the indentations on the 'White' looking ring, but these were only just ineligible.  I inherited these colour-rings from Shane Wolsey's from his former Copeland Common Gull project, but later discovered that the rings degrade very rapidly.

The one success I did have, was capturing the code on a White Darvic - JX402.  Knowing by the initial letter 'J', that this was a Norwegian bird, on returning home, I submitted my sighting onto the 'Live' Norwegian Ring Database, which provides observers with an instant result.

(White) JX402, was ringed as an unsexed third calendar year bird (hatched 2021), on the 2nd June 2023, at Iladalen Park, close to the docks in the City of Trondheim, Norway.  Although the gull had been re-sighted on a couple of occasions locally, today's sighting was the first outside of Norway.

The details on the database gave a distance of 1,323 kms / 822 miles (SW), and the duration since being ringed, is 1 year, 8 months and 25 days.  This will be one to look out for in future winters.

Common Gull  -  (White)  JX402, Glynn, Larne Lough, Co. Antrim  (27 Feb 2025)

(Ringed as an Unsexed 3rd Calendar Year Bird, on the 2nd June 2023, at Trondheim, Norway)

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