Antrim Marina - Sunday 21st September 2025...

Antrim Marina - Sunday 21st September 2025

Today saw me making my eighth weekly visit to Antrim Marina to study the wintering population of Black-headed Gulls.  Each week from the beginning of August until the last weekend in March, I aim to read as many of the colour-ringed Black-headed Gulls over a period of four hours.  I arrived at the Marina at 9:57am, and though I was due to depart at 2pm, the last minute arrival of a small flock of gulls, meant I stayed on for an extra half hour.

On arrival, the sky was clear and there was a light northerly breeze, but the tall trees on the opposite side of the river sheltered the Marina.  The temperature gauge on my car read 11ºC.  As the morning wore on, the sky darkened somewhat and there was three heavy showers of rain, each accompanied by stronger winds.

So far this winter, I had recorded a total of 22 colour-ringed Black-headed Gulls, but no new returnees were recorded today.  It was a strange day, with numbers fluctuating widely.  Around 40 Black-headed Gulls were present on my arrival, and there were times when non were present at all.  The reading of colour-rings was spread out during the whole of the visit.  You always no that you are having a poor visit, when the ever faithful resident -  2CJT  is late appearing, this time, at 12:26.  With the late arrival of a small flock of gulls, the Icelandic -  543335  arrived at 13:42,  2FJT  at 13:58 and  2ABN  at 14:06.  When I departed at 2:30pm, around 60 Black-headed Gulls were now present - the high for the day.

16 colour-rings were read altogether, leaving me with 6 absentees.  Looking at my Antrim Marina Spreadsheet, there is still no sign of two gulls that were recorded during random summer visits, these possibly nesting on the nearby 'Torpedo Platform'.   2FJL , was last seen on the 2nd July 2025, and looking at it's past history, should have been recorded weekly since August.  The second gull -  2FIJ , was last seen on the 26th May 2025.  The previous history for this gull suggests it is more of a summer visitor to the Marina, with the odd few autumn and spring sightings.

One other Black-headed Gull that should have been here since the start of August is -  2FHC .  Ringed at the Marina in December 2020 as an adult, it has never been recorded here during any breeding season, but it was always present by the time I begin my weekly winter visits.  It is now looking more likely, that I have now lost another of the study birds.

In a way, it was just as well that no new ringed gulls turned up today, as I forgot to bring my camera with me.

Colour Ringed Black-headed Gulls Recorded at Antrim Marina on Sunday 21st September 2025

2FFA	2FJK	2FKA	2FJN	2FFX	2FHV	2FIF	2FJA
2CSK	2AAN	2CSR	2BRA	2CJT	2FJF	2FJT	2ABN

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

2ACV	2BRD	2FDK	2FFT	2FIL	2FJV

Other Birds at Antrim Marina

Driving across the car park towards the small concrete jetty, the first birds that normally catches my attention are the Mute Swans.  Today, five adults were resting on the slipway.  After taking a count of the birds present, I then checked the swans for rings.  Although non were ringed, I was able to identify last week's female due to the orange streak on top of her head.  There was no sign of the resident pair along with their six cygnets, and they were still absent when I departed at 2:30pm.

With the swans checked, I then went looking for the juvenile Mediterranean Gull which was present during my three previous visits.  The Med Gull colour-rings that Sean Kingston posted to me did not arrive before the weekend, which was just as well, as there was no sign of this juvenile today.  The colour-rings have since arrived, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for my next visit.

Just 30 Mallards were present and numbers decreased over my visit.  Just 13 were present when I departed.  Once again, most, if not all legs were checked for rings.

The resident male Herring Gull was present throughout my visit, though there was no sign of his partner or their youngster.  The second calendar year Herring Gull arrived at 10:50, and was soon chased off by the resident male.  I'm still fairly certain that this bird was last year's chick belonging to the resident pair.

An un-ringed adult Common Gull made a brief visit at 11:00, and the same bird returned at 13:50, making a another brief visit.  The head of this gull was so distinctive, meaning it was the same bird.  A Lesser Black-backed Gull landed on one of the highest lampposts at 11:09.  It stood there for around an hour.

5 Jackdaws, 2 Hooded Crows, 1 Rook and a male Pied Wagtail were also noted.

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Antrim Marina - Sunday 14th September 2025...

Antrim Marina - Sunday 14th September 2025

Today marked my 7th weekly visit this autumn/winter to study the wintering population of Black-headed Gulls, some of which are colour-ringed.  I arrived at 9:57.  It was cloudy, with a light breeze and the temperature gauge in my read 14ºC.  As the morning wore on, the wind speed strengthened and I had to end my four hour visit early, as heavy rain began falling at 1:30.

Around 50 Black-headed Gulls were present when I arrived and this turned out to be the high for the day.  Numbers fluctuated widely during the morning and at times, not a single gull was present.  The lack of gulls therefore made this another poor visit.

So far, 22 colour-ringed Black-headed Gulls have been recorded since I began my weekly visits on the 3rd August.  The reading of rings was quite steady with 16 read by 11:25.  Over the next two hours, no further rings were spotted leaving me with 6 absentees and no new returnees were recorded.

As I parked beside the small concrete jetty, the metal-rung Icelandic Black-headed Gull -  543335  walked up to my car from the slipway.

Colour Ringed Black-headed Gulls Recorded at Antrim Marina on Sunday 14th September 2025

2FFA	2FJV	2CJT	2FFX	2FJA	2FHV	2FIL	2FJF
2FJN	2BRA	2FJT	2FIF	2FKA	2AAN	2ACV	2FJK

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

2ABN	2BRD	2CSK	2CSR	2FDK	2FFT

Other Birds Recorded at Antrim Marina

On parking beside the small concrete jetty, as always, I take a note of the birds present at that time.  With this done, I began to look for the juvenile Mediterranean Gull that first appeared here two weeks ago.  I soon found it resting on the long wooden jetty.  As stated in my previous posts, I'm very keen to catch this bird to get a colour ring fitted to it.  Very few Mediterranean Gulls breed in Northern Ireland, which makes these birds a species of interest.  It would be fantastic to follow this young gull's movements in the future.

I paid a lot of attention to this 'little guy' during the morning.  It has really settled in well around the Marina, and quickly joins in to feeds being offered by passers by.  Walking right up to these people, they are unaware of the rarity directly in front of them.

Later, I began to 'toy' with the youngster and it's confidence.  When the bird was in front of my car, with the driver's door open, I crumbled some bread directly onto the ground.  As hoped, the gull appeared under the door to grab some bits.  Repeating the process, the youngster came in quicker and remained to get as much bread as possible despite me sitting in the drivers seat beside it.  I reckon that this gives me the best chance to catch it.  One thing that I noticed today, was the tail is missing.  I looked at my previous photos, but whether it had a tail then was not clear.

After this visit I received an email, with concerns about me using my colour-rings to ring this young Med Gull.  My colour-rings are registered for use on Black-headed Gulls only, but my way of thinking was to contact the BTO for them to arrange a 'stand alone' colour-ring to be added to the cr-birding site under Mediterranean Gulls.  On cr-birding, only Italy and Spain, use Blue Darvics on Mediterranean Gulls so my colour-codes would not clash with there's.  Anyhow, the sender of the email had copied Sean Kingston in, and he then contacted me later.

Sean is registered to colour-ring Mediterranean Gulls in the Republic of Ireland, hence having his own colour-rings.  Sean stated that a Renaud Flamant is responsible for European Med Gull colour-ringing projects.  Sean knows Renaud quite well and said Renaud would not be amused with the use of a single colour-ring.  I accepted the offer of three of Sean's colour-rings, which should arrive by post before this weekend.  As Sean says, with Med Gull populations on the rise, I might need one or two more rings in the future.

Back to the subject of birds present, the resident Mute Swan family, which did not appear at all last week, were spotted on the small sandy beach.  All six cygnets are doing well, and later on, when they were on the slipway, I took a photo of them.  Their mother -  X4707 , was ringed in April 2024, at Barton's Bay 21 kms SW from the Marina.

The Six Mute Swan Chicks along with Mother

An adult female Mute Swan swan in from the Lough at 10:40.  I had to intervene several times as the resident male tried to chase this bird away.

Around 60 Mallards were present at first, but by the time that I departed at 1:30, just 18 birds remained.  As always, most if not all legs were checked for rings.

The resident pair Herring Gulls and their juvenile chick were also present on my arrival.  None of these three were present last week.  Whilst working with the young Med Gull, the juvenile Herring Gull also came right up to the door of my car to grab some bread.  At 10:40, a 2nd calendar year Herring Gull landed on the decking in front of my car.  Looking quite at home, I wondered if this was last year's youngster belonging to the resident pair.

In no time at all, the resident male chased it off towards the nearby playpark where it landed on top of a lamppost.  Around 5 minutes later, it flew down onto the car park and I then took a photo.

2nd Calendar Year Herring Gull  -  Last year's Chick?  

An adult un-ringed Common Gull was also present on my arrival.  It flew off around 10 minutes later and no other Common Gulls appeared.  An adult Lesser Black-backed Gull arrived at 11:15.  Landing on top of one of the highest lampposts, it was still there when I departed at 1:30.

Three Jackdaws were present throughout my visit.  1 Rook, a male Grey Wagtail and a male Pied Wagtail made brief visits.

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Antrim Marina - Sunday 7th September 2025...

Antrim Marina - Sunday 7th September 2025

Today saw me making my sixth weekly visit to Antrim Marina to study the wintering population of Black-headed Gulls, some of which have been colour-ringed in order to track their movements.  I arrived for my four hour visit just before 10am, the weather being cloudy with a fairly strong westerly wind blowing in from Lough Neagh.  The temperature gauge in my car read 19ºC.

Parking at my normal spot beside the small concrete jetty, a count of the Black-headed Gulls gave me a total of 53 birds.  So far this winter, I have recorded 22 colour-ringed Black-headed Gulls and by the time of my departure, there were no further returnees.

Just 13 colour-rings were read, which meant I had 9 absentees today.  The first ring read at 10:00, was that of -  2FFA , with -  2FJK  being the 13th at 11:26.  That meant, for a whole two and a half hours, no further ringed gulls turned up.

Over the past two weeks, numbers were really good, with around 100 gulls present.  Numbers today never exceeded the 53 mark, and even dropped off slightly before I departed.  This meant I had a largely boring visit.  When I first started visiting Antrim Marina in the winter of 2013/2014, numbers ranged between 200 and 300 gulls during my weekly visits.  Since the serious outbreak of 'Bird Flu' during the breeding season of 2023, numbers here have never recovered.  That winter, roughly half of my colour-ringed gulls failed to return.  

Amongst today's sightings,  2FHV  is one of my 'star' birds.  Having been ringed as an unsexed adult in November 2021, this bird has been spotted at a breeding colony in Iceland (June & July 2022).  Each winter, it returns to the Marina in early August, but over the last three winters, it leaves in late October, which means it is moving on to another site for the winter.  Where it goes to is unknown, though it does return to the Marina in early spring before moving on towards Iceland.  This means the gull is using the Marina as a 'staging post' where it remains for a short time.  

Last winter,  2FHV  was last seen on the 19th October 2024, but this time, it failed to return in the spring.  This left me worrying about it's survival, until I recorded it's return on the 3rd August 2025.  It is now 3 years, 9 months and 30 days since I ringed this gull.

Black-headed Gull  -   2FHV   -  Antrim Marina, Antrim Town, Co. Antrim  (07 Sep 2025)

(Ringed as an Unsexed Adult, on the 8th November 2021, at Antrim Marina)

The metal-ringed Icelandic Black-headed Gull -  543335 , arrived at 11:48 today.  It was caught and ringed in southern Iceland in July 2023, arriving at the Marina the following month.  This winter, it has returned for the third time, having been recorded on the slightly later date of the 24th August.  I have tried to catch this bird over the past two winters, and now have another chance to fit a colour-ring to this gull.  This would mean it will have a greater chance of being spotted back in Iceland.

Colour Ringed Black-headed Gulls Recorded at Antrim Marina on Sunday 7th September 2025

2FFA	2FJV	2FJA	2AAN	2CSR	2FIL	2BRA
2CJT	2FIF	2FHV	2FFX	2FJT	2FJK

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

2ABN	2ACV	2BRD	2CSK	2FDK	2FFT	2FJF	2FJN	2FKA

Other Birds at Antrim Marina

On parking beside the small concrete jetty, there was no sign of the Mute Swan family with the six cygnets.  By the time of my departure, there was still no sign of them.  A count of the Mallards gave a total of around 50 birds, half of the total last week.  A further count around 1pm gave me a total of 63.  As usual, most legs were checked for rings.

After counting the Black-headed Gulls, I then began looking for the juvenile Mediterranean Gull which was present last week.  I soon found it resting on the long wooden jetty.  This youngster is very confident being around people to take it's share of bread and pellets being thrown out to the ducks.  The way things are looking, this juvenile seems to be quite at home and may possibly remain for the winter.  This will give me a greater chance to catch and colour-ring the young gull.

Juvenile Mediterranean Gull  -  Antrim Marina, Antrim Town, Co. Antrim  (07 Sep 2025)

There was no sign of the resident pair of Herring Gulls or their chick on my arrival, but the youngster finally turned up at 13:05.  An adult Lesser Black-backed Gull arrived at 11:38, and was still present on my departure.  No Common Gulls appeared today.  Last week saw the return of the small Scottish Common Gull -   EY64036 .

An adult Hooded Crow, along with a juvenile, made a brief visit, as did an adult Rook.  5 Jackdaws made repeated visits.

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Antrim Marina - Sunday 31st August 2025...

Antrim Marina - Sunday 31st August 2025

Today, I made my fifth weekly visit to Antrim Marina where I am studying a wintering population of Black-headed Gulls, some of which have been colour-ringed over the years to track their movements.  Some of these gulls have been spotted in several foreign countries, other are known to be year round residents, and the summer destinations of others are not known.  After last week's visit, a further three colour-rings were added to this winter's list, which took the overall total to 22.

Arriving at 9:54 this morning, it was cloudy with a very strong westerly wind blowing in from Lough Neagh.  The temperature gauge in my car read 17ºC.  Looking at the Lough, you would think that you were on the coast looking at the waves.

With around 100 Black-headed Gulls present, I had read 16 colour-rings by 10:42.  I finished the visit with a total of 20 and no new returnees were recorded.  The final ring read, was that of -  2FJK  at 13:27.  The only highlight among today's sightings, was seeing -  2BRD  for a second week in a row.  Having returned last week, it is not too often that this bird is recorded here two weeks in a row, though I do believe that it spends most of it's time somewhere in the town of Antrim.

Black-headed Gull  -   2BRD   -  Antrim Marina, Antrim Town, Co. Antrim  (31 Aug 2025)

(Ringed as an Adult Male, on the 1st February 2015, at Antrim Marina)

Overall numbers remained around the 100 mark throughout today's visit, but again, judging by the number of colour-ringed Black-headed Gulls present, there seemed to be a fairly large turnover of birds coming and going.  A really uneventful day otherwise regarding colour-rings.

On Saturday 30th August 2025, I received an email from Suzanne Belshaw, concerning a Black-headed Gull that had been ringed at Antrim Marina.  The previous day (29th), Suzanne was at Whiteabbey Beach on the shore of Belfast Lough, where she had a re-sighting of -  2FFN .

I caught and ringed -  2FFN  as an unsexed adult at the Marina on the 14th December 2020, and there were no further sighting that winter.  It returned to Antrim Marina on the 11th October 2021, which happened to be the last sighting there.

I then fell in with -  2FFN , on the 27th August 2022 at Whiteabbey Beach.  Further sightings were recorded there in October 2022 (myself), January 2024 (Steven Fyffe), February 2024 (Suzanne Belshaw) and January 2025 (Suzanne Belshaw).

I think that -  2FFN  may well be nesting in the north-west, possibly in County Donegal and would pass through Antrim on it's way to Whiteabbey where it has been wintering.  As always, I need sightings during the breeding season.  Whiteabbey Beach is just 23 kms / 14 miles (ESE) from Antrim, and the duration since being ringed, is now 4 years, 8 months and 15 days.

I'm sure that this gull will be recorded at some point again at the Marina, whilst on it's travels in the future.  My thanks goes to Suzanne for her sighting report.

In my previous post, I mentioned that the year round resident -  2AAB , had not been seen since last March.  With no sightings during random summer visits to the Marina, and it's absence this autumn, I now presume this gull has died.  Whilst looking over my Antrim Marina Spreadsheet, I noticed that two Black-headed Gulls that were recorded during my random summer visits, have also failed to show up over these last five weekly visits.  They are -  2FIJ  and -  2FJK , but I will not be writing them off just yet.  As far as I know, no cases of 'Bird Flu' were recorded on Lough Neagh during the breeding season.

Colour Ringed Black-headed Gulls Recorded at Antrim Marina on Sunday 31st August 2025

2FIL	2ACV	2CJT	2FHV	2FJV	2FFA	2CSK	2BRA	2ABN	2FJN
2FKA	2FFX	2FJT	2FJF	2AAN	2BRD	2FJA	2FIF	2FFT	2FJK

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

2CSR	2FDK

Other Birds at Antrim Marina

Once parked alongside the small concrete jetty, I began to take a count of the birds present which result in roughly 100 Black-headed Gulls, 100+ Mallard and a single adult Lesser Black-backed Gull.  I then started to look for colour-ringed Black-headed Gulls and at 10:15, I noticed a rather special bird.

Just in front of my car and on the other side of the security fencing (in place due to a missing board beside the concrete jetty), there was a juvenile Mediterranean Gull.  I took a few photos just in case it would fly off, but these were not great quality as the camera repeatedly tried to focus on the fence itself.

It soon became clear that this juvenile was not going anywhere.  Throwing out bits of bread beside my car, this little 'chappie' along with several juvenile Black-headed Gulls appeared right beside me.  This little Med Gull constantly chased the juvenile Black-headed Gulls away.  I kept an eye out for this bird right through my visit and it was still there by the time of my departure. 

Over the course of the morning, I could see that it was already at home here, and may have been at the Marina for several days.  It even knew to check the ground for pellets beside the dispenser.  The dispenser discharges the pellets into a fixed dish where people would scoop them out by hand should they have no dish to catch them in.  There is usually some spillage onto the ground, where the gulls know to check.  I was also able to obtain a few better photos than those taken earlier.

It got to a stage, where this young gull would walk up to me while I was sitting on the drivers seat with my feet on the ground outside.  It had quickly learnt, that I would throw it bits of bread.  I do not have Mediterranean Gulls on my 'Colour Ringing Permit', but if I get the chance to ring this young Med with a colour-ring, I'm sure the BTO will not condemn me.  The colour-rings I use here are registered to be used only on Black-headed Gulls.  Recently, both German and Polish colour-ringed Mediterranean Gulls have been reported in Northern Ireland, therefore this bird could be foreign.  Once a colour-ring is fitted, we can track it's future movements. 

Juvenile Mediterranean Gull  -  Antrim Marina, Antrim Town, Co. Antrim  (31 Aug 2025)

The juvenile Herring Gull appeared without it's parents at 10:30, with both parents arriving at 11:45.  This was the first time that the female has appeared since the breeding season ended.  Over the past few weeks, it's usually just the male and the juvenile.  A short time afterwards, I managed to get a photo of all three together.  At 11:03, a second calendar year Herring Gull landed on the walkway in front of my car.  It seemed to be right at home, and I wondered if this was last year's chick which was last seen back in March.  I was going to photograph the bird when a man stopped for a chat.  He wondered if I was watching the 'seagulls', so I then explained exactly what I was doing.  By the time that conversation ended, the gull was gone.

Herring Gull Family (male in the middle)  -  Antrim Marina, Antrim Town, Co. Antrim  (31 Aug 2025)

Due to the very strong wind blowing in from Lough Neagh, very few gulls used the long wooden jetty, but I would check it every so often.  Another check at 12:10, saw an adult Common Gull preening itself at the end of this jetty.  Looking at it through my binoculars, I was overwhelmed with delight on spotting the metal ring, as I knew this had to be the return of the small female -  EY64036 .

I returned to the car to grab my camera.  All I could get on the ring was ' 36 ' preceded by the curvature of the digit ' 0 '.  The slight overlap of the 'ring butts', was enough for me to confirm this bird.  Soon afterwards, people walked along the jetty and my gull flew off.  Luckily it returned a short time later where I was able to get a decent photo of the gull itself, as well as capturing ' EY64 '.

 EY64036 , first appeared at Antrim Marina as a juvenile bird on the 9th February 2014, and has returned to Marina every year winter since.  It had been ringed as a chick, on the 20th June 2013, at Hunterston in North Ayrshire, Scotland.  I believe that the Hunterston colony no longer exists, so there is very little chance of finding -  EY64036  during the breeding season wherever that may be.

As already stated, this gull returns every winter, and today's sighting was my 73rd for this bird altogether.  Antrim Marina is situated 141 kms / 87 miles (SW) from Hunterston, and the duration since being ringed, is now 12 years, 2 months and 11 days.

As always, it gives great pleasure to record returning birds.  No other Common Gulls appeared today.

Common Gull  -   EY64036   -  Antrim Marina, Antrim Town, Co. Antrim  (31 Aug 2025)

(Ringed as a Chick, on the 20th June 2013, at Hunterston, North Ayrshire, Scotland)

The Icelandic metal-rung Black-headed Gull -  543335  arrived at 10:46.  I recorded its return from Iceland last week (24th August 2025), which was slightly later than normal.  Ringed in July 2023, this is it's third winter back at the Marina, though I reckon it had been coming here for years beforehand until it was caught and ringed.

As mentioned above, there were over 100 Mallards and that total remained constant throughout my visit.  Over my four hours, most legs were checked, but still no rings on these.

The Mute Swan family arrived at 10:55 from upriver.  All six cygnets are doing well, but a couple of them are still wary being around people.  The female is rung -  X4707 .

A single adult Hooded Crow made a brief visit, as did a juvenile Rook.  5 Jackdaws made up today's other bird sightings here.

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