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 six 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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