Antrim Marina - Tuesday 14th October 2025...

Antrim Marina - Tuesday 14th October 2025

I could not get to Antrim Marina on Sunday or Monday, so it had to be a Tuesday visit instead.  With it being very dull with poor light.  I delayed my visit, arriving at 10:45am.  With a light drizzle falling, it remained quite dull and there was practically no wind moving.  The temperature gauge in my car was reading 12ºC.

This was my 11th weekly visit to study a wintering population of Black-headed Gulls, some of which are colour-ringed, meaning that they can be tracked throughout the year.  Away from the Marina, I rely on these gulls being spotted by other birdwatchers.

For several weeks now, this winter's list of colour-ring sightings has remained static with 22 colour-rings altogether.  That list increased by one today, when my 7th ring sighting saw the return of -  2FJX .   2FJX , was one of just three Black-headed Gulls caught and ringed last winter, and it's return today, means all three are now back.

I had it in my head, that the gull had not been seen since March 2025, but on returning home and checking my spreadsheet the gull was seen on the 5th August 2025.  This sighting had slipped my mind, and was made at Antrim's Junction One Shopping Centre car park.  I still think that the gull is not resident to the Antrim area, and was not recorded at the Marina during random summer visits.

 2FJX , was ringed as a juvenile/1st winter bird at the Marina, on the 1st December 2024, and was last seen here on the 3rd March 2025.  The duration since being ringed, is 10 months and 13 days.  With no other returnees recorded today, this winter's list increases to 23 colour-ringed gulls.

Black-headed Gull  -   2FJX   -  Antrim Marina, Antrim Town, Co. Antrim  (14 Oct 2025)

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

On my arrival, a count of the Black-headed Gulls gave a total of 64 birds.  Soon afterwards, numbers dropped very quickly and thereafter, numbers fluctuated widely but never surpassed the 50 mark.  By the time of my departure at 3pm, only 13 of the original 22 colour-rings had been read, leaving me with 9 absentees.  As I was preparing to depart,  2ACV  was spotted at 2:58.  The metal-rung Icelandic Black-headed Gull -  543335 , was spotted at 10:56.

Overall, this was the worst weekly visit so far, due to the lack of Black-headed Gulls and other bird species.  It was so quiet at times, I thought graveyards were likely to be busier.

Colour Ringed Black-headed Gulls Recorded at Antrim Marina on Tuesday 14th October 2025

2BRA	2FFA	2FKA	2AAN	2FIF	2FJA	2FJX
2FJT	2CSR	2FIL	2CJT	2FJF	2CSK	2ACV

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

2ABN	2BRD	2FDK	2FFT	2FFX	2FHV	2FJK	2FJN	2FJV

Early yesterday evening (Saturday 18th October), an email arrived with me, sent from Scotland.  A contact known just as G.B., had spotted one of my gulls.  Earlier during the day, he spotted -  2FJF  at Strathclyde Country Park in South Lanarkshire.  Interestingly,  2FJF  was my 12th ring sighting at Antrim Marina four days earlier (Tuesday).

 2FJF , was caught and ringed as a juvenile/1st winter bird at the Marina on the 12th November 2023.  After that, it was recorded at the Marina through to the 31st March 2024.  With no summer sightings, it was back at the Marina when I began my weekly winter visits on the 4th August 2024.

Recorded on most weeks until the 12th January 2025, a surprise sighting on the 17th January 2025 by Scott Black (along with photo), saw -  2FJF  at Strathclyde Country Park.  This was an exceptionally early move for a wintering gull, but no further sightings were made during the summer.  2025, would see -  2FJF  reaching breeding age, but did it breed in Scotland, or did it move further north-east into Scandinavia?

I recorded -  2FJF 's return to Antrim Marina on the 17th August 2025.  Scott's email mentioned that there was an Indian Restaurant quite near to where he saw -  2FJF .  Apparently, the staff there would throw out all of their scrapes for the gulls to clear up.  With this latest sighting at Strathclyde, perhaps an Indian takeaway was more enticing than bread and pellets at Antrim Marina.  It will be interesting to see if this gull returns to the Marina over the next few weeks.

Strathclyde Country Park is situated 183 kms / 114 miles (NE) from Antrim Marina, and the duration since being ringed, is now 1 year, 11 months and 2 days.  My thanks goes to G.B. for the sighting report along with a photo. 

Black-headed Gull  -   2FJF   -  Strathclyde Country Park, South Lanarkshire, Scotland)

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

(Photo Courtesy of G.B.)

Other Birds at Antrim Marina

As mentioned above, 64 Black-headed Gulls were counted on my arrival, and 7 adult Mute Swans as well as 20 Mallards were also present.  No other gull species were on site, and having had a good search around, there was no sign of the juvenile Mediterranean Gull.

At 11:59, an 8th adult Mute Swan swan in from the direction of the Lough and rested on it's own on the small sandy beach.  At 3pm, as I packed up ready to leave, the resident family of Mute Swans arrived from up-river, these being the female -  X4707 , and her six cygnets.

At this time, just 7 Mallards were still present.  The last few weeks have been very strange concerning Mallard numbers, except for last week when 40 were counted.  During my initial weekly visits the winter, I had counts of around 60 and 80, with a high of 100+ in late August.  Recently, a fish kill was reported on one of the river tributes which eventually passes the Marina flowing into Lough Neagh.  I would think that this should not impact Mallard numbers, but you never know.

One adult Common Gull was spotted at the end of the long wooden jetty at 2:15.  Having collected the camera from my car, as I walked around the 'Gateway Centre', a gent and his wife stopped me for a chat.  By the time we had finished, the gull was gone.  I lifter the camera in case it was the small metal-ringed Common Gull from Scotland.  A juvenile Common Gull arrived at 2:35, resting on a navigation post positioned close to the slipway.

The resident male Herring Gull appeared at 2:20.  For some reason, he appeared nervous.  Normally, he is confident enough to walk right up to people feeding the ducks.  There was no sign of his mate or youngster.

With just 5 Jackdaws, it was a really poor day for bird sightings.  With poor weather forecasted today (Sunday 19th) and tomorrow, my next visit will be on Tuesday.

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Antrim Marina - Wednesday 8th October 2024...

Antrim Marina - Wednesday 8th October 2025

On Sunday the 5th October, I drove to Antrim Marina only to find that the vehicle barrier leading into the front car park was not working.  It had obviously been turned off for safety reasons following on from the effects of 'Storm Amy' which passed through the British Isles the day before.  The top wind gust provisionally reported here in Northern Ireland of 92mph (148km/ph) was recorded at Magilligan on the north coast of County Londonderry.  Many trees were brought down throughout the country and a few thousand homes had been left without power.   

I decided to cancel today's weekly visit, as I have too much gear to carry round to my viewing spot beside the concrete jetty.  This would entail two sets of binoculars, a telescope, my camera, notebook and pen, and my ringing equipment.  However, before leaving, I took a walk around the Marina to see what was happening.  On reaching the small sandy beach, I could not see it.  On top, was a mountain of debris consisting of tree trunks, fence posts, branches, twigs, plastic bottles and a couple of old footballs.  Danny from Lough Neagh Rescue happened to be there and he said he had never seen such a mess.

Before returning home, I had a look at the birds that were present.  Black-headed Gulls -  2FFA  and  2FJA  obviously recognised me, as both flew onto the top of the security fence by the concrete jetty and began calling at me.  I had no bread with me to hand feed them.  Around 40 Black-headed Gulls were present, several of which had Orange or Blue Darvics.  One with just a metal ring on it's left leg, was likely to be the Icelandic -  543335 .  No other gull species were present.

Around 40 Mallards were present, plus four Mute Swans.  As I walked up and down along the jetties, a single adult Mute Swan, along with three large cygnets arrived from upriver.  I thought this was strange as the resident Mute Swans have six cygnets and these siblings always stick together.  Anyway, there was no sign of them coming onto the slipway so I headed back home.  On my way, I called into the Junction One Shopping Centre.  Finding a clear parking spot, the lure of some bread brought in 13 Black-headed Gulls and two Herring Gulls.  No rings among these despite sitting for an hour.

On my way back home, I pondered on my return.  I ruled Monday out, as I reckoned the local council would be busy trying to clear up the mess on the sandy beach, and this would disturb the birds.  On Tuesday morning, I woke up to find that it was raining, and checking the weather Wednesday looked to be the better option.

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On Wednesday morning, I arrived at 9:50am to find that the vehicle barrier was in operation - it works by number plate recognition.  Driving across the car park to my normal parking stop, I noticed a trailer sitting by the small sandy beach.  A small digger was on the beach clearing up the final pieces of debris.  All that remained, was two large tree trunks that were too heavy to be removed.  Weatherwise, it was cloudy with a light breeze blowing in from Lough Neagh.  The temperature gauge in my car read 13ºC, but it felt much colder.

This is my tenth weekly visit to Antrim Marina where I am studying a wintering population of Black-headed Gulls, some of which have colour-coded rings fitted onto their legs.  So far 22 colour-rings have been recorded, but by the time I departed at 2pm, no new returnees were spotted.  Now that we are in the month of October, a couple of returnees should arrive quite soon, barring deaths by natural causes or having succumbed to 'Bird Flu'.

Around 50 Black-headed Gulls were present on my arrival and numbers remained fairly constant throughout the visit.  17 out of 22 colour-rings were read, leaving me with 5 absentees.  Although numbers were fairly constant, judging by the colour-ringed birds present, there was a good turnover of gulls coming and going.

With rings ready to use, after the arrival of the resident Mute Swan family, I tried to catch a gull or two, but they are not hungry enough to take a chance of a close approach.  Shortly after my arrival, a lady arrived with a carrier bag full of bread and what looked like porridge oats which did not help.

Just for interest,  2AAN  is the oldest Black-headed Gull at Antrim Marina.  It was ringed here as an adult female in December 2012.  Belonging to Adam McClure's former Northern Ireland Black-headed Gull Study (2012 to 2018), it is also the oldest from that study still alive in Northern Ireland.  It is now 12 years, 9 months and 17 days since it was ringed.

Colour Ringed Black-headed Gulls Recorded at Antrim Marina on Wednesday 8th October 2025

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

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

2BRD	2FDK	2FFT	2FJN	2FJV

The metal-rung Icelandic Black-headed Gull -  543335  arrived at 9:58.  It was ringed in southern Iceland in July 2023, before arriving here in August 2023.  It's return this winter for the third year running was recorded on the 24th August 2025.  Despite it's close approach, I still cannot get my hands on it.  The same over the previous two winters, if I can get a colour-ring fitted, it will be easily spotted when it returns to Iceland.

Black-headed Gull  -  Iceland   543335   -  Antrim Marina, Antrim Town, Co. Antrim  (08 Oct 2025)

(Ringed as an Unsexed Adult, on the 14th July 2023, in Southern Iceland)

Other Birds at Antrim Marina

4 Mute Swans were on the slipway on my arrival.  At 10:34, an adult along with three cygnets arrived from upriver, eventually coming ashore onto the now visible sandy beach.  On looking to see if the adult had a metal ring, I was a bit bemused to note that the adult was a male and one of the cygnets did not take too kindly to my close approach.  What is going on here I thought to myself.  The six resident cygnets never leave their mother who is ringed and would always stay together.  Shortly afterwards, the adult along with the three cygnets swam out towards Lough Neagh.

It wasn't till 11:44, that this little conundrum was solved.  An adult, along with 6 cygnets arrived in flight from upriver, landing on the water in front of the slipway.  Coming ashore, it was the female - X4707  and her brood.  This means the adult with three cygnets that I saw yesterday and today were new visitors.

Around 40 Mallards were present on my arrival, with numbers gradually building up to between 60 to 70 birds as the morning wore on.  Only last week, I was asking what was going on with the Mallards, as numbers were unusually low.  Nice to see higher numbers.  As normal, most if not all legs were checked for rings.

The resident male Herring Gull arrived at 9:58.  The female arrived an hour later at 10:48.  Their youngster made a noisy appearance at 11:10, begging for a feed from dad who was not interested.  I soon had this youngster sorted, throwing out bread which it caught in its beak.

At 11:00, an unusual visitor arrived - an adult Kittiwake.  Since coming here from 2013, this is now the third Kittiwake that I have recorded at the Marina (the second was found dead).  Kittiwakes are normally open ocean birds and are not often seen inland.  This bird was still present on my departure.  Keeping an eye on it resting beside the concrete jetty, it was clearly exhausted and tried to doze off.

Adult Kittiwake  -  Antrim Marina, Antrim Town, Co. Antrim  (08 Oct 2025)

With rings at the ready, I kept looking for the young Mediterranean Gull, but there was no sign of it.  When it did appear at 11:47, it could not have been at a worse time.  Two groups of people had arrived and threw out bread to the cygnets that had also just appeared.  Watching the Med Gull, it managed to get a few beak-fulls of bread.  Afterwards, I tried to entice it to approach the door of my car to try and catch it.  Things were not going to plan when two of the cygnets parked themselves beside the door.  Closing the door, they went away, but kept coming back once the door was open again.

Later, I spotted the young Med Gull flying over the river arriving back onto the low wooden jetty.  It did not seem to be flying properly with really quick wing beats that made it odd looking.  Perhaps the lack of a tail might be part of it's problem.

Except for 5 Jackdaws, 2 Hooded Crows and a male Pied wagtail made brief visits.

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Antrim Marina - Sunday 28th September 2025...

Antrim Marina - Sunday 28th September 2025

Today saw me making my ninth weekly visit to Antrim Marina to study the wintering population of Black-headed Gulls, some of which are colour-ringed.  With fog around my home in Ballymena, I decided to wait until it began to lift before heading to Antrim - my thoughts, the fog would be heavier around the Lough Neagh basin.  Arriving at the Marina at 11:17, a passing couple greeted me by saying "your late this morning".  I explained about the fog at home, only to learn that there had been no fog in Antrim at all.  This couple had often seen me parked beside the slipway, but had no idea what I was actually doing.  They were enlightened after a chat which lasted around 10 minutes.

Actually, there were clear skies with plenty of sunshine, hardly any breeze, and the temperature gauge in my car was reading 14ºC.  Only 16 Black-headed Gulls were present, but numbers steadily built up soon after my arrival.  So far this autumn, I had recorded 22 colour-ringed Black-headed Gulls and by the time that I departed near 4pm, no new returnees were added to that list.

The reading of colour-rings was a drawn out affair, with the 18th and final sighting being recorded at 3:02pm.  From 3pm, the number of gulls present suddenly increased from around 35 birds to a high of the day at 70+, hence staying slightly longer.

Again, not the best of day's for reading rings, as at times hardly any gulls were present at all.  Another problem that I had, was due to the calm conditions, an unknown number of gulls were resting on the roof of the 'Gateway Centre', which is not helpful.

Now that we are entering into the month of October, returnees should start to trickle in.  Also during October, natural food for the gulls becomes more scarce which will make some easier to catch.  Nice to see a build up of Mute Swans on the slipway, as their presence makes it easier to catch gulls, so long as they do not get too much to eat from passers-by.

Colour Ringed Black-headed Gulls Recorded at Antrim Marina on Sunday 28th September 2025

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

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

2ABN	2BRD	2FDK	2FJF

The Icelandic metal-rung Black-headed Gull -  543335  finally appeared at 1:37pm.  As with all metal-rung birds, I zoom into the ring with my camera just to be sure it is the correct bird.  During the 2023/2024 winter, two other Icelandic metal-rung Black-headed Gulls were recorded here at the Marina, so I always need to check just in case either pass through again.

Black-headed Gull  -  Iceland   543335   -  Antrim Marina, Antrim Town, Co. Antrim  (28 Sep 2025)

(Ringed as an Unsexed Adult, on the 14th July 2023, at Laugarvatn, Southern Iceland)

Other Birds at Antrim Marina

Driving across the car park to my parking spot beside the short concrete jetty, quite a few Mute Swans caught my eye.  The resident pair along with their six cygnets were present, as well as four other adults.  Last week, there was no sign of the resident pair and their cygnets, but 5 adults were present.

Just a few weeks back, if any other swans appeared, they would have been chased off by the resident pair.  Today, they all were quite happy being together on the slipway.  The mother of the cygnets is ringed -  X4707 .

After an initial count of birds present, I began searching for the juvenile Mediterranean Gull.  It was here for three weeks in a row, but there was no sign of it last Sunday.  I now have three colour-rings which are registered for use on Mediterranean Gulls, these were posted to me from Sean Kingston in Dublin. 

At 12:04, this juvenile arrived at the worst possible time.  A large feed of both bread and pellets were thrown out to the ducks.  Due to the small number of Mallards present, the gulls quickly got more than their fair share including my Med Gull.  Having had a good feed, my Med rested up on the low wooden jetty for ages before disappearing altogether.

At 15:22, I heard a very noisy Mediterranean Gull and once spotted it was a juvenile, but I quickly established that this was not the original bird.  It went berserk when feed was thrown down, as if it had not seen food for a week.  Very vocal, it then flew onto the rails of the concrete jetty where I took the best of several photos.  I have never seen the original juvenile on the rails, as that bird always prefers to be on the ground.  The new juvenile has a tail.  What are the chances of catching both juveniles?

1st Juvenile Mediterranean Gull  -  Antrim Marina, Antrim Town, Co. Antrim  (28 Sep 2025)

2nd Juvenile Mediterranean Gull  -  Antrim Marina, Antrim Town, Co. Antrim  (28 Sep 2025) 

Where have all the Mallards gone to?  A few weeks back, Mallard numbers were at the 100 mark, but over the past couple of weeks, the totals have dropped considerably.  Just 19 were present when I arrived today, and just 7 remained when I departed.

No Herring Gulls present on my arrival and the first to arrive at 11:53, was the 2nd Calendar Year Bird.  This one first appeared two weeks ago, and I was convinced that it was the youngster from last year belonging to the resident pair.  This week, it walked up to the open door of my car, just as it had done last year.  This action reinforces my thoughts on this gull.  This year's youngster arrived at 12:15, and daddy turned up at 14:18.  An adult Lesser Black-backed Gull made a very brief visit at 14:50.

No Common Gulls were present on my arrival and the first to appear today, was an adult at 12:17.  This one has appeared in the past and is recognizable by it's longish but thin yellow beak.  It remained for about 20 minutes and was not seen again today.

Every so often, I would take a look for gulls on the long wooden jetty.  Compared to the past, the jetty is not so popular with the Black-headed Gulls, but it does attract the Common Gulls.  At 13:11, I noticed a small Common Gull perched on top of 'Speed Sign' post and on looking through my binoculars this bird was bearing a metal ring, so I knew it was the small Scottish female -  EY64036 .  Grabbing my camera, I made my way to a suitable spot and captured ' 36 ' on the ring - which was enough to confirm this gull.  Moments later, a cyclist rode up to the end of the jetty and the gulls there flew off.

 EY64036 , was ringed as a chick in Hunterston in North Ayrshire, Scotland, on the 20th June 2013.  It first appeared at Antrim Marina as a juvenile bird on the 9th February 2014 and has returned every winter since then.  My first sighting for this autumn/winter season, was made on the 31st August 2025.  Today's second sighting take the duration since being ringed, to 12 years, 3 months and 8 days.  Antrim Marina is situated 141 kms / 87 miles (SW) from Hunterston.

A third Common Gull landed on the concrete jetty at 13:49 and was still present when the small Scottish female arrived back at 15:38.  Standing side by side, I took a photo of both to highlight the difference in size between them (Note - ' EY6 ' on the metal ring).

Common Gull  -   EY64036   -  Antrim Marina, Antrim Town, Co. Antrim  (28 Sep 2025)

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

Common Gull  -   EY64036   -  Antrim Marina, Antrim Town, Co. Antrim  (28 Sep 2025)

(Size Comparison of a Normal Adult Common Gull (Left) and the Small Scottish Female (Right))

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