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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