From Spain...

Black-headed Gull -  2FAA

From the 11th November 2025 through to the 29th December, a series of seven sightings have been reported to me by César Fernández, concerning the return of a Black-headed Gull which winters in northern Spain.  The sightings were reported on the behalf of his friend César Álvarez Laó.  Whilst thanking them for the sightings, I asked if it was possible to obtain a recent photo for the purpose of a blog post to be made.  Along with the two latest sightings on the 26th and 29th December, was a photo which was obviously taken at a distance, but more importantly, the code on the ring was readable.

This Black-headed Gull -  2FAA , was ringed as a chick, on the 4th June 2019, at Inch Island Lake in County Donegal in the Republic of Ireland.  The Lake is in control of The Irish Parks and Wildlife Service and permission had been granted for many years, for a team of ringers to ring Sandwich Terns on the small island in the centre of the lake.  In 2016, Adam McClure was granted permission to ring Black-headed Gull chicks alongside the team ringing Sandwich Tern chicks.  I accompanied Adam as part of my retraining to regain a ringing permit due to years of inactivity.  Adam, sadly gave up on his Northern Ireland Black-headed Gull Study in 2018, but I jumped at the invite to return to the island in 2019, where I colour-ringed a small number of Black-headed Gull chicks.

Unfortunately, very few of these Black-headed Gulls have ever been resighted, but -  2FAA  is gathering a super resighting history, with all records coming from the Avilés Estuary.  You can imagine the joy of receiving a sighting from Spain, but little did I know at that time, there would be lots more to follow.

That first resighting was made on the 13th February 2020, when the then juvenile, had been ringed 8 months and 9 days earlier.  The next four sightings arrived nearly a year later - 21st January to the 24th February 2021.

A further two sightings were made during the 2021/2022 winter - 30th December 2021 and 10th January 2022.  By this time, it became clear that -  2FAA  had chosen the Avilés Estuary as it's favoured wintering site.

The winter sightings have continued to flow in :-

17th November 2022 to 5th January 2023 (4 sightings).

24th November 2023 to 20th January 2024 (6 sightings).

5th November 2024 to 10th February 2025 (9 sightings).

This winter - 7 sighting to date.

Although it is great to get these sightings, I really do need sightings of this gull on it's travels - where is the breeding site?  Since 'Covid' times, I have not been able to get back onto Inch Island.  I have visited the lake on a couple of occasions where I have zoomed onto the island with my camera.  There are a couple of gulls nesting there with both Orange (Adam's) and Blue Darvics (Mine), but with the extreme zoom of my Nikon P1000 camera, the codes on the rings cannot be confirmed.  This gull is still relatively young, so there is every chance for it to be spotted away from Spain.

The duration since being ringed, is now 6 years, 6 months and 25 days, and the distance from Inch Island Lake to the Avilés Estuary, is 1,279 kms / 794 miles (S).

Many thanks goes to César Fernández for reporting these sightings made by César Álvarez Laó, and to César Álvarez Laó for the latest photo of -  2FAA .

Black-headed Gull  -   2FAA   -  Avilés Estuary, Asturias, Northern Spain  (29 Dec 2025)

(Ringed as a Chick, on the 4th June 2019, on Inch Island Lake, Co. Donegal, Republic of Ireland)

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