Super 'Metals'...

Antrim Marina - Sunday 28th February 2016

I arrived at the Marina, to a cool crisp morning, with clear skies, the sun was shining after an overnight frost.  My first thought was - where have all the birds gone.  Only 14 Mute Swans, along with 3 cygnets and 9 Mallard were present.  A small group of Black-headed Gulls were resting on the breakwater in the distance, along with 4 Oystercatchers.

Around 09.30, the first of the BHGs started to arrive and the remainder of my visit proved to be very interesting.  Firstly, a 'metal-ringed' Black-headed Gull was spotted around 09.40, which in turn had me racing to obtain photos of it's ring.  No. 4 on my wish-list,  EG55380  had returned.

This is the bird that was mistakenly ringed as a Common Gull chick on the 22nd June 2005, on the Copeland Islands in County Down.  I first sighted this BHG on the 23rd February 2014, but only managed a partial number on an upside-down ring -  **55380 .  

Reporting it to the British Trust for Ornithology, they could not accept the record, as at least two BHGs were ringed with those five numbers and needed the missing two letters.

My next sighting came a year later, when I spotted  **55380  on an upside-down ring, on the 1st March 2015.  This time, I was able to obtain the missing letters -   EG55380 .  After reporting the gull to the BTO, the ringing mistake was then discovered.

I had mentioned this gull to my sister, two weeks ago and told her it was due to make a return to the Marina.  It was just a pity, she was not present to see it for herself.  This gull may well be breeding on Lough Neagh, hence it's arrival.  As I will be continuing my visits over the summer to confirm the resident gulls, I can continue to watch out for this one.

The second 'metal-ring' to be spotted, really had me panicking to obtain the ring number.  This was the Common Gull which I had suspected came from Finland - the story is below in Other Birds.

The number of 'Darvics' recorded today, was well down, with only 18 out of the 29 gulls to be recorded this winter, present.  Many of the gulls are already on the move to their breeding sites and no doubt some of my gulls have gone too.

 2ADD , who is also due to return to the Marina, has still not made it here as yet.  Once I completed today's stint, I drove across Antrim Town to the car park at the KFC.  Around 60 BHGs were present and  2ADD  was among them.  However, the Norwegian rung Black-headed Gull -  JK35   was not to be seen.  I wonder if it is now on it's travels too.

None of the 'metal-ringed' Black-headed Gulls were sighted today, these being the two juvenile/1st winter birds or the two foreign-ringed BHGs from Iceland and Sweden.

Colour Ringed Black-headed Gulls at Antrim Marina on Sunday 28th February 2016

2ACV	2AAS	2AAP	T35J	2ABN	2ABS	2AAC	2AAF	2ACX
2AAK	2AAB	2AAA	2ABK	2ABF	2AAR	2ABA	2AAT	2ADJ

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

2AAH	2AAD	2AAN	2ABL	2AAV	2ADV
2AFD	2BRA	2BRC	2BRD	2ANS

Black-headed Gull  -    EG55380   (Upside-down ring)  -  Antrim Marina  (28 Feb 2016)

Other Birds at Antrim Marina

The maximum number of Common Gulls present at any one time, was 4 adult and two juvenile/1st winter birds, all these being un-ringed.  However, two 'metal-ringed' birds were also spotted today.  The first was the small female, ringed in Scotland -   EY64036 , which arrived at 09.40.

The second 'metal-ring' was the Common Gull, which I had suspected was Finnish.  I first saw this gull two weeks ago (14th) and was only able to obtain a partial number -   S*****28 .  I assumed that the Finnish rings used on their Common Gulls, would be the same that are used on Black-headed Gulls.  This meant I was looking for  ST  followed by six numbers.

I followed up that Sunday's visit, by returning on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, hoping to re-sight the gull, to no avail.  After last Sunday's visit, I gave up on the hope of the gull returning in order to obtain the whole ring number.

At 11.35 today, I spotted a 'metal-ringed' Common Gull on the rails of the long wooden jetty, through my binoculars.  I moved closer and then used the telescope and yes, it was a foreign ring.  As I was resting my camera on top of the telescope to take some pictures, a woman with her two young girls, walked out onto the jetty scaring off all the gulls.  I felt like strangling her - could she not see I was about to take photos.

I was lucky this time, as at 11.55, the gull returned and landed on the rails of the concrete jetty, situated very close to me.  I now rushed to take photos and successfully completed the whole number.  My Common Gull was indeed from Finland, ringed -  ST177.028 .  I have sent an email to the Finnish Museum in Helsinki, who take to do with the ringing and now cannot wait for confirmation.  I think this will be the first Finland-ringed Common Gull to be recorded in Northern Ireland. 

Common Gull  -  Finland    ST177.028   -  Antrim Marina  (28 Feb 2016)

Just before 11am, the pair of Herring Gulls arrived and remained throughout the rest of my visit.

14 Mute Swans, along with three cygnets, were present when I arrived this morning.  Shortly afterwards, two of the cygnets, along with their parents swam out onto the Lough.  During the morning, a further 7 swans arrived in, taking the total to 19, plus one cygnet.  Just two 'metal-rings' were spotted,  W34156  and  W34157 .

Only 9 Mallards were counted on my arrival and slowly numbers built up to 56 birds by 11.00.  One 'metal-ring' was spotted on a drake, but I was not able to obtain the number, before it slipped back onto the river.

2 Hooded Crows, 9 Jackdaws, a pair of Pied Wagtails and a pair of Chaffinches, were the only other species recorded today.

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Ringing Details Received

Black-headed Gull  -     2ABC  

On Saturday week ago (20th February), I spotted one of Adam McClure's Black-headed Gulls at Dargan on the outskirts of Belfast, just as it was getting dark.  As it was too far away to scope the code on the ring, I took a few photos with the camera and just managed to get   2ABC  on the ring.

  2ABC  was caught and ringed on the 13th January 2013, at Sprucefield in County Antrim, as an un-sexed Juvenile/1st winter bird (hatched in the summer of 2012).  My sighting was the ninth since this gull was ringed.  Seven of the previous eight re-sightings, were all made in the Sprucefield area.

On the 18th March 2015,   2ABC  was spotted at Castle Espie in County Down, which is situated 24 kms /15 miles (E) of Sprucefield.  There is a known breeding colony of Black-headed Gulls at Castle Espie.  As this gull will be of breeding age this summer, I wonder if it will nest there?

Common Gull  -    2ABF  

During the week, The British Trust for Ornithology, sent me the ringing details for this Common Gull.  My first sighting of the gull was on the 23rd January 2016, at Millisle in County down and I spotted it again at the same site, three weeks later (13th February).

I knew that it was one of Shane Wolsey's Study birds from the Copeland Islands, situated just 8 kms to the North of Millisle.   2ABF   was caught and ringed as an un-sexed adult on the 14th May 2010, during the second year of Shane's project.  My re-sighting on the 13th February, came 5 years, 8 months and 30 days, since  2ABF   was ringed.

I have no history for this gull, as the BTO, nor Shane, issue PDF files which detail all previous sightings.

Great Black-backed Gull  -     T7VZ  

I spotted this GBBG, also on the 13th February 2016, at Portavogie Harbour in County Down.  I am still waiting on it's ringing details, this being my first 'Darvic-rung' Great Black-backed Gull.  Checking the number on the cr-birding site, this gull was ringed by the Manx Ringing Group on the Isle of Man.

I sent emails reporting the gull to the Ringing Group and the BTO, but as yet, there has been no reply from either - the wait continues.


Great Black-backed Gull  -  (White) 1A8:C
Earlier this evening, I received an email from Iain Livingstone, Secretary of the Clyde Ringing Group in Scotland.  In it was the ringing details of the Great Black-backed Gull - (White) 1A8:C - which I spotted yesterday at Portavogie Harbour (report below).

1A8:C, was ringed as a chick on the 1st July 2012, at Horse Island Nature Reserve situated just off the coast from the town of Ardrossan in Ayrshire, Scotland.  My sighting yesterday is the first one for this gull.  Horse Island lies 137 kms / 85 miles (NE) of Portavogie.

This is the second gull from this island that I have now spotted.  In March last year, I recorded a 'metal-ringed' Lesser Black-backed Gull in my home town of Ballymena.  This was ringed as a chick on the 1st July 2006 ( report here).

My thanks go to Iain once again for supplying the ringing details and his quick response.


Black-headed Gull  -   2AKT  
Also this evening, I received the ringing details for the juvenile/1st winter Black-headed Gull -  2AKT , which was also spotted yesterday, at Kircubbin in County Down (report below).

 2AKT  was ringed as a chick on the 23rd June 2015 at the Castle Espie Wetland Centre.  Castle Espie lies just 11 kms / 7 miles (NW) of Kircubbin.  No great distance involved here, but at least this youngster has survived the winter.

My thanks to Adam McClure for supplying the ringing details.


Brent Goose  -  White 'S' White 'T'
Last night Graham McElwaine of the Irish Brent Goose Research Group, replied to my email.  He agreed with me on the details on the colour-rings of a Brent Goose, which I also spotted yesterday in County Down (report below).

He attached a file for this goose.  I have yet to study the file or those of the other three geese I spotted on Thursday.  All four files contain multiply sightings.  I shall look at these over the next couple of days and post an update sometime later this week.

My thanks also go to Graham.  You never know, I might run into some more Brent's, before they set off on their journey to the Arctic Circle.

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Tuesday 23rd February 2016

Today, I drove down to the coastal villages of Glenarm, Carnlough and Waterfoot.  My main aim was to check up on Eoin McGreal's Black-headed Gull -   260D , to see if it was still present.  Having been ringed as a chick at Lough Mask, County Mayo in the Republic of Ireland in 2008,  260D  winters each year in Glenarm.

During my last sighting of this gull on the 7th January 2016, I noticed it had suffered a leg injury.  Today, I located  260D  resting on the shore along with 83 other BHGs and it appears to be in good health.

The first of the two photos below, shows the gulls on the small 'spit' in the centre of the picture.  The second photo, shows the ring.  I took both of these, sitting in my car, while parked at Glenarm Harbour.  It clearly shows just how powerful the zoom is on my camera.

At Carnlough and Waterfoot, a number of gulls and a few Oystercatchers were scoped, but none were ringed. 

Black-headed Gulls Resting  -  Glenarm  -  (23 Feb 2016)

Zoomed into the Ring of   260D   -  (23 Feb 2016)

On Thursday evening, I received an email from Ian Graham, one of the editors for the Northern Ireland Birdwatchers Association website.  Attached was a photo of -  260D , which had been reported earlier that day, having been sighted at Whitehead, situated 28 kms / 18 miles (S) of Glenarm.  This clearly shows that -  260D  is now on the move, heading to it's breeding site, wherever that may be.  My thanks go to Ian for this info.

As the new breeding season is about to start, I switch my interest from 'Ring Watching' to nesting birds, especially Ravens and Birds of Prey.  On my way home, after leaving Waterfoot, I stopped on the main road, to scope a Raven nest-site.  These birds are one of the earliest egg-layers and the first eggs will be laid around this time of the year.

Within a few seconds of scoping the cliff, I had located the nest, which was on the very same ledge, they had nested on last year.  In the photo below, I have placed a 'red box' to show the location of the nest.  While still parked on the road, I zoomed into the nest for the second photo, which clearly shows how fresh looking it is.  As the female is not sitting on the nest, the incubation of any eggs has not started yet.

As my camera has the reach to photograph the nests, without disturbing the birds themselves, I will be featuring some of the sites over the summer on this Blog for interest.  As I will be continuing my visits to Antrim Marina, I shall be adding posts on a regular basis.

Raven Nest Site  -  Glasmullen, Glenariff, County Antrim  -  (23 Feb 2016)

Raven Nest  -  Glasmullen, Glenariff, County Antrim  -  (23 Feb 2016)

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Thursday 25th February 2016

Today, I had to go to Ballykelly, situated by the shore of Lough Foyle near Londonderry, for a hospital appointment.  After this, I drove the short distance to the mudflats and as luck would have it the tide was starting to go out.  Brent Geese, numerous species of waders and some gulls were scoped.

I concentrated on the Brent's, which were in two groups, situated well apart from each other.  The larger group numbered around 80 birds, the smaller group had just nine in it.  Scoping the larger group first, I spotted four individuals that were colour-ringed.

I took a photo of two of these ringed birds, which were standing next to each other, but I was too far away, for any details on the rings to be read.  As I edged closer, some of the geese were moving about and the two ringed geese I was looking at disappeared into the crowd.  I quickly located one of the other rings and soon had a number of photos.

This time the code was readable.  On the Right-leg was a White-ring with the letter 'C', while the Left-leg had a Red-ring with the number ' 3 ' on it.  As I was searching for a another colour-ring, all these geese took flight and flew northwards.

My presence had nothing to do with them leaving, as I was far enough away, so not to disturb them.  I was raging, as three rings at least had got away. 

Brent Goose  -  White 'C'  Red ' 3 '  -  Lough Foyle, Ballykelly  (25 Feb 2016)

Turning my attention to the second group of nine Brent Geese, I soon noticed that two of these were also colour-ringed.  They were all busy feeding on the waters edge.  I followed them with the camera, taking photos whenever the rings became visible.

Retreating back to the car, to get out of the cold wind, I looked through the photos before leaving.  I was successful in obtaining the codes for both birds.  The first goose was ringed - Right-leg Blue ' H ', left-leg Yellow ' 2 ', the second bird - Right-leg Red ' X ', left-leg Yellow ' L '.

On returning home on Thursday evening, I emailed Graham McElwaine of the Irish Brent Goose Research Group and informed him about my three sightings.  As always, I soon had a reply from Graham.  He also sent files for two of the geese and stated that the sighting of '  H  2 ' was the first since being ringed in Iceland in the spring of 2015.

Once I obtain the third file and have time to look through them, I will report on all of the re-sightings.  My thanks as ever go to Graham, for his quick response.

Brent Goose  -  Blue ' H '  Yellow ' 2 '  -  Lough Foyle, Ballykelly  (25 Feb 2016)

Brent Goose  -  Red ' X '  Yellow '  L '  -  Lough Foyle, Ballykelly  (25 Feb 2016)

As no other waders or gulls scoped had rings, I moved on to visit Coleraine and Portrush.  Both places only had a few gulls present.  Even the East Strand car park in Portrush, which is normally quite good for gull numbers, only had 3 BHGs on site..

At Landsdowne Crescent in Portrush, I re-sighted the 'metal-ringed' Oystercatcher, which I first spotted on the 21st November 2015.  I tried to approach this bird to take photos of the ring, to try and obtain the number.  It kept on flying off, on each of my attempts to get near it. 

The rocks that the Oystercatchers feed on, are right beside a public footpath and I was hopeful that they would now be quite used to people.  My bird though was having none of it.  

'Metal-ringed' Oystercatcher  -  Landsdowne Crescent, Portrush  -  (25 Feb 2016)

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Saturday 27th February 2016

This morning, I pondered for quite a while on where to go today.  In the end, I settled for another trip to County Down.  I am finding this area irresistible, as I always seem to record rings every time I go there.

While driving down, I decided just to visit Portaferry and Portavogie, but ended up making stops at Kircubbin, Ardkeen and Ballywalter as well.

Kircubbin

As I was driving through this small village, I noticed a number of Black-headed Gulls on the shoreline of Strangford Lough.  I turned the car around and drove to a small car park, near to where the gulls were settled.

It did not take long to scope a juvenile/1st winter BHG, which bore a 'Darvic-ring'.  I took a few photos and then checked them to see if the code on the ring was readable.  This gull turned out to be another one of Adam's Study birds - ringed  2AKT .

I spent quite a while here, watching the gulls coming and going, but no more rings were spotted.  I have emailed Adam and now await his reply.

Juvenile/1st winter Black-headed Gull  -   2AKT   -  Kircubbin  (27 Feb 2016)

Ardkeen

Ardkeen is actually a small townland between the villages of Kircubbin and Portaferry.  A section of the road runs right past Strangford Lough, the water being only metres away.  As I was driving along this stretch, I noticed groups of Brent Geese swimming nearby.

I stopped the car and waited to see what these geese would do.  A short time later, all three groups took to the wing and flew onto a field a short distance away.  Around 80 geese in total were scoped and I noticed one of these was colour-ringed.  I started taking photos, zooming in to try and obtain the code on it's colour-rings.

Checking the photos before I moved on, both of the gooses colour-rings were White, with what appears to be, the letter 'S' on the right-leg and the letter 'T' on the left-leg.  I have emailed Graham McElwaine of the Irish Brent Goose Research Group and hope he will except the sighting. 

Brent Goose  -  White 'S'  White 'T'  -  Ardkeen, Strangford Lough  (27 Feb 2016)

Brent Goose  -  White 'S'  White 'T'  -  Close-up from another Photo  -  (27 Feb 2016)

Portaferry

On the 13th February, I made my first ever visit to this village, though it was starting to get dark when I arrived.  Scoping quickly through the gulls that were present, I noticed a Black-headed Gull with a 'metal-ring'.  I made no attempt to obtain the number.

Two 'metal-ringed' Black-headed Gulls were quickly spotted when I arrived today.  One of them had a slightly taller ring, which means this gull is foreign.  Despite trying to lure these two gulls towards me with bread, neither appeared, though some of the others enjoyed their free meal.

I could not even get access to the jetties, due to a locked gate, which would have got me closer.  Even my camera would not have got the ring numbers, due to the distance involved.  I went on to scope a number of Herring Gulls and 6 Sandwich Terns, but no more rings were to be seen.

Portavogie Harbour

I sighted my first ever 'Darvic-rung' Great Black-backed Gull -  T7VZ , here, on my previous visit, on the 13th February 2016.  As mentioned above, I am still waiting on the ringing details for this gull, which I just happened to re-sight again today.

Also on my last visit, I spotted a juvenile/1st winter Herring Gull which was 'metal-ringed', but I could not get close enough to obtain the number.

With so many large gulls at Portavogie Harbour, I stayed for a long time, hoping to spot rings.  It did not take long before I scoped another 'Darvic-rung' Great Black-backed Gull on the outer harbour wall.  This one had a 'White-Darvic', but the gull sat down before I was able to take photos.

Darvic-rung Great Black-backed Gull Lying Down  -  Portavogie Harbour  -  (27 Feb 2016)

I waited for ages, waiting for it to stand up again.  Once up, I started taking photos and obtained the code '1A8:C' (in red characters).  After returning back home, I checked the cr-birding website and discovered that this gull was ringed by the Clyde Ringing Group in Scotland.  I've now sent an email to Iain Livingstone - (wonder if he is getting fed up with me pestering him with sightings of their gulls, ha ha).

Great Black-backed Gull  -  (White)  1A8:C  -  Portavogie Harbour  (27 Feb 2016)

While I was sitting waiting on my new found Great Black-backed Gull to stand up, the other 'Darvic-rung' Great Black-backed Gull -  T7VZ , which I spotted on my last visit, just happened to alight on the same section of the harbour wall.  Now, how handy was that!!

Great Black-backed Gull  -   T7VZ   -  Portavogie Harbour  (27 Feb 2016)

After a while, I spotted a 'metal-ringed' juvenile/1st winter Herring Gull, presumably, the same gull which I sighted here on my previous visit.  This time, it was in range to obtain photos of the ring with the camera.  The inevitable then happened - people.

I was luring the gulls in with bread, when a couple of guys with sports cars, parked right behind me and started taking photos of their vehicles.  Of course, my gulls were frightened away.

Looking at the pictures I had taken, I was one digit short of obtaining the whole ring number for this gull -  GJ2588* .  Trying to locate the gull again took ages and when I did locate it, it was on the other side of the harbour.  By the time I drove round, there was no sign of the gull.

Perhaps on my next visit, I might be able to complete the number.

Juvenile/1st winter Herring Gull  -   GJ2588*   -  Portavogie Harbour  (27 Feb 2016)

Ballywalter
A quick stop at Ballywalter Harbour and the few gulls scoped had no rings.  By now it was starting to get dark, so I made tracks for home.  Just outside Ballywalter, I noticed a large number of gulls on the beach.  I pulled into the car park there and started scoping.

Upwards of 100 Common Gulls and probably as many Black-headed's were looked at.  Two small groups of Brent Geese were also scoped, but no rings on any of them.

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