2nd Dutch Juvenile...

 

Another busy week has passed by, especially on the email front, with loads of replies having to be made.  Not only do I submit my own ring sightings, I have been submitting sightings from other observers.  Everything is time consuming, and when I have the chance to sit down, I have to label and edit photos, add sightings onto my spreadsheet, working out durations, creating new folders for new birds, and so on.  It's now Saturday evening, and I have had to stay in today to finish off this post.

 

I have an Oystercatcher sighting from my ringing trainer John Clarke to report on, plus he has had a problem concerning other colour-ringed Oystercatchers.  Last night, Graham McElwaine reported a metal-rung Black-headed Gull, plus this afternoon, the ringing details for a Sandwich Tern, spotted by GB on his visit to Northern Ireland, have arrived in from Iain Livingstone.  All of these will now go into my next post.

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Antrim Marina - Monday 27th September 2021

On my previous weekly visit to Antrim Marina, I changed my now customary Monday visit, to go on Sunday, as I was meeting up with one of my Scottish contacts for the first time ever.  Preferring that he should be named by his initials only, GB and I, between us recorded 26 colour-ringed Black-headed Gulls from my Study at the Marina.  The overall total that we were looking for, was 30 birds, with three of those having been ringed this autumn/winter.  GB enjoyed his visit, but in the latter part of the morning, most gulls had disappeared, once the number of people had increased, along with the appearance of a couple of paddle-boarders.

 
Today, I reverted back to the Monday visit, and had no such problems, as the gulls remained throughout the visit.  Once again, I was on the lookout for 30 colour-ringed Black-headed Gull, plus any returnees.  It was a dry, bright day, though a very strong westerly wind was blowing in from Lough Neagh.  My car offers me some shelter from the wind, but today, I could not get through the barrier, as the optical car registration camera was not working.  As well as gaining some shelter, I use the car to ring any birds caught, so there was no question on that happening today.

At 10:36, my 15th colour-ring sighting of the day, was that of another returnee -   2ABA .  The last time I saw this bird, was on the 14th December 2020.  The second lockdown which lasted from early January until early April, prevented me from visiting the Marine, by which time most wintering gulls had left the site.

 

  2ABA , was one of the earliest gulls to be ringed, which belonged to Adam McClure's former Northern Ireland Project, which ended in the summer of 2018.  The gull was ringed as an adult male, here at the Marina, on the 28th December 2012.  I consider -   2ABA , to be a winter visitor, but sightings during the winter months are very erractic for this bird, therefore it could be spending most of it's time at another site.  During the winter of 2018/2019, I thought the gull had likely perished, as there had been no sightings, until I received an email from Graham McElwaine.  

 

Although Graham lives in County Down, he travels up to Toomebridge to conduct Whooper Swan counts, and would stop by Antrim Marina for a quick visit.  It was on one of those visits, on the 28th November 2018, that he spotted -   2ABA , which was the only sighting strangely enough, to be made that winter.  My sighting today of the bird, is the 131st record overall, with all sightings having been made here.  I departed from the Marina at midday, having recorded 22 of the 27 gulls that I had previously recorded, and there was no sign of any of the three gulls which I had ringed recently.  With the arrival of -   2ABA , I'll be on the lookout for 31 colour-rings next Monday.

 

Black-headed Gull  -    2ABA   -  Antrim Marina, Antrim Town, Co. Antrim  (27 Sep 2021)

(Ringed as an Adult Male, on the 28th December 2012, at Antrim Marina)

 

Colour Ringed Black-headed Gulls Recorded at Antrim Marina on Monday 27th September 2021

2ABL	2ABS	2CSR	2FFA	2AAA	2ABK	2AAK	2FFX
2FFP	2FDK	2FDT	2CSB	2ACV	2FFL	2ABA	2FFF
2AAN	2CTC	2CSA	2CJT	2CSJ	2ABN

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

2AAB	2BRA	2CSX	2FFJ	2FHA	2FHC	2FHF	2FHH	2FHJ

Other Birds at Antrim Marina

The female Mute Swan, along with her 6 cygnets were on the slipway when I arrived.  An adult Male arrived at 10:27, and joined up with the family party without any fuss, so it may well be the father.  A third adult, a female came ashore onto the small sandy beach at 11:15.  No sign today of the second family party, which has two cygnets.

 

The Mallards were resting nicely along the slipway, which made for an easy count of 48 birds on my arrival.  Numbers did rise, but not by much, as I reckoned 70 to 80 birds were present shortly before I departed.

 

The over-friendly Lesser Black-backed Gull was present throughout the visit.  With the arrival of a second bird around 11am, things got a little 'heated' between the two, with a couple of minor scuffles.  Shortly afterwards, that second bird departed towards the Lough.

 

An adult Common Gull arrived at 9:50, and I'm fairly certain that this was the same bird coming and going throughout the morning.  There has been no further sightings of the Scottish metal-rung bird, which was recorded on the 16th August 2021, this being the earliest ever return date for the gull.

 

Other bird species recorded today, were three Hooded Crows (2 juvenile), a pair of Magpie's, 10 Jackdaws, and a male Grey Wagtail.

 

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Saturday 25th September 2027

After going into town to do some shopping, I returned home and sat down to do some more work on this blog post, which again should have been published before now.  Having checked on the tides at Larne, I pondered on whether or not, to head off to Glynn, as high tide was forecasted for just after 2:30pm.  This meant, should I decide to go, I would need to be on site roughly two hours later.

As time slipped away, I had that nagging feeling that I would find something, so off I went and arrived at Glynn around 4:15.  The tide was further out than I had anticipated, and hundreds of gulls and waders were present, plus around a dozen Brent Geese.

Scoping from the railway platform at Glynn Station, I spotted a Common Gull with a Blue Darvic which was just about visible, as the gull stood in shallow water.  Having kept my eye on the bird, it eventually moved revealing the whole ring.  Now zooming in with my camera, I captured the code -   2BNT  , and I knew that this was one of my birds from my project on Rathlin Island.

On returning home, I ran a check on the code on my spreadsheet to find that this was the second re-sighting for this bird.    2BNT , was ringed as a chick, on the 26th June 2019, at the Rue Point colony on Rathlin Island, situated just off the north coast of County Antrim.  My previous sighting, was also made here on the mudflats at Glynn, on the 22nd March 2020, with the gull still sporting it's juvenile plumage.  The distance from Rathlin, is 54 kms / 33 miles (SSE), and the duration since being ringed, is now 2 years, 2 months and 30 days.  I was well pleased to re-sight another of my project birds.  As it will be of breeding age next summer, hopefully it will return to Rathlin Island.

 

Common Gull  -    2BNT   -  Glynn, Larne Lough, Co. Antrim  (25 Sep 2021)

(Ringed as a Chick, on the 26th June 2019, at Rue Point, Rathlin Island, Co. Antrim)

 

Minutes after sorting my Common Gull, I spotted a colour-ringed Black-headed Gull standing on it's own, well away from the other gulls.  Again, zooming in with my camera, which has a far greater reach than my telescope, I captured the code - (White) 2066.  I recognised this bird straight away, as it was only recently that I had recorded the first ever sighting of this bird, which had been ringed in the Republic of Ireland.

 

(White) 2006, had been ringed as a chick, on the 10th June 2019, on Goat's Island, Lough Ree in County Longford.  My first sighting was made here at Glynn, on the 28th August 2021.  The distance from Lough Ree to Glynn, is 197 kms / 122 miles (NE), and the duration, was now 2 years, 3 months and 15 days.

 

Black-headed Gull  -  (White)  2066  -  Glynn, Larne Lough, Co. Antrim  (25 Sep 2021)

(Ringed as a Chick, on the 10th June 2019, at Goat's Island, Lough Ree, Co. Longford, R. of Ireland)

 

With plenty of birds on show, I felt there had to be more colour-rings, but came up blank.  I paid a lot of attention to the Oystercatchers, as I also wanted to record an Icelandic bird which had returned to Glynn.  With just one re-sighting so far this autumn/winter, this bird is eluding me.  By the time that I departed, it was getting quite late, so I returned home.

 

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Sunday 26th September 2027

Before leaving home today, I had to finish off my latest post.  I was going to do this last night, but on taking a headache, I couldn't face working on the laptop.  I take these headache's quite frequently, when working on my laptop for long periods of time.  My problem, is that I cannot focus on anything that is close to me, and have to wear glasses to solve the problem.  I had spent a long time on Saturday afternoon, replying to emails, entering a lot of data onto the spreadsheet, plus much filing work, which involved creating folders for new ring sightings, and then labelling and moving photos, and PDF Files into these - all of which is a lengthy process.

By the time I published my latest post, Sunday afternoon was already slipping away and I was in two minds whether to go out at all.  Worse still, at home in Ballymena it had began to rain heavily, which left me with the dilemma of where to go.  I checked the weather on the Ventusky website, to find that the east coast as far down as Belfast, was clear.  A quick check on the tides, meant I had to leave immediately to catch a receding tide.  Now quite late, I decided to cover the coast from Whiteabbey Beach, northwards to Carrickfergus.

With Belfast in sight as I travelled downhill on the motorway, it began to rain, which changed my plans again.  I now decided to go to Kinnegar Beach, where I could scope the gulls and waders from my car.  On reaching the beach, the rain stopped, and the first of the gulls began to arrive as the tide receded.  Over the next couple of hours, I scoped several hundred gulls and waders, and to my dismay, only two ringed birds were spotted.  One was a metal-rung Oystercatcher, whose metal ring was on the right leg, but the bird had a crippled left leg.

 

The second bird, was a colour-ringed Sandwich Tern, rung -   KKS .  I suspected that this bird belonged to Lady's Island Lake in County Wexford, and on returning home and checking the cr-birding website, my suspicion proved to be correct.  I emailed Tony Murray, who replied with the birds details.

 

  KKS , was ringed as a juvenile, on the 25th June 2019, on Sgarbheen Island, on Lady's Island Lake.  After being ringed, the bird went un-recorded until the 1st July 2021, when it was spotted at Minsmere in Suffolk, England.  On the 3rd August 2021, the tern then appeared on the Isle of Anglesey in North Wales, before being recorded on two consecutive days at Formby Beach, on Merseyside, England (16th & 17th August).

 

Today's sighting at Kinnegar Beach, takes the duration since being ringed, to 2 years, 3 months and 1 day, with the distance from Sgarbheen Island, being 273 kms / 169 miles (N).  My thanks goes to Tony again, for his prompt reply, along with the details.

 

Sandwich Tern  -    KKS   -  Kinnegar Beach, Belfast Lough, Co. Down  (26 Sep 2021)

(Ringed as a Juvenile, on the 25th June 2019, at Sgarbheen Island, Lady's Island Lake, Co. Wexford, R. of Ireland)

 

With the tide well out, I paid a lot of attention to the Oystercatchers, as there were good numbers present by this time.  What is puzzling me, is that several colour-ringed birds from Iceland, have not been re-sighted here so far, despite having made several visits to this beach now.

 

Yesterday, David Nixon and John O'Boyle visited Kinnegar Beach, and recorded two colour-ringed Black-headed Gulls, plus a colour-ringed juvenile Sandwich Tern which was ringed in Holland (read below).  None of those three appeared during my visit today.

 

Once again, the rain returned, and it was so heavy that the shore on the opposite side of Belfast Lough was virtually blanked out, so I returned home very disappointed. 

 

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From David Nixon and John O'Boyle

On the evening of Saturday 25th September, I received an email from David Nixon.  Along with John O'Boyle, the visited Kinnegar Beach early that morning and recorded three colour-ringed birds - two Black-headed Gulls and a juvenile Sandwich Tern.

The first of the Black-headed Gulls, was reported as having an Orange ring, with the code reading -   2C1F , though David at first thought the '  F ' was an '  E ', before settling for '  F '.  Actually, the problem with the code was the number '  1 ', as Northern Ireland rung birds, have three letters after the number two.  However, there was no doubt in my mind, that the bird concerned, was -   2CJF , which is a regular to the area, and a bird I've being trying to re-sight lately.

  2CJF , was ringed as a chick, on the 3rd July 2016, at the RSPB's Blue Circle Island Reserve on Larne Lough in Co. Antrim.  All sightings of -   2CJF , have either occurred on Kinnegar Beach, or during the breeding season at the nearby RSPB's Window on Wildlife Reserve, where the bird nests on platform 2.  The distance from Blue Circle Island to Kinnegar Beach, is 22 kms / 13 miles (SSW), and the duration since being ringed, is 5 years, 2 months and 22 days.

The second Black-headed Gull, had a Red Darvic, which David reported as reading -   2N4B , though he thought the '  B ' could well be an '  8 '.  I checked up on the British Black-headed Gull ringing projects on the cr-birding site, and came to the conclusion, that the bird would be -   2N48 , which belongs to a Sara Bone.  I told David in my reply, that this would be interesting, as I've never contacted Sara before.  By Friday, there had still been no reply from Sara, so I decided to submit David's sighting by the colour-marks only.  If the ringing details for the gull have been submitted to the BTO, then they should find the individual concerned.

 

The Dutch-rung juvenile Sandwich Tern was really interesting, as I recently recorded another Dutch-rung juvenile on this very same beach ((White) J2.V on the 11th September 2021).  David's bird - (White) J.X4, was ringed as a chick, on the 16th June 2021, on Slijkplaat Island on Haringvliet Water in Holland, the very same island where (White) J2.V, was ringed on the 10th June 2021.  I have submitted both of our sightings to the BTO, but as yet, we do not have the recovery details.  I estimate, that the distance from Slijkplaat to Kinnegar Beach, is 736 kms / 457 miles (NW), and the duration for David's (White) J.X4, is 3 months and 9 days.

Also in David's email, was a Black-headed Gull sighting made by John O'Boyle on the 12th September 2021.  David thought Sara's bird as mentioned above, and John's sighting of -   TRX9 , were possibly birds ringed in Scotland, however, all British colour-ringed Black-headed Gulls and Common Gulls, start with the number '2' as the code, followed by a combination of three letters, three numbers, or a combination of letters and numbers.  David's gull was actually from Poland, so I reported his sighting to the Online Polish Ringing Website.

On Monday morning, the ringing details arrived back.    TRX9 , had been ringed as a chick, on the 5th June 2019, on the island of Ptasia Wyspa, on Lake Rynskie in NE Poland.  The distance from the ringing site, to Luke's Point at Ballyholme, Co. Down, where John spotted the bird, was given as 1,752 kms / 1,809 miles (W), and the duration since being ringed, was 2 years, 3 months and 7 days.  One other sighting prior to John's, was reported on the 4th August 2019, when the gull was spotted at Ringstone Edge Reservoir in West Yorkshire, England.

Unfortunately, there were no photos to go along with these sightings, but I thank both David and John for their sighting reports.

 

On Monday the 27th September, another email arrived from David, with a further three gull sightings all made earlier that day, on the South Inner Bay of Dundrum in County Down.  My favourite of the three, was David's second sighting of Common Gull -   2AVN .    2AVN , is a bird from Shane Wolsey's former project on Big Copeland Island in County Down, and was ringed as a chick, on the 27th June 2014.  The first ever re-sighting was made by David, here at the South Inner Bay, on the 3rd October 2016.

 

On my visit to Big Copeland Island, on the 16th June 2020, I spotted -   2AVN  as a breeding bird back at it's natal colony.  This third sighting takes the duration since being ringed, to 7 years and 3 months, and the distance to Dundrum, is 51 kms / 31 miles (SSW).  David took a photo of the bird, but due to the distance involved, the quality was very poor, although David was easily able to read the ring through his telescope.

 

David's sighting of Herring Gull -   A:E87 , at Dundrum Inner Bay, is the third here for this month, as Graham McElwaine recorded the gull on the 10th & 17th September.  Graham had broken David's run of past sightings which were made in November 2017, November 2019, and twice in October 2020.    A:E87 , was ringed as a chick, on the 5th July 2017, at Lady Isle, a small island just off the coast from Troon in Ayrshire, Scotland.  The distance to Dundrum South Inner Bay, is 158 kms / 98 miles (SSW), and the duration since being ringed, is now 4 years, 2 months and 22 days.

 

Herring Gull  -    A:E87   -  Dundrum Inner Bay (South), Strangford Lough, Co. Down  (27 Sep 2021)

(Ringed as a Chick, on the 5th July 2017, on Lady Isle Island, Troon, Ayrshire, Scotland)

(Photo Courtesy of David Nixon)

 

David's sighting of Herring Gull -   T6VE , came just five day's after Graham McElwaine, along with Patricia Watson, had recorded the gull here at the Inner Bay (22nd September).    T6VE , had been ringed as a chick, on the 3rd July 2019, on the Calf of Man, Isle of Man.  The first re-sighting of -   T6VE , was made by Graham, on the 27th July 2020, at Millquarter Bay, also in County Down.

 

All other sightings have been made here on the Inner Bay at Dundrum, in August 2020, September 2020, May 2021, and August 2021, by either Graham or David.  The distance from the Calf of Man to Dundrum, is 71 kms / 44 miles (WNW), and the duration since being ringed is 2 years, 2 months and 24 days.

 

My thanks to David once again for all of these sightings, along with the photos.

 

Herring Gull  -    T6VE   -  Dundrum Inner Bay (South), Strangford Lough, Co. Down  (27 Sep 2021)

(Ringed as a Chick, on the 3rd July 2019, on the Calf of Man, Isle of Man)

(Photo Courtesy of David Nixon)

 

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