Mute Swan Sorted...

From Declan Clarke

During a visit to Ardglass Harbour on the 18th August 2023, Declan Clarke came upon a small group of Herring Gulls, two of which were colour-ringed.  On taking a photo with his phone, both gulls were from the Isle of Man, ringed -  G05:M  and  H16:M   Declan sent an email to Mark Fitzpatrick and a reply was duly received.  It turned out, that both birds were first re-sightings since being ringed.

 G05:M , was ringed as a chick, on the 1st July 2022, on the Calf of Man, Isle of Man.  The duration since being ringed, was 1 year, 1 month and 17 days.

 H16:M , was ringed as an unsexed adult, on the 15th October 2022, also on the Calf of Man.  The duration for this gull, is 10 months and 3 days since being ringed.

The distance from the Calf of Man to Ardglass Harbour, is 57 kms / 35 miles (WNW).

My thanks goes to Declan for his sighting report and photo, and to Mark for supplying the ringing details.

Herring Gulls  -   G05:M   and  H16:M   -  Ardglass Harbour, Ardglass, Co. Down  (18 Aug 2023)

( G05:M , was ringed as a Chick, on the 1st July 2022, on the Calf of Man, Isle of Man)

( H16:M , was ringed as an Unsexed Adult, on the 15th October 2022, on the Calf of Man, Isle of Man)

(Photo Courtesy of Declan Clarke)

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From Suzanne Belshaw

Suzanne Belshaw has been out and about visiting several sites looking for ringed birds, which has produced five re-sightings.

On the 16th August 2023, Suzanne recorded Black-headed Gull -  250B  for the second time this autumn at the Sprucefield Shopping Centre car park in County Down.  The previous sighting on the 25th July 2023, was a double sighting, as David Nixon also reported -  250B  at Sprucefield.  Having been ringed as a chick in June 2008, the duration since being ringed, is now 15 years, 2 months and 10 days.  Read about the July sightings in this blog post (read here).

Black-headed Gull  -   250B   -  Sprucefield Shopping Centre, Co. Down  (16 Aug 2023)

(Ringed as a Chick, on the 6th June 2008, on Lough Mask, Co. Mayo, Republic of Ireland)

(Photo Courtesy of Suzanne Belshaw)

The visit to the former waterworks at Cliftonville in Belfast produced two colour-ring re-sightings, one being a Greylag Goose, the second resulting with the metal-ring number for a Mute Swan though colour-ringed -  NLX , the bird had been a bit of a mystery.

This was Suzanne's second re-sighting for -  NLX , having first recorded the swan back on the 27th January 2023.  At that time, I tried to submit the sighting by the bird's colour-marks only, but the BTO had no record of that colour-code having been used.  On her latest sighting, Suzanne also recorded the metal number -  Z78598 .  This time, on submitting both sightings giving the metal number and colour-code, we received the ringing details from the BTO.  The Mute Swan was ringed as an adult male on the 4th September 2020, here at the waterworks,  The duration since being ringed is now 2 years, 11 months and 14 days.

It could be possible, that when this swan was ringed originally, the metal number may have been submitted to the BTO without the colour-marks being added at the same time.  Suzanne now knows to try and obtain the metal number for any colour-ringed Mute Swans, to be sure of getting a result.  This would also be helpful, if a previously metal-rung swan, is fitted with a colour-ring on a later date.

Mute Swan  -   NLX   -  Belfast Waterworks, Cliftonville, Belfast  (18 Aug 2023)

(Ringed as an Adult Male, on the 4th September 2020, at Belfast Waterworks)

(Photo Courtesy of Suzanne Belshaw)

The re-sighting of a Greylag Goose rung (White) 016, was Suzanne's fourth for this bird, with all four sightings having been recorded at the waterworks.  (White) 016, was ringed at the waterworks as an unsexed juvenile on the 18th August 2020.  The duration since being ringed is now 3 years to the day.  Although Suzanne had no idea about the duration, a birthday card would have been nice.  It's always good to follow a bird of known age.

Greylag Goose  -  (White)  016  -  Belfast Waterworks, Cliftonville, Belfast  (18 Aug 2023)

(Ringed as a Unsexed Juvenile, on the 18th August 2020, at Belfast Waterworks)

(Photo Courtesy of Suzanne Belshaw)

At Carrickfergus Harbour on the 19th August, Suzanne recorded her first sighting of a Danish Black-headed Gull rung -  VA5454 , though this was the third re-sighting overall.

 VA5454 , was ringed as a chick, on the 25th May 2020, on Hirsholm Island just off the north-east coast of Denmark.  The then juvenile, was first recorded in Northern Ireland, on the 4th January 2021, when Cameron Moore spotted the gull on the seawall at Rhanbouy Park in Carrickfergus (Photo).  The following winter, Cameron recorded the bird's return to Rhanbouy Park (shore), on the 4th November 2021.  Rhanbouy Park is about half a mile south from Carrickfergus Harbour.

The duration since being ringed, is now 3 years, 2 months and 25 days, and the distance from Hirsholm Island, is 1,063 kms / 660 miles (WSW).  Seeing as there were no sightings in 2022, it is nice to know that this young gull is alive and well.

Black-headed Gull  -  Denmark   VA5454   -  Carrickfergus Harbour, Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim  (19 Aug 2023)

(Ringed as a Chick, on the 25th May 2020, on Hirsholm Island, Denmark)

(Photo Courtesy of Suzanne Belshaw)

A late addition to this post, was the re-sighting of Black-headed Gull -  EZ02451  at Lurgan Park Lake in County Armagh, on the 23rd August 2023.

 EZ02451 , was ringed as a chick, on the 20th June 2017, at the Elvanfoot colony in South Lanarkshire, Scotland.  Normally, the chicks are colour-ringed at this site, but with an exceptionally high number of chicks at the site that year, the ringers exhausted their supply of colour-rings, hence this bird being ringed with a metal-ring only.

This latest sighting of -  EZ02451 , is now the 17th overall, with all sightings having been recorded here at Lurgan Park Lake by Suzanne.  The first sighting was made on the 7th September 2017, at which point the duration was just 2 months and 18 days (Photo).  This gull has now been recorded at least once every winter since 2017.  The duration, is now 6 years, 2 months and 3 days since being ringed, and the distance from Elvanfoot to Lurgan Park, is 202 kms / 125 miles (WSW).

My thanks to Suzanne for her latest sightings complete with photos.

Black-headed Gull  -   EZ02451   -  Lurgan Park Lake, Lurgan, Co. Armagh  (23 Aug 2023)

(Ringed as a Chick, on the 20th June 2017, at Elvanfoot, South Lanarkshire, Scotland)

(Photo Courtesy of Suzanne Belshaw)

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