Antrim Marina - (Sunday 1st October 2023)

Antrim Marina - Sunday 1st October 2023

I have recently started a new job which entails working from Monday to Friday during the day.  This means that I now have to revert back to Sunday visits to Antrim Marina.  Today saw me making my tenth weekly visit to Antrim Marina to study a wintering population of Black-headed Gulls, some of which are colour-ringed.

Up until today, 22 colour-ringed gulls have been recorded, all having been ringed during the winter months at the Marina.  Over the previous nine weeks, it has been clearly obvious that many regulars have failed to return, and even some year round resident birds are also missing, such as -  2AAA  and  2ABL .   2AAA , was the very first bird to be ringed belonging to Adam McClure's former Northern Ireland Black-headed Gull Study.  This means that -  2AAB , which was recorded today, is now the oldest gull still living belonging to Adam's former project - at 10 years, 9 months and 20 days.

For today's visit, I arrived at 9:30am and stayed to 1:30pm.  On leaving Antrim Marina, I planned to visit other sites in Antrim before driving to Belfast Lough in time to catch the receding tide (read in next post).

I arrived to a heavy shower of drizzle, the wind was quite light, and the temperature gauge in my car was reading 15°C.  As the morning wore on, the sun broke through, and the temperature reached 22°C.

The ring of  -  2CJT  was the first to be read at 9:36, and an hour later at 10:36 the ring of -  2AAB  was the twelfth to be read.  By 12:15, 16 rings had been read with the arrival of -  2FJA .  At 12:30, my final ring sighting of the day, saw me running back to my car to grab my camera.  Having just spotted -  2FFT , I knew I had another returnee, though trying to think back on it's history, nothing came to mind.

On returning home, I checked my spreadsheet, and it was no wonder why I knew so little about this bird.  Last winter, it was recorded at the Marina on just the one occasion - 10th October 2022.

 2FFT , was caught and ringed at the Marina, as an unsexed adult on the 21st December 2020.  After being ringed, it was not seen again through the remainder of the 2020/2021 winter.  During the 2021/2022 winter,  2FFT  appeared again on the 8th November 2021, and three further winter sightings followed - 15th November 2021, 31st January 2022 and on the 7th February 2022.

I would love to know more about this gull, and I feel that it is a foreign nesting bird.  Wintering wise, does it remain in the Antrim area, or does it winter somewhere else in Northern Ireland?  With just that single sighting last winter, I am now wondering if this will be the only sighting this winter.  At least it had the decency to call by to let me know it is still alive and well.  The duration since being ringed, is now 2 years, 9 months and 10 days.

Black-headed Gull  -   2FFT   -  Antrim Marina, Antrim Town, County Antrim  (01 Oct 2022)

(Ringed as an Unsexed Adult, on the 21st December 2020, at Antrim Marina)

With the return of -  2FFT , this winter's total now rises to 23 birds.  On my arrival today, all of the gulls were nicely settled, with most lying down facing into the wind.  A head count, gave a total of 69 birds, and a second count at 11:00am, gave exactly to same total, though it was clear that some of the colour-ringed gulls recorded earlier were not present.

The Icelandic metal-rung Black-headed Gull -  543335 , was spotted at 9:44, this bird having been recorded here since the 8th August 2023.  The second metal-rung Icelandic bird -  527948 , recorded here two weeks ago, has not been seen since.  I doubt that it will be a regular visitor, but seeing as it was ringed just two years ago, it might still stop by from time to time on passage.

With it being Sunday, and with the weather having faired, families along with their kids began arriving to feed the ducks.  From this point until I departed, it was total chaos with most of the gulls trying to grab a share of the bread.  No further counts were possible, but I am sure the overall total remained under the one hundred mark. 

Colour Ringed Black-headed Gull Recorded at Antrim Marina on Sunday 1st October 2023

2CJT	2CSR	2FIK	2FFA	2FIA	2ACV	2AAN	2FHC	2FHV
2ABN	2FIL	2AAB	2CSK	2FFX	2FIF	2FJA	2FFT

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

2BRA	2BRD	2FDK	2FHT	2FIJ	2FIP

Other Birds at Antrim Marina

On passing through the vehicle barrier leading into the front car park, I immediately noticed loads of Mute Swans.  On parking beside the small concrete jetty, the first thing that I did was to take a head count, which revealed 16 birds altogether, with one of these being a second year bird.  Although some were on the water, eventually all came ashore, and just the one was ringed -  Z78580 .

 Z78580 , was ringed as a juvenile here at the Marina, on the 15th November 2020, by Debbie Nelson along with Aiden Crean.  The then youngster was the fourth of four juveniles to be ringed, with it's siblings having also been ringed with colour-rings.  Debbie did not have four-colour rings with her, hence this bird being ringed with a metal only.  I've heard nothing about the three colour-ringed youngsters since April 2021.

Since being ringed in 2020, there has been a steady stream of re-sightings of -  Z78580  at the Marina, with today's sighting being the 32nd for this bird.  It was last recorded at the Marina, on the 20th March 2023, and the duration up until today, is now 2 years, 10 months and 16 days.

Mute Swan  -   Z78580   -  Antrim Marina, Antrim Town, Co. Antrim  (01 Oct 2023)

(Ringed as an Unsexed Juvenile, on the 15th November 2020, at Antrim Marina)

The resident pair of Mute Swans along with their four cygnets, just happened to be swimming in from Lough Neagh, as I was counting the other swans present.  The male made a charge at three swans that were on the river by the end of the long wooden jetty, forcing them towards the Lough entrance.  Re-joining his family, they made their way towards the slipway.  On seeing the other swans on the slipway, the whole family continued upriver and weren't seen again.

A head count of the Mallards on my arrival, gave a total of 31 birds.  By the time of my departure, the ducks were all over the place due to the feeds they were getting, though I reckon the numbers were still around the 30 mark.

The normal adult male Herring Gull appeared at 11:07, followed by possibly the usual Lesser Black-backed Gull at 11:43.  Just one Common Gull today, and this was a juvenile which arrived at 12:05.  It joined the Black-headed Gulls on the long wooden jetty, with most of them lying down soaking in the sunshine.

4 Jackdaws were the only other birds present today.

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