Antrim Marina - (Tuesday 21st May 2024)

Antrim Marina - Tuesday 21st May 2024

Today I made my second random summer visit to Antrim Marina.  The aim is to record colour-ringed Black-headed Gulls that are perhaps year round residents, and likely to be breeding on the nearby 'Torpedo Platform'.  I arrived shortly after midday and departed around 3:30pm.  The weather conditions were calm and quite warm.

Around 20 Black-headed Gulls were present on my arrival.  On several occasions, not a single gull of any kind was present, and the maximum number of Black-headed Gulls never exceeded the 30 mark when present.  Just six rings were read during today's visit, the first and last being birds that were not recorded during my previous visit which accounted for 8 ring sightings.

The first bird spotted at 12:25, was -  2FIJ , which I was surprised to see.  Since being ringed, the bird has had a very patchy re-sighting history, which made me feel that it wintered somewhere away from the Marina, perhaps in Antrim town.  At the Marina, sightings in early autumn and early into the new year, made me feel as if this was a foreign gull which used the Marina as a staging post.  It now looks as if -  2FIJ  could be nesting in the Antrim area.  Ringed as an unsexed adult at the Marina, on the 10th January 2022, today's sighting was only the 11th overall.

The 6th sighting -  2CSK , has long been assumed to be a year round resident.  Today's was the first ever May sighting though I have several June sightings over the years since it was ringed in December 2017.  Although I ringed this gull as an unsexed adult, it might be that this bird is a female and busy sitting on eggs during May in previous years.  

Whilst preparing for my second visit to Rathlin Island on Thursday 23rd May, I forgot that I had not downloaded the photos of the Black-headed Gulls.  The only photos that I did download was that of a new metal-rung Mute Swan.  I am in the habit of clearing the cameras memory before I go out on my next venture.

Colour Ringed Black-headed Gulls Recorded at Antrim Marina on Tuesday 21st May 2024

2FIJ	2FIL	2CSR	2FFA	2FJN	2CSK

A visit to Antrim Marina by Suzanne Belshaw on Friday 24th May 2024

Suzanne Belshaw sent me an email on Sunday 26th May 2024.  Whilst at Rea's Wood doing some voluntary work with the Lough Neagh Partnership, she was handy to visit Antrim Marina.  Whilst there, Suzanne recorded 6 colour-ringed Black-headed Gulls, with -  2AAB  being the only addition to this summers list.   2AAB , is now the oldest surviving bird from Adam McClure's former Northern Ireland Study (2012-2018).  Ringed as an unsexed adult on the 11th December 2012 at the Marina, the duration for this gull is now 11 years, 5 months and 13 days.  Suzanne also spotted the new Mute Swan -  X4707 .  My thanks goes to Suzanne for these sightings.  

Colour Ringed Black-headed Gulls Recorded by Suzanne Belshaw on Friday 24th May 2024

2CSR	2CJT	2FJL	2FIJ	2AAB	2FIF

Other Birds at Antrim Marina

Although not directly at the Marina, the highlight of this visit was the sighting of an Osprey being chased by a Lesser Black-backed Gull close to the breakwater at the entrance to Lough Neagh.  The Osprey flew out of sight in the Rea's Wood direction adjoining the car park beside the Marina.  Possibly the same bird was reported on the NIBA website on Thursday 23rd May by another observer, also flying south in the direction of Rea's Wood.  This was my first ever sighting of an Osprey here since I began my visits here in 2013. 

On my arrival, just one Mute Swan was present, and was joined by a second bird at 12:57, which bore a wide metal ring.  I have never seen a Mute Swan at the Marina with this type of ring before, and a few photos later I had captured the number -  X4707 .  On returning home, I entered the number onto the BTO's DemOn Ringing Database, and found no ringing details have been submitted for this bird.  This means that it has probably been ringed fairly recently.  With my sighting submitted, the BTO will now contact the ringer concerned for the details.

Mute Swan  -    X4707   -  Antrim Marina, Antrim Town, Co. Antrim  (21 May 2024)

(Waiting for Ringing Details)

At 2pm, an aggressive male Mute Swan arrived from upriver, so may have a mate on a nest somewhere nearby.  He spent a lot of time chasing the first two swans out towards the breakwater, only for them to keep on returning.  A pair also arrived at 2:25 from the direction of the Lough, and they too were chased several times.

Mallard number were low throughout my visit, never exceeding 20 birds.  Nearly all were males, so their partners are on nests somewhere in the area.  I had expected to see a few ducklings by now.  Danny. who volunteers for the Lough Neagh Rescue Team, said he had seen a brood of ducklings a couple of weeks ago, but does not know what happened to them seeing as they are not about now.

Probably the same Lesser Black-backed Gull made repeated but brief visits, and the resident male Herring Gull stayed for around 20 minutes.  A Common Gull was seen on three separate occasions, and by the looks of it, I reckon it was the same bird each time.

  

Most likely the same Rook, and six Jackdaws made repeated visits stuffing their beaks full of bread to take away to feed their chicks.

The Sand Martins were busy flying around catching flies.  They are nesting in cavities high on the wall of the Gateway Centre.  Suzanne Belshaw having read my previous Antrim Marina blogpost, was able to enlighten me about this new colony.  Suzanne was at the Marina on Saturday 11th May, where she saw the Martins.  After leaving the Marina, she went to Antrim's Asda store, where she fell in with Mark Smyth.  Mark is a member of the Northern Ireland Swift Group, and he said that Antrim Marina's Sand Martins were nesting in 'Swift Bricks'.  These bricks are designed to be incorporated into building work to help the Swift population to find nests sites.  Most modern buildings are so well build, Swifts are finding it extremely difficult to find nest cavities.  My thanks goes to Suzanne and Mark for the info.

A single male Pied Wagtail completed the list of other birds seen today.

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My planned trip to Rathlin Island on Thursday 23rd May 2024, had to be cancelled.  Having booked the ferry outgoing at 10am and incoming at 5pm, on Thursday morning, the ferry service contacted me to say that the 5pm return had been cancelled due to expected poor weather conditions.  Instead, I was offered a 3pm return, but the loss of two hours to visit three Common Gull colonies, meant I would be really pushed for time.  Instead, I re-booked for Monday 27th May.  The visit went ahead without any problems - a nice haul of 14 ring sightings was made.

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