Antrim Marina - Sunday 31st August 2025...

Antrim Marina - Sunday 31st August 2025

Today, I made my fifth weekly visit to Antrim Marina where I am studying a wintering population of Black-headed Gulls, some of which have been colour-ringed over the years to track their movements.  Some of these gulls have been spotted in several foreign countries, other are known to be year round residents, and the summer destinations of others are not known.  After last week's visit, a further three colour-rings were added to this winter's list, which took the overall total to 22.

Arriving at 9:54 this morning, it was cloudy with a very strong westerly wind blowing in from Lough Neagh.  The temperature gauge in my car read 17ºC.  Looking at the Lough, you would think that you were on the coast looking at the waves.

With around 100 Black-headed Gulls present, I had read 16 colour-rings by 10:42.  I finished the visit with a total of 20 and no new returnees were recorded.  The final ring read, was that of -  2FJK  at 13:27.  The only highlight among today's sightings, was seeing -  2BRD  for a second week in a row.  Having returned last week, it is not too often that this bird is recorded here two weeks in a row, though I do believe that it spends most of it's time somewhere in the town of Antrim.

Black-headed Gull  -   2BRD   -  Antrim Marina, Antrim Town, Co. Antrim  (31 Aug 2025)

(Ringed as an Adult Male, on the 1st February 2015, at Antrim Marina)

Overall numbers remained around the 100 mark throughout today's visit, but again, judging by the number of colour-ringed Black-headed Gulls present, there seemed to be a fairly large turnover of birds coming and going.  A really uneventful day otherwise regarding colour-rings.

On Saturday 30th August 2025, I received an email from Suzanne Belshaw, concerning a Black-headed Gull that had been ringed at Antrim Marina.  The previous day (29th), Suzanne was at Whiteabbey Beach on the shore of Belfast Lough, where she had a re-sighting of -  2FFN .

I caught and ringed -  2FFN  as an unsexed adult at the Marina on the 14th December 2020, and there were no further sighting that winter.  It returned to Antrim Marina on the 11th October 2021, which happened to be the last sighting there.

I then fell in with -  2FFN , on the 27th August 2022 at Whiteabbey Beach.  Further sightings were recorded there in October 2022 (myself), January 2024 (Steven Fyffe), February 2024 (Suzanne Belshaw) and January 2025 (Suzanne Belshaw).

I think that -  2FFN  may well be nesting in the north-west, possibly in County Donegal and would pass through Antrim on it's way to Whiteabbey where it has been wintering.  As always, I need sightings during the breeding season.  Whiteabbey Beach is just 23 kms / 14 miles (ESE) from Antrim, and the duration since being ringed, is now 4 years, 8 months and 15 days.

I'm sure that this gull will be recorded at some point again at the Marina, whilst on it's travels in the future.  My thanks goes to Suzanne for her sighting report.

In my previous post, I mentioned that the year round resident -  2AAB , had not been seen since last March.  With no sightings during random summer visits to the Marina, and it's absence this autumn, I now presume this gull has died.  Whilst looking over my Antrim Marina Spreadsheet, I noticed that two Black-headed Gulls that were recorded during my random summer visits, have also failed to show up over these last five weekly visits.  They are -  2FIJ  and -  2FJK , but I will not be writing them off just yet.  As far as I know, no cases of 'Bird Flu' were recorded on Lough Neagh during the breeding season.

Colour Ringed Black-headed Gulls Recorded at Antrim Marina on Sunday 31st August 2025

2FIL	2ACV	2CJT	2FHV	2FJV	2FFA	2CSK	2BRA	2ABN	2FJN
2FKA	2FFX	2FJT	2FJF	2AAN	2BRD	2FJA	2FIF	2FFT	2FJK

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

2CSR	2FDK

Other Birds at Antrim Marina

Once parked alongside the small concrete jetty, I began to take a count of the birds present which result in roughly 100 Black-headed Gulls, 100+ Mallard and a single adult Lesser Black-backed Gull.  I then started to look for colour-ringed Black-headed Gulls and at 10:15, I noticed a rather special bird.

Just in front of my car and on the other side of the security fencing (in place due to a missing board beside the concrete jetty), there was a juvenile Mediterranean Gull.  I took a few photos just in case it would fly off, but these were not great quality as the camera repeatedly tried to focus on the fence itself.

It soon became clear that this juvenile was not going anywhere.  Throwing out bits of bread beside my car, this little 'chappie' along with several juvenile Black-headed Gulls appeared right beside me.  This little Med Gull constantly chased the juvenile Black-headed Gulls away.  I kept an eye out for this bird right through my visit and it was still there by the time of my departure. 

Over the course of the morning, I could see that it was already at home here, and may have been at the Marina for several days.  It even knew to check the ground for pellets beside the dispenser.  The dispenser discharges the pellets into a fixed dish where people would scoop them out by hand should they have no dish to catch them in.  There is usually some spillage onto the ground, where the gulls know to check.  I was also able to obtain a few better photos than those taken earlier.

It got to a stage, where this young gull would walk up to me while I was sitting on the drivers seat with my feet on the ground outside.  It had quickly learnt, that I would throw it bits of bread.  I do not have Mediterranean Gulls on my 'Colour Ringing Permit', but if I get the chance to ring this young Med with a colour-ring, I'm sure the BTO will not condemn me.  The colour-rings I use here are registered to be used only on Black-headed Gulls.  Recently, both German and Polish colour-ringed Mediterranean Gulls have been reported in Northern Ireland, therefore this bird could be foreign.  Once a colour-ring is fitted, we can track it's future movements. 

Juvenile Mediterranean Gull  -  Antrim Marina, Antrim Town, Co. Antrim  (31 Aug 2025)

The juvenile Herring Gull appeared without it's parents at 10:30, with both parents arriving at 11:45.  This was the first time that the female has appeared since the breeding season ended.  Over the past few weeks, it's usually just the male and the juvenile.  A short time afterwards, I managed to get a photo of all three together.  At 11:03, a second calendar year Herring Gull landed on the walkway in front of my car.  It seemed to be right at home, and I wondered if this was last year's chick which was last seen back in March.  I was going to photograph the bird when a man stopped for a chat.  He wondered if I was watching the 'seagulls', so I then explained exactly what I was doing.  By the time that conversation ended, the gull was gone.

Herring Gull Family (male in the middle)  -  Antrim Marina, Antrim Town, Co. Antrim  (31 Aug 2025)

Due to the very strong wind blowing in from Lough Neagh, very few gulls used the long wooden jetty, but I would check it every so often.  Another check at 12:10, saw an adult Common Gull preening itself at the end of this jetty.  Looking at it through my binoculars, I was overwhelmed with delight on spotting the metal ring, as I knew this had to be the return of the small female -  EY64036 .

I returned to the car to grab my camera.  All I could get on the ring was ' 36 ' preceded by the curvature of the digit ' 0 '.  The slight overlap of the 'ring butts', was enough for me to confirm this bird.  Soon afterwards, people walked along the jetty and my gull flew off.  Luckily it returned a short time later where I was able to get a decent photo of the gull itself, as well as capturing ' EY64 '.

 EY64036 , first appeared at Antrim Marina as a juvenile bird on the 9th February 2014, and has returned to Marina every year winter since.  It had been ringed as a chick, on the 20th June 2013, at Hunterston in North Ayrshire, Scotland.  I believe that the Hunterston colony no longer exists, so there is very little chance of finding -  EY64036  during the breeding season wherever that may be.

As already stated, this gull returns every winter, and today's sighting was my 73rd for this bird altogether.  Antrim Marina is situated 141 kms / 87 miles (SW) from Hunterston, and the duration since being ringed, is now 12 years, 2 months and 11 days.

As always, it gives great pleasure to record returning birds.  No other Common Gulls appeared today.

Common Gull  -   EY64036   -  Antrim Marina, Antrim Town, Co. Antrim  (31 Aug 2025)

(Ringed as a Chick, on the 20th June 2013, at Hunterston, North Ayrshire, Scotland)

The Icelandic metal-rung Black-headed Gull -  543335  arrived at 10:46.  I recorded its return from Iceland last week (24th August 2025), which was slightly later than normal.  Ringed in July 2023, this is it's third winter back at the Marina, though I reckon it had been coming here for years beforehand until it was caught and ringed.

As mentioned above, there were over 100 Mallards and that total remained constant throughout my visit.  Over my four hours, most legs were checked, but still no rings on these.

The Mute Swan family arrived at 10:55 from upriver.  All six cygnets are doing well, but a couple of them are still wary being around people.  The female is rung -  X4707 .

A single adult Hooded Crow made a brief visit, as did a juvenile Rook.  5 Jackdaws made up today's other bird sightings here.

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