Antrim Marina - Tuesday 14th October 2025...

Antrim Marina - Tuesday 14th October 2025

I could not get to Antrim Marina on Sunday or Monday, so it had to be a Tuesday visit instead.  With it being very dull with poor light.  I delayed my visit, arriving at 10:45am.  With a light drizzle falling, it remained quite dull and there was practically no wind moving.  The temperature gauge in my car was reading 12ºC.

This was my 11th weekly visit to study a wintering population of Black-headed Gulls, some of which are colour-ringed, meaning that they can be tracked throughout the year.  Away from the Marina, I rely on these gulls being spotted by other birdwatchers.

For several weeks now, this winter's list of colour-ring sightings has remained static with 22 colour-rings altogether.  That list increased by one today, when my 7th ring sighting saw the return of -  2FJX .   2FJX , was one of just three Black-headed Gulls caught and ringed last winter, and it's return today, means all three are now back.

I had it in my head, that the gull had not been seen since March 2025, but on returning home and checking my spreadsheet the gull was seen on the 5th August 2025.  This sighting had slipped my mind, and was made at Antrim's Junction One Shopping Centre car park.  I still think that the gull is not resident to the Antrim area, and was not recorded at the Marina during random summer visits.

 2FJX , was ringed as a juvenile/1st winter bird at the Marina, on the 1st December 2024, and was last seen here on the 3rd March 2025.  The duration since being ringed, is 10 months and 13 days.  With no other returnees recorded today, this winter's list increases to 23 colour-ringed gulls.

Black-headed Gull  -   2FJX   -  Antrim Marina, Antrim Town, Co. Antrim  (14 Oct 2025)

(Ringed as a Juvenile/1st Winter Bird, on the 1st December 2024, at Antrim Marina)

On my arrival, a count of the Black-headed Gulls gave a total of 64 birds.  Soon afterwards, numbers dropped very quickly and thereafter, numbers fluctuated widely but never surpassed the 50 mark.  By the time of my departure at 3pm, only 13 of the original 22 colour-rings had been read, leaving me with 9 absentees.  As I was preparing to depart,  2ACV  was spotted at 2:58.  The metal-rung Icelandic Black-headed Gull -  543335 , was spotted at 10:56.

Overall, this was the worst weekly visit so far, due to the lack of Black-headed Gulls and other bird species.  It was so quiet at times, I thought graveyards were likely to be busier.

Colour Ringed Black-headed Gulls Recorded at Antrim Marina on Tuesday 14th October 2025

2BRA	2FFA	2FKA	2AAN	2FIF	2FJA	2FJX
2FJT	2CSR	2FIL	2CJT	2FJF	2CSK	2ACV

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

2ABN	2BRD	2FDK	2FFT	2FFX	2FHV	2FJK	2FJN	2FJV

Early yesterday evening (Saturday 18th October), an email arrived with me, sent from Scotland.  A contact known just as G.B., had spotted one of my gulls.  Earlier during the day, he spotted -  2FJF  at Strathclyde Country Park in South Lanarkshire.  Interestingly,  2FJF  was my 12th ring sighting at Antrim Marina four days earlier (Tuesday).

 2FJF , was caught and ringed as a juvenile/1st winter bird at the Marina on the 12th November 2023.  After that, it was recorded at the Marina through to the 31st March 2024.  With no summer sightings, it was back at the Marina when I began my weekly winter visits on the 4th August 2024.

Recorded on most weeks until the 12th January 2025, a surprise sighting on the 17th January 2025 by Scott Black (along with photo), saw -  2FJF  at Strathclyde Country Park.  This was an exceptionally early move for a wintering gull, but no further sightings were made during the summer.  2025, would see -  2FJF  reaching breeding age, but did it breed in Scotland, or did it move further north-east into Scandinavia?

I recorded -  2FJF 's return to Antrim Marina on the 17th August 2025.  Scott's email mentioned that there was an Indian Restaurant quite near to where he saw -  2FJF .  Apparently, the staff there would throw out all of their scrapes for the gulls to clear up.  With this latest sighting at Strathclyde, perhaps an Indian takeaway was more enticing than bread and pellets at Antrim Marina.  It will be interesting to see if this gull returns to the Marina over the next few weeks.

Strathclyde Country Park is situated 183 kms / 114 miles (NE) from Antrim Marina, and the duration since being ringed, is now 1 year, 11 months and 2 days.  My thanks goes to G.B. for the sighting report along with a photo. 

Black-headed Gull  -   2FJF   -  Strathclyde Country Park, South Lanarkshire, Scotland)

(Ringed as a Juvenile/1st Winter Bird on the 12th November 2023, at Antrim Marina, Antrim Town, Co. Antrim)

(Photo Courtesy of G.B.)

Other Birds at Antrim Marina

As mentioned above, 64 Black-headed Gulls were counted on my arrival, and 7 adult Mute Swans as well as 20 Mallards were also present.  No other gull species were on site, and having had a good search around, there was no sign of the juvenile Mediterranean Gull.

At 11:59, an 8th adult Mute Swan swan in from the direction of the Lough and rested on it's own on the small sandy beach.  At 3pm, as I packed up ready to leave, the resident family of Mute Swans arrived from up-river, these being the female -  X4707 , and her six cygnets.

At this time, just 7 Mallards were still present.  The last few weeks have been very strange concerning Mallard numbers, except for last week when 40 were counted.  During my initial weekly visits the winter, I had counts of around 60 and 80, with a high of 100+ in late August.  Recently, a fish kill was reported on one of the river tributes which eventually passes the Marina flowing into Lough Neagh.  I would think that this should not impact Mallard numbers, but you never know.

One adult Common Gull was spotted at the end of the long wooden jetty at 2:15.  Having collected the camera from my car, as I walked around the 'Gateway Centre', a gent and his wife stopped me for a chat.  By the time we had finished, the gull was gone.  I lifter the camera in case it was the small metal-ringed Common Gull from Scotland.  A juvenile Common Gull arrived at 2:35, resting on a navigation post positioned close to the slipway.

The resident male Herring Gull appeared at 2:20.  For some reason, he appeared nervous.  Normally, he is confident enough to walk right up to people feeding the ducks.  There was no sign of his mate or youngster.

With just 5 Jackdaws, it was a really poor day for bird sightings.  With poor weather forecasted today (Sunday 19th) and tomorrow, my next visit will be on Tuesday.

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