| Antrim Marina - Tuesday 4th August 2026 |
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Today marked my first weekly visit to Antrim Marina to record the colour ringed Black-headed Gulls which were all caught and ringed on site with the earliest having been ringed back in 2012. My aim each winter beginning in the first week of August to the final week of March, is to undertake at least one weekly visit not only to read colour rings, but if possible catch new gulls to add to my project.
This is a study of the wintering population and during the spring and summer, the gulls head off to their breeding sites. Some of the gulls are year round residents breeding in the Antrim area, whereas, other have been reported in Iceland, Scandinavia and in north and central Europe, also closer to home in England, Scotland and at sites here in Northern Ireland. Once their breeding season is over whether having been successful or not, they begin to return to Antrim Marina.
Before I discuss today's findings, I need to update all on some events over the summer.
A major problem came to light back in late April. It involved the 'Torpedo Platform' situated a short distance away from Antrim Marina. The 'Torpedo Platform' was used in World War Two to test torpedo's and the now derelict and overgrown platform serves as a breeding site for gulls and terns. A 'Live' camera on the platform saw a healthy population of Black-headed Gulls selecting nest-sites, but in late April, they suddenly abandoned the platform. Where the colony relocated too is as yet unknown. Around the same time, the Common Terns were arriving back from Africa. They did attempt to nest on the platform, but without the protection of the Black-headed Gull colony, their eggs were being predated by the gulls. Watching the 'Live' camera, I even saw immature Black-headed Gulls raiding the tern nests.
During my two random summer visits to Antrim Marina, I scoped the 'Torpedo Platform', and only a handful of terns remained. Looks like most of them ended up abandoning the platform too. During May, the 'Live' camera was closed down - obviously hiding the carnage taking place.
I informed the Lough Neagh Partnership at an early stage to highlight the problem on the platform. It is the Partnership who installed the live camera, and they never got back to me, to give me their thoughts.
As mentioned, I only made two random summer visits to Antrim Marina. Normally, I would undertake a few more, the idea, is to record the resident colour-ringed Black-headed Gulls. My second visit in June, was so bad, I did not have the heart to undertake further visits - birdlife around the Marina was almost non existent.
During the summer, away from the Marina, only two of my gulls were reported - 2FHV in Iceland, and three sightings of - 2FIX in Renfrewshire, Scotland.
Suzanne Belshaw stopped by the Marina on the 14th July. Suzanne recorded 5 colour-ringed Black-headed Gulls. 2AAN is regarded as a breeding bird in the Larne area (likely Blue Circle Island), but did spend one summer at the Marina. 2CJT and 2CSR are year round residents, whilst 2FJA and 2FJT are considered as being winter visitors to the Marina and their actual breeding sites are as yet unknown. The return date for these two are the earliest recorded so far. Suzanne also sent photos for all five gulls, and I thank her for reporting these, along with the photos.
Colour Ringed Black-headed Gulls Recorded at Antrim Marina by Suzanne Belshaw on the 14th July 2026
I arrived at Antrim Marina just before 11:30 this morning, and 'Wow', I was in for a big surprise. On arrival it was cloudy but calm and the temperature gauge in my car read 19ºC. Over the next three hours of my visit, the skies opened up, leaving us with a very hot day.
Arriving not knowing what to expect, there were Black-headed Gulls all round the place. A rough estimate gave 70 to 80 gulls, but was really interesting, was the number of juveniles. My first visit last autumn gave a disappointing total of just 4 juveniles, which suggested the gulls had had a very poor breeding season.
This time, the number of juveniles was pushing towards half of the gulls present. Over my three hour visit, numbers remained more or less static, but on leaving the Marina just after 2:30pm, at least another 30 to 40 gulls were present around the nearby 'Play Park'. Quite a few gulls were also standing around the busy picnic tables obviously waiting for titbits. I noticed some had colour-rings, but with children about, using binoculars or my camera was out of the question.
Just 10 colour-rings were recorded today. The first was - 2FIF , a resident which was also recorded during my random summer visits. The second, was a nice one to see - 2FKA . This was my last Black-headed Gull to be ringed here at the Marina. I caught it on the 1st December 2024, as a juvenile/1st winter bird. It was away all summer last year, and the same during this past summer. It is now 1 year, 8 months and 3 days since it was ringed. I'm now wondering if this one is a foreign bird. It will reach maturity next year, so fingers crossed that it will be spotted in a breeding colony.
Black-headed Gull - 2FKA - Antrim Marina, Antrim Town, Co. Antrim (04 Aug 2026)
(Ringed as a Juvenile/1st Winter Bird, on the 1st December 2024, at Antrim Marina)
2CJT and 2CSR are year round residents and were mentioned above, along with non-resident - 2FJA . When - 2FJA arrived at 11:48, it started squealing at me "where have you been"? I grabbed some bread and hand fed him on the fence in front of where I park the car. 2FJA was ringed as an unsexed 2nd Winter bird back in December 2022.
The next one - 2AAN was also mentioned above. It was ringed here on the 21st December 2012 as an adult female, and was among the earliest Black-headed Gulls to be ringed that belonged to Adam McClure's former Northern Ireland Black-headed Gull Study. 2AAN , is now the oldest surviving gull from that study, and as of today, it is now 13 years, 7 months and 14 days since being ringed.
2BRA , is another year round resident at the Marina, and was ringed as an adult female in February 2015.
The next gull had me racing to grab my camera. 2FHV had safely returned from Iceland. Just the one sighting the past summer, having been photographed at Akureyri in northern Iceland on the 13th April 2026. The finder, Hrafn Svavarsson, stated that the nearest breeding colony was at Krossanesborgir, just under two kilometres to the north. 2FHV , was ringed as an unsexed adult at the Marina in November 2021. Over the years since being ringed, I now have seven sighting from the same area of Iceland. Looking at the photo, has he just arrived back!!
Black-headed Gull - 2FHV - Antrim Marina, Antrim Town, Co. Antrim (04 Aug 2026)
(Ringed as an Unsexed Adult, on the 8th November 2021, at Antrim Marina)
2FFT , puzzled me somewhat. Ringed in December 2020, I had always assumed it was a winter visitor and possibly a foreign breeder. The early sighting on the 6th June 2026, had me wondering - had it failed early during it's breeding attempt.
My tenth and final colour-ring sighting was that of another year round resident - 2CSK , ringed as an unsexed adult in December 2017.
Colour Ringed Black-headed Gulls Recorded at Antrim Marina on Tuesday 4th August 2026
| 2FIF |
2FKA |
2CJT |
2CSR |
2FJA |
2AAN |
2BRA |
2FHV |
2FFT |
2CSK |
All in all, I was very pleased with today's visit. Plenty of birds around for a change, and the number of juvenile Black-headed Gulls was totally unexpected. Wherever the Black-headed Gulls bred at after abandoning the 'Torpedo Platform', they must have been fairly successful - bearing in mind, the cases of 'Bird Flu' in colonies over the last couple of years. When Danny from Lough Neagh Rescue arrived, even he made comment on the numbers of juveniles around.
Other Birds Recorded at Antrim Marina
As is the norm when I arrive, the Mute Swans are always fairly obvious. Expecting to see some cygnets, there was none. Four Mute Swans were lying down on the slipway, and my heart sank when I saw the metal ring of - X4707 . Although ringed as a male in April 2024, this bird is a female and had six chicks last year. At no stage did I figure out if the other three swans included her partner. No cygnets - what's happened?
Half way through my visit, a couple stopped by Danny and myself. Asked if I was the guy 'banding' the birds, we got onto the subject of the ringed Mute Swan. They had seen her on her nest upriver from the Marina and at that stage she was on eggs. Did they hatch? Perhaps that story can be answered by passers by in the coming weeks.
A pair of Mute Swans arrived from upriver at 12:36, the female being immature looking at the colour of her beak.
Ring of Mute Swan - X4707 - Antrim Marina, Antrim Town, Co. Antrim (04 Aug 2026)
(Ringed as an Adult Male, on the 5th April 2024, at Bartins Bay, Lough Neagh, Co. Antrim)
No sooner had I parked my car, the resident male Herring Gull walked right up to me quickly followed by his youngster. Here is another gull that remembers me. Opening the car door, he walked right up and took lots of bread from my hand.
Two immature Herring Gulls were also present throughout my visit. One appears to be last years youngster, the other from the preceding year, both belonging to the resident pair.
The Resident Male Herring Gull along with his Chick - Antrim Marina, Antrim Town, Co. Antrim (04 Aug 2026)
A single adult Common Gull was also present as I parked up. A further two adults arrived at 11:42 and 12:26, with all three lined up together on the small concrete jetty at one stage.
A single sub-adult Lesser Black-backed Gull made a brief visit at 13:04.
Around 40 Mallards were present, and that total remained more or less throughout the visit. No chicks were seen during my May and June visits, and still no chicks today. Danny from Lough Neagh Rescue said he had not seen any chicks at all this summer. If they are breeding locally something is going on at their nests.
A few Sand Martins were flying around high in the sky, but they did not seem to be using the Swift cavities situated high up on the walls of the Gateway Centre.
3 Jackdaws and two Hooded Crows were the only other species noted today.
This was a fairly satisfactory first visit and I hope the gull numbers hold up. Over the next few weeks, there should be a few other returnees. Last winter, several of my colour-ringed gulls suddenly disappeared over a space of a few weeks and I reckoned they had perished. We had three severe storms last winter. During the summer I tried to correlate the loss of those gulls with the storms, but could not find a direct link.
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