| Antrim Marina - Wednesday 4th February 2026 |
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Today, I stayed at home until light rainfall stopped, the weather maps showing a dry afternoon. Arriving at 12:35, I could only stay till 3pm, and as things turned out, this was ample time. On arrival, it was dry, calm, though heavy cloud made it look a trifle dark. The temperature gauge in my car read 8°C.
Driving across to my normal parking spot, I could see that the water levels around the slipway were even higher since my previous weekly visit. Apparently, Northern Ireland has had it's wettest January in 149 years according to the BBC News. The river which flows past Antrim Marina, is called The Six Mile Water and flows into Lough Neagh, which is the UK's largest freshwater lake. I took a photo later on showing the small Concrete Jetty which was submerged. (Note the gull on the roof of my car).
Whilst driving down the avenue that leads to the Marina, I noticed two very large pools of water on the Massereene Golf Course. Between them, they attracted more Black-headed Gulls than I saw at the Marina today.
The Small Concrete Jetty Under Water (04 Feb 2026)
At the Marina, around 40 Black-headed Gulls were present and that number remained more or less the same during my visit. With 28 colour-ringed gulls to look for, this turned out to be yet another poor visit. Only 10 rings were read, leaving me with a massive 18 absentees. No new returnees were recorded either.
I have mentioned a juvenile Black-headed Gull which always lands on the roof of my car and quite happily takes bread from my hand. As soon as I parked, I heard a thump on the roof, so I knew it was there. Sometimes, it lands on the bonnet of the car looking at me as if to say feed me. I'm getting over a sprained wrist, which has prevented me from trying to rings any gulls, as I could not put enough pressure on the ringing pliers. Hopefully, I can get some ringed soon, and this friendly youngster would be a nice one to ring. The photo below shows the juvenile looking at my finger which is pressed against the windscreen.
My Friendly Juvenile Black-headed Gull - (Why Not Come In and Look Out!!!) (04 Feb 2026)
( 2FJA is standing on the top of the fence)
While in the car, I scanned through the gulls on the slipway with my binoculars when I spotted an adult Mediterranean Gull that was colour-ringed. Grabbing the camera, I managed to obtain a couple of photos before all of the gulls took to the air - a dog walker as usual was the culprit. Looking at the photos, they were not great, but I had captured the code - PKPA .
A short time later (13:13), I located the Med Gull again resting on the top rail on the Long Wooden Jetty. This time, I managed to obtain better photos. The ring-code did not ring any bells, but on returning home, I had been involved with this bird before.
I entered the code onto my Main Ring Reading Spreadsheet and a search delivered a result. Back in July 2025, my ex-ringing trainer (John Clarke) sent me a photo of a Med Gull that he had taken on the Bann Estuary at Castlerock in County Londonderry. The bird was a good distance from John, but on editing the photo I confirmed the code read - PKPA , which I submitted to both our BTO and the 'Live' Polish Ringing Database. A while later, the sighting was accepted, therefore I had access to the ringing details.
PKPA , was ringed as a chick, on the 8th June 2022, at Lake Szczodrzykowo in Central Poland. The distance to the Bann Estuary was given as 1,594 kms / 977 miles (WNW), and the duration at that time since being ringed, was 3 years, 1 month and 6 days.
I submitted today's sighting onto the Polish Database, and the results came back on the following day. The distance to Antrim Marina was given as, 1,559 kms / 968 miles (WNW), and the duration is now 3 years, 7 months and 27 days since being ringed.
One other sighting of this gull was made in March 2023, when spotted in the Southampton area, in Hampshire, England.
Mediterranean Gull - PKPA - Antrim Marina, Antrim Town, Co. Antrim (04 Feb 2026)
Mediterranean Gull - PKPA - Bann Estuary, Castlerock, Co. Londonderry (14 Jul 2025)
(Photo Courtesy of John Clarke)
My 10th and final sighting at 1:18, was that of - 2CJT . This gull is a year round resident at the Marina and it is rare for it not to be recorded from week to week. It's absence during the previous two weeks did have me wondering though. When I first spotted it on the Low Wooden Jetty, it had it's head tucked into it's back - has it returned from a journey? Since being ringed, 2CJT has been recorded on 317 occasions, all at the Marina bar one. That was back in February 2021, when Gavin Baptie took a photo at Castle Semple Loch at Lochwinnock in Renfrewshire, Scotland. It was back at the Marina by April 2021 and has never strayed since.
2CJT , was ringed at the Marina as a juvenile/1st Winter Bird, on the 4th December 2016. Today's sighting takes the duration since being ringed, to 9 years and 2 months. Juvenile/1st Winter birds, 2nd Winter birds and 3rd Winter birds (early after the new year), are good ones to ring, as they are of known age. The record for a Black-headed Gull, is 33 years, 2 months and 16 days.
Black-headed Gull - 2CJT - Antrim Marina, Antrim Town, Co. Antrim (04 Feb 2026)
(Ringed as a Juvenile/1st Winter Bird, on the 4th December 2016, at Antrim Marina)
Black-headed Gulls Recorded at Antrim Marina on Wednesday 4th February 2026
| 2FKA |
2FFA |
2FJA |
2BRA |
2AAN |
2CSK |
2FIL |
2CSR |
2FIF |
2CJT |
Black-headed Gulls Recorded at Antrim Marina This Autumn/Winter but Absent Today
| 2ABN |
2ACV |
2AFD |
2BRD |
2CTA |
2FDL |
2FDK |
2FFN |
2FFT |
| 2FFX |
2FHV |
2FJF |
2FJK |
2FJN |
2FJP |
2FJT |
2FJV |
2FJX |
Other Birds at Antrim Marina
On my arrival, four separate sets of Mute Swans were noted. Feeding on the grass just beyond the Low Wooden Jetty, were five adults along with two juveniles. I decided to wait for them to walk back to the slipway, but that turned out to be a bad mistake. I did not realise that they could find a way to the river by walking down the bank. When I noticed they had gone, they were swimming upriver. Any chance for rings had gone.
The second set of Mute Swans, were two adults and a single cygnet, which had just left the slipway and they too swam upriver. At 1:10, I assumed the same birds returned to the slipway, which were the resident pair (female ringed - X4707 ), and their remaining cygnet (the last of six).
A set of four adults were on the slipway, and the final set, was an adult, along with a single cygnet (neither were ringed) on the small Sandy Beach. That cygnet did not seem to belong to the adult, but was far older than the cygnet belonging to the resident pair.
Around 30 Mallards were counted, with numbers dropping slightly before my departure. Most legs were checked for rings.
The adult Moorhen was present throughout the visit, and as usual, ate the gull droppings.
The resident male Herring Gull and his youngster, were also present throughout the visit. A second year Herring Gull arrived at 12:17, and I'm sure that this is the bird belonging to the resident pair from 2024.
Only a single adult Common Gull on my arrival and I had a high count of 3 adults at 2:24. A juvenile that arrived at 12:57, only stayed for around 20 minutes. An earlier high count of 15 adults might not be bettered during the remainder of the winter. I have only had a single sighting of the 30 year old Finnish Common Gull, but I'm hoping for another sighting or two before it heads home.
The pair of Hooded Crows made a brief visit, and the usual pair of Jackdaws and the male Pied Wagtail made several visits.
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