Antrim Marina - Wednesday 28th January 2026...

Antrim Marina - Wednesday 28th January 2026

I was not sure what to expect at Antrim Marina today following the latest named storm (Chandra) which passed through Northern Ireland yesterday.  On the BBC News, they reported flooding in Antrim Town.  Arriving at the Marina at 11:10, I had taken the gamble that the Automatic Number Plate Recognition camera would be working which allows me to take my car into the front car park.  Happy days, it was working and I made my was over to the small concrete jetty, which is my usual parking spot.  The water levels were so high, the jetty was submerged with just the railings showing. 

Studying a wintering population of Black-headed Gulls, some of these were colour-ringed at the Marina in order to follow their movements.  So far this winter, I had recorded a total of 27 colour-ringed gulls, with the last two returning to the Marina on the 30th December 2025.  These were -  2FJP  whose origin is unknown, and -  2FDL  which has been recorded in a breeding colony in Sweden.

On my arrival, around 30 Black-headed Gulls were present and numbers never surpassed that mark during the visit which I ended at 2pm through utter boredom.  On a number of occasions, less than 10 Black-headed Gulls were present.  The only colour-ringed gull that was present throughout, was -  2FKA  which I ringed here as a juvenile on the 1st December 2024 (now 1 year, 1 month and 27 days since being ringed).

Black-headed Gull  -   2FKA   -  Antrim Marina, Antrim Town, Co. Antrim  (28 Jan 2026)

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

I have not got a clue as to what is going on with the gulls, with only 8 colour-rings read from the 27 leaving me with another large number of absentees (19).  My ex-ringing trainer (back in the 80's) - Sandy McWilliams suggested in an email, the gulls may well be feeding on the water soaked farmland fields.  On top of this, some of my gulls have been absent for several weeks now which is unusual.

Just after 1pm, my attention was caught by the sound of a drone.  Spotting it high up in the sky, it had no effect on the gulls below.  I had a wee walk about looking for the owner, and spotted him sitting on a boulder close to the ANPR barrier.  I was curios to see what model was being flown, as I own a DJI Mavic Air 2.  I was just in time to watch the drone being landed beside us - a Mimi Air 3.  The owner 'Dermot' and myself had a good wee chat before my attention returned to the gulls.

With camera in hand, I zoomed into the gulls on the Long Wooden Jetty and my 'heart jumped' - the Latvian -  2AFD  had returned.  This is one of my special birds as it has a fairly good re-sighting history.  Normally, you can set your clock on this gull returning around the 3rd weekend in October each year, and I have made several comments over recent weeks about it's failure to show up.  I have checked it's favoured haunt in recent times - the Castle Way car park in the centre of Antrim Town.  With today's sighting,  2AFD  may have returned to Antrim area back in October.

 2AFD , belongs to Adam McClure's former Northern Ireland Black-headed Gull Study (2012 to 2018) and was ringed as an adult male at the Marina on the 12th February 2014.  The first re-sighting was made by me in my home town of Ballymena.  I spotted it on the 13th November 2014 at the Wakehurst Playing Fields, and two days later, it was back at the Marina.

Having spent the winter at Antrim, the next three sightings came in a space of seven days when he was spotted at the Getlini Eko Landfill Site, just to the east of the Latvian capital of Riga (April 2015).

Getlini Eko Landfill Site was also the scene of a further two sighting during April 2016.  The next sighting in Riga was in March 2022, when spotted in the Kengarags area on the western edge of the Capital (River and Parkland).

In 2023, an interesting series of three sightings occurred in a space of 12 days.  On the 30th June, German tourist and birder, Simon Pirlo, spotted -  2AFD  at Riga's Central Market where the fishmonger there throws out scrapes to the gulls.  On the following day (1st July), Simon spotted -  2AFD  again, 200m down the road at Riga's Central Station (I think it was unlikely it was trying to catch a train).  On the 11th July, a really unexpected sighting came in,  2AFD  had been spotted on the beach at Cromer situated on the coast of Norfolk, England.  Why had he gone so far south?  Could it be possible that -  2AFD  'stages' in England before returning to Antrim? 

I am absolutely delighted to see that this gull is still alive and well, even if this is the only sighting this winter.  My last sighting was made on the 19th January 2025, just over a year ago.  It has now been 11 years, 11 months and 6 days since being ringed and Riga is 1,911 kms / 1,187 miles (E) from Antrim Marina.

Black-headed Gull  -   2AFD   -  Antrim Marina, Antrim Town, Co. Antrim  (28 Jan 2026)

(Ringed as an Adult Male, on the 12th February 2014, at Antrim Marina)

There has been no further sightings of the Icelandic-rung Black-headed Gull -  543335 , since the 25th November 2025 - I'm sure it has perished.  Ringed in southern Iceland in July 2023, it first appeared at the Marina the following month.  It stayed for the whole winter in 2023/2024 and 2024/2025.  This winter, it returned on the 24th August 2025.  Once back, it was rarely absent during my weekly visits.

There has been no further sightings of the Finnish Black-headed Gull -  ST347.186 .  It looks likely that this gull was just passing through.

Black-headed Gulls Recorded at Antrim Marina on Wednesday 28th January 2026

2AAN	2FFA	2FJT	2BRA	2CSK	2FJA	2FKA	2CSR	2AFD

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

2ABN	2ACV	2BRD	2CJT	2CTA	2FDL	2FDK	2FFN	2FFT	2FFX
2FHV	2FIF	2FIL	2FJF	2FJK	2FJN	2FJP	2FJV	2FJX

Other Birds at Antrim Marina

Driving across the car park to my usual parking spot, I had to weave around a large number of Mute Swans.  A count revealed 14 adults and 1 cygnet.  2 of the adults are the resident pair and the cygnet belongs to them (the last of 6 youngsters).  The female is ringed -  X4707 .  There is no sign of the younger cygnet that appeared a few weeks back.  This youngster arrived on it's own and I'm now wondering if it was the swan that was found dead slightly upriver recently.

Another poor showing of Mallards today.  20 were present on my arrival and just 11 birds remained just before my departure.  All legs were checked for rings.

2 adult Common Gulls were present on my arrival and I had a high total of 5 adults at 12:24.  The highest total of adults recorded this winter, was 15 birds, which included two with metal rings (Scotland and Finland).  None of today's birds were ringed.

The juvenile Herring Gull belonging to the resident pair was present throughout my visit and it's father arrived at 1:10.

The pair of Hooded Crows made a brief appearance.  As usual, a pair of Jackdaws made repeated visits as did the male Pied Wagtail.

Not a good day for recording other species.

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