2nd Lesser Black-backed Gull with African History seen at Chouet & Return of another Larus fuscus from Iberia

In yesterday's strong NW winds there was a good flock of c 150 Lesser Black-backed Gulls sheltering on the storm beach at Chouet landfill Beach. Amongst these gulls was Red (white code) 9KF - a bird ringed as a chick on Flatholm Island, Wales (Brian Bailey) on 27/06/02. It was then seen on 08/01/03 at the legendary Tan Tan Plage, Morocco, on 19/02/06 at Lisbon, Portugal and at the Sandwell Valley, Caerphilly, Wales on 31/08/06. This is only the second Larus fuscus observed at Chouet which has a sightings history including Africa. The other was Brown 6HF (another of Brian Bailey's birds from Flatholm), which was seen at Chouet Landfill on 06/02/10.

Also seen sheltering on the beach was one of my own Lesser Black-backed Gulls with an interesting history. This was White 7.T9. Originally ringed as an adult male at Chouet landfil on 06/06/09, this gull was seen on 01/07/09 and 21/08/09 at Chouet, Guernsey, before being spotted on 25/09/09 at Portimao, Algarve, Portugal (Rob Voesten and Stef Waasdorp) and Quarteira, Algarve, Portugal on 28/09/09 (Michael Davis).