Lesser Black-backed Gull – White 8.Z0 – Home for the 2nd Time!

On yet another very grey and cold morning in Guernsey it was a pleasant surprise to once again welcome home Lesser Black-backed Gull White 8.Z0. On the blog posting on 25 January I joyously announced the arrival back in Guernsey of this Sark nesting adult female…and to make it even more thrilling this gull had been recorded in southern Portugal only 11 days earlier (Stef Waasdorp). However, 8.Z0 then surprised me by flying south west again and turning up at Guidel-plages, Morbihan, France on 4th February (Benjamin Griard and Steph Guerin).

LBBG White 8.Z0 at Chouet landfill Beach 25 January 2009 - PKV

LBBG White 8.Z0 at Guidel Plage, Morbihan, France - 04 February 2010 - Seph Guerin

LBBG White 8.Z0 back at Chouet landfill - 08 February 2010 - PKV

Also back today, amongst the 35+ Lesser Black-backed Gulls seen at Chouet landfill and its adjacent beach was White 0.Z6. This adult female had been ringed in our garden at Ty Coed, Vale Marais, Guernsey on 05/07/08, and I saw it eight times in 2009 from 22 March to 09 August, but its wintering grounds both in 2008/09 and 2009/10 remain unknown.

LBBG White 0.Z6 at Chouet landfill Beach 09/08/09 - PKV

A total of 69 cr Herring Gulls was recorded – all Guernsey birds – except Yellow 3B1 and Green ACY from Jersey. The former had been ringed as a chick on mainland Jersey in June 1999 (by the late Bob Burrows) and been recorded in several subsequent winters at Noirmoitier island, Vendee, France. Green ACY was ringed as a chick by Ian Buxton on Les Ecrehous Reef off the east coast of Jersey in the summer 2000/01 and been seen in Guernsey 10 times during 2009. This was its first sighting in 2010.

Two well-known French ringed Great Black-backed Gulls were recorded – Green E.30 and Green E87 – both birds ringed by Seb Provost on the Chausey Islands in the summer of 2009.