Gulls on the Move

Having just returned from a week in France, I was eager to get out this morning to check the island’s northern beaches for gulls. In an hour and a half I recorded 165 colour ringed birds – almost all local. From the reports now coming in from NW Spain it is clear that many of the adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls which were in the islands this summer are now moving south, although there were still 350+ LBBGs on the beaches this morning (including 41 of my cr birds). It was encouraging to record 50+ juvenile Herring Gulls (including six of my 2011 chicks: three from Lihou, two from Jethou and one from Sark). I also saw my 1st fledged colour ringed juvenile Great Black-backed Gull this morning – Yellow 0.PP6 (from Lihou). There were a handful (less than 10) Lesser Black-backed Gull juveniles on the beaches too, but none were colour ringed.

Pembroke Beach - early morning - PKV