Lots of activity on the beaches

An hour before work this morning at Chouet Landfill Beach resulted in another 180+ cr reads from the increasingly active gulls. With the 2015 breeding season fast approaching there was plenty of display behaviour and also courtship on the beach this morning. It's a wonderful time of year to study gulls' fascinating courtship rituals.

After the watch I did a short TV interview for the local news - hopefully promoting the fascinating lives of our gull populations. Just no time for any photos this morning - sorry!

New Herring Gull from SW England and GBBG from Seine-Maritime, France

A cold NE wind this morning at Chouet Landfill Beach reminded me that it is still early spring in Guernsey! Not that the cool weather put the gulls off...there were good numbers at the landfill. A one hour watch at the adjacent beach resulted in c 160 ring reads (110 LBBGs, 40 Herring Gulls and 11 GBBGs). I'm always thrilled to record our colour ringed LBBGs returning at this time of year, but other highlights were a Herring Gull (Yellow C+Z)  ringed by Peter Rock in SW England, and another new GBBG (Black 43S) ringed by Gilles Le Guillou at Seine-Maritime, France.

GBBG Black 43S from Seine-Maritime, France (c) PKV

Herring Gull Yellow C+Z from SW England (c) PKV



Just about as fast as it gets!

For the first hour this morning at Chouet landfill Beach I recorded colour ringed gulls at the eye-straining rate of 216 birds per hour! That's just about as fast as I ever get here...and after an hour I was ready for a cup of coffee! Conditions this morning were perfect - a slow rising tide pushing the birds ever closer on the beach, and few dogs passing flushing the gulls. In 90 minutes I recorded just over 100 cr LBBGs (including a Portuguese-ringed bird first seen in Guernsey last year - Blue M:012).

I also recorded 140 Herring Gulls and 14 GBBGs - including three French-ringed birds. All in all a wonderful start to the day!

Gulls on Chouet Landfill Beach (c) PKV

LBBG B8N7 (recorded in Portugal this winter) (c) PKV LBBG 3.H5 has never been recorded in winter (over four years since ringing) (c) PKV

LBBG Blue M:012 - ringed Figueira da Foz by Rute Costa (c) PKV

LBBG B0AW6 (c) PKV

LBBG B0AW4 (recorded this winter on autumn passage in Northern Spain by Gilberto Jardon and Oscar Chao, then in Northern Morocco by Peter Rock, Nils Helge-Lorentzen and PKV, and in Portugal on return passage by Tim van Nus and Pedro Moreira) (c) PKV

Gulls on Chouet Landfill Beach (c) PKV



100+ cr LBBGs and a French-ringed Herring Gull

A 90 minute trip to Chouet Landfill and then half an hour at Chouet Landfill Beach resulted in my first 100+ cr LBBG day of the spring! Amongst the ringed Herring Gulls was Light Blue B93G from Seine-Maritime, France.

Gulls at Chouet Landfill (c) PKV Black 9V0 winters in the Canary Islands, while Black 2AC5 winters in Spain each year.