Report Guernsey Colour Ringed Gulls

Sightings of Guernsey colour ringed Gulls can be entered here for an instant life history, or sent to pkv@cwgsy.net for a life history to be returned by e-mail to observers.

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

The Shag Family

I'm delighted to report that the Shag camera family continues to do very well. Here's an image from a few minutes earlier this morning where both adults are back resting at the nest with three very healthy looking fledglings! Let's hope all three youngsters fledge the nest successfully fairly shortly!
Chris Mourant ringed two of the chicks last week. The third bird cleverly evaded us by retreating into a small hole that we could not reach into!
Both adults and all three youngsters at the Shag Camera Nest this morning!


Thursday, June 25, 2015

2014 GuernseyGulls Annual Report Finally Available!

I have finally been able to complete and publish on line the 2014 GuernseyGulls Annual Report. I had hoped to pack it with photographs (like previous reports), but I am so stretched with work at the moment that I've decided finally to go ahead and publish the actual report. Hopefully I'll get back and add photos at a later date.
2014 was another massively successful year for the gull research in the Bailiwick of Guernsey...take a look in the link below:-


LBBG Chick on Burhou July 2014



Monday, June 15, 2015

My Oldest Bird Ever!

I've just received news of my oldest ringed bird to date...a Northern Gannet which I ringed on an annual ringing trip to Les Etacs, Alderney on 25 June 1983. This bird was reported found dead in Friesland, The Netherlands on 21 May 2015 - some 31 years and 11 months after ringing!
While a very impressive age for any bird, this is not the oldest Gannet on record. This record is held by a Gannet ringed in Britain which was found dead 37 years and five months later.
One can only wonder how many chicks such a successful bird as F6491 has raised in its long lifetime?!
 

Monday, June 8, 2015

Summer priority is the National Seabird Census - Seabirds Count


The priority so far this summer has been in progressing the first National Seabird Census count in the Bailiwick of Guernsey for 15 years. With previous British national counts in 1970 (Operation Seafarer), 1986-1992 (the Seabird Colony Register) and 1998-2001 (Seabird 2000), few populations of seabirds in the Bailiwick have been systematically counted for a long time. This data is vital for establishing and monitoring conservation measures that may be needed to protect our important seabird populations.
With the field work in Guernsey, Sark, Herm, Jethou and offshore islands being done by only a handful of dedicated volunteers it has proved to be very hard (but rewarding ) work.
While some species will need to be counted next year (e.g. Common Tern and Manx Shearwater) the early results flowing in are shattering some of our more subjective views about what has been going on with our seabirds.
At last we now have up to date hard data on our populations which can be used in policy making. This must be one of the most valuable pieces of ornithological fieldwork carried out in very many years in the Islands – so very well done to the hardy few who have made it all possible!
Photos to follow in due course.

Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Valuable Summer Sightings!

These past two summers I have been spending time recording colour ringed gulls in the breeding colonies, rather than trying to ring new adults. This is because there is greater value to my studies by identifying the nesting sites of as many of my known birds as possible. A recent trip to colonies on Sark enabled me to identify the nesting sites of 57 gulls (40 LBBGs and 17 Herring Gulls). These records included one LBBG known to have been raised on Burhou, Alderney, which has clearly recruited into a colony on a different Channel Island.
LBBG Black 0.A9 on Burhou (c) Tim Morley