A Visit to The Algarve, Portugal

I’ve just returned from a week in the Algarve, Portugal looking for colour ringed Lesser Black-backed Gulls. I am very pleased to report that no fewer than 12 different “Guernsey” Lesser Black-backed Gulls were amongst the 96 colour ringed LBBGs seen. The Guernsey birds included three ringed as chicks and one as an adult in 2009, and three adults, four chicks and a 2nd calendar year from 2010. Some of these gulls already have other sightings in Spain and Portugal, and one of the 2009 chicks had been seen in September 2010 in The Netherlands.

The other colour ringed Lesser Black-backed Gulls originated from:-

Norway (6), Denmark (5), Germany (3), Iceland (4),The Netherlands (25), Belgium (14), England (20), Wales (4), France (2) and Portugal (1).

The principal sites visited were Quarteira/Vilamoura Beaches, Portimao Fish Port, Porto de Lagos Landfill and Tavira saltpans.

Other colour rings were read on White Storks (Portugal (2) and Germany (1)), Mediterranean Gulls (Belgium (2), France (5), Italy (1) and Hungary (1)), Yellow-legged Gull (Portugal )1)) and Audouin’s Gulls (Spain (2)).

As well as some superb gull watching, it was also a very relaxing and enjoyable holiday in some much warmer weather than we have back home in Guernsey at the moment!

 White 3.U5 (from Guernsey)

 Audouin's Gulls at Tavira Saltpans

 Black 2.C9 (from Guernsey)

 Black 3.N2 (from Guernsey)

 Black 5.L9 (from Alderney)

 Blue JY96 (from Iceland)

 Blue KAB (from Gloucester, England)

 Green RH3 (from Rotterdam, The Netherlands)

 Orange PXO (from Rotterdam, The Netherlands)

 PKV on Vilamoura Beach

 Dusk at Quarteira

 Red E492 at Portimao (from Netherlands)

 Tavira Saltpans

White Storks at Porto de Lagos Landfill

More Gulls at Chouet

A shorter than usual effort this Saturday at Chouet resulted in 86 ring reads (81 Herring and five Great Black-backed Gulls) - all local birds - except two well-known French GBBGs - Blue 30C (Le Havre, Seine-Maritime - Gilles Le Guillou) and Green J.60 (Chausey Islands - Seb Provost). Constant light rain and poor light didn't really help viewing conditions, but the rising tide did push the loafing gulls close to the car.

Great Black-backed Gull Yellow 0R9 Chouet Landfill Beach 13/11/10 - PKV (originally ringed 29/06/09 as a chick at Albecq, Guernsey)

A Blustery Day!

It has been a blustery week in Guernsey, with plenty of grey, stormy weather. This morning was no different, but I managed to read a few colour rings on gulls at Chouet landfill and on Chouet landfill Beach. Amongst them as Blue B883 - a 1st winter Herring Gull ringed by Christne Blaize (CHENE) at Le Havre, Seine-Maritime, FRANCE.

 Gulls on Chouet Landfill Beach - 12/11/10 - PKV

 Gulls at Chouet Landfill Beach 12/11/10 -PKV

Herring Gull White 7.AJ2 Chouet landfill Beach - 12/11/10 - PKV

Cannon Netting Gulls on Guernsey on BIRDGUIDES

Mark Grantham today sent an e-mail with a link to an excellent short video he made of the gull cannon netting operation run with the North Thames Gull Group at Chouet landfill last May.  It is a really informative and well filmed little piece - very well worth a look for anyone interested in gull ringing.

http://www.birdguides.com/webzine/article.asp?a=2389

Colour-ringed Great Cormorant

Recently local birder Tony Bisson sent me this photo of a colour ringed Great Cormorant at St Saviour's Reservoir, Guernsey on 21 October 2010. Gérard Debout has informed us that this bird was ringed on 15 May 2010 on Huguenans Island, Chausey Islands, Manche, FRANCE.

Great Cormorant C10 at St Saviour's Reservoir, Guernsey - Tony Bisson



Testing a Theory!

I was very pleased again today not to see any of my colour ringed Lesser Black-backed Gulls in Guernsey. I still believe that the entire breeding population leaves the Bailiwick of Guernsey at least over the period November-December. Three of my birds were still being seen along Guernsey’s west coast deep into October, but it is now almost two weeks since I have seen any of them. It is good fun testing my theory. I will of course post news on this site if any of my gulls prove me wrong this winter! A very quick look this morning revealed 16 Lesser Black-backed Gulls along the Island’s west coast – presumably all birds which have arrived from further north.

LBBG Black 2.C9 - one of the last "Guernsey" LBBGs to be seen this autumn - PKV



More Foreign Great Black-backed Gulls

A check of the Island's west coast beaches today gave a count of 28 Lesser Black-backed Gulls (once again none of our colour ringed birds). A decent roost of Great Black-backed Gulls off Fort Le Crocq held another new Norwegian bird - Black JA082 (a 2nd winter bird from Vest-Agder - Morten Helberg and Thomas Bentsen). There was also a 1st winter GBBG from St George's Island, Looe, Cornwall, England- White L:AJ8 (Bruce Taggart) and a French GBBG (Green E.95) from Chausey Islands (Seb Provost).

Great Black-backed Gull roost off Fort Le Crocq - 31 October 2010 - PKV 

GBBG Black JA082 - PKV 

GBBG White L:AJ8 - PKV



A Little Ringing at Chouet

Today, Phil Alexander and I caught five more Herring Gulls at Chouet Landfill. The first bird caught was White 6.AH8, which we ringed this summer as a chick on Jethou.

Herring Gull White 6.AH8 Chouet landfill 30 October 2010 - PKV 

Herring Gull White 6.AH8 (and 6.AH9) on 22 June 2010 - Jethou - PKV

Phil with Herring Gull White 7.AH0 Chouet Landfill - PKV



More Foreign Colour Ringed Great Black-backed Gulls

Another very quick early morning trip down the island's west coast proved very successful - despite the poor light. Amongst only 30 Great Black-backed Gulls at Vazon were seven colour ringed birds - five French-ringed birds (three from Seine-Maritime - Gilles Le Guillou) and two from Chausey Islands (Seb Provost). Pride of place went to Blue J3LT - a 1st winter gull that had been ringed in June 2010 on the seabird island of Hornoya, Vardo in Finnmark, Norway - almost 3,000km from Guernsey!  The other colour ringed bird was a local bird ringed as a chick on Jethou this summer.

On nearbe Perelle Beach there were another three cr Great Black-backed Gulls - two more from Chausey Islands, France and another Norwegian bird Black JH254 (which I have seen twice before in Guernsey in September 2010). Finally there was another locally cr GBBG on L'Eree.

My Lesser Black-backed Gull count this morning reached 32 birds - with no colour ringed birds.

GBBGs Blue J3LT and Yellow 0.HH4 Vazon - PKV 

GBBG Black JH254 Perelle - PKV 

GBBGs on Vazon Beach PKV 

Gulls on Perelle Beach - PKV



News from Home and Away

Gull watching on Guernsey has become much more difficult this week – primarily because I am struggling for enough light in the morning before having to be at work. This situation should improve again for a few weeks when “Daylight Saving” ends in Guernsey on 31 October 2010, and the clocks go back one hour. A quick dash to the West coast at lunchtime today did result in the sighting of a new French cr Great Black-backed Gull – Black 89E from Gilles Le Guillou’s project based at Le Havre, Seine-Maritime.


While it has been relatively quiet here in Guernsey, I am delighted with the steady flow of reports of sightings of Guernsey-ringed Lesser Black-backed Gulls (mainly from Iberia) and Herring Gulls (several from the Vendee and Normandy coasts of France). In addition Michael Davis has sent in reports for 12 Guernsey Lesser Black-backed Gulls that he saw at Quarteira, Algarve, Portugal earlier in October. This has whetted my appetite even more for our own trip to Quarteira next month. Hopefully some of the Guernsey birds will still be there!

Finally…the number of Lesser Black-backed Gulls on Guernsey has now dropped even further to a maximum of perhaps 40 birds (although hopefully I will be able to confirm this with some more field work over the coming weekend). In particular I shall be looking to see whether I can find any Guernsey colour ringed Lesser Black-backed Gulls in Guernsey (as I still suspect that all my birds leave the island in winter - at least over the period November-December).

LBBG Black 6.T5 Quarteira Oct 10 - Michael Davis 

LBBG White 3.U5 Quarteira Oct 10 - Michael Davis 

LBBG White 6.U5 Quarteira October 2010 - Michael Davis

Another superb day for Great Black-backed Gulls

With a stormy, wet night I thought today may be quite good down Guernsey's west coast for Great Black-backed Gulls - and so it proved. Around 200 GBBGs were seen - and amongst them were seven colour ringed birds from out of the island. The most exciting was Blue J2AN - ringed in Vest-Agder, Norway in June 2006 (Marton Berntsen) - and recorded several times since in Pas-de-Calais, France (Jean Michel Sauvage and Simon Feys). The other birds were two more from Gilles Le Guillou (Le Havre, Seine-Maritime, France) and three from Chausey Islands, Manche, France (Seb Provost), and an adult bird from Les Ecrehous, Jersey (Ian Buxton).

GBBG Black 13E Chouet Landfill Beach - PKV 

GBBG Blue J2AN L'Eree Aerodrome - PKV 

GBBG Blue J2AN Boulogne-sur-Mer - 12 Aug 2008 - Jean Michel Sauvage 

GBBG Green J.60 Chouet landfill Beach - PKV



A Very Busy Week for Guernsey Gulls!

This past week has been an extremely busy one with  a very good stream of Lesser Black-backed Gull sightings being reported from NW, SW and Central Spain. Added to this a new record of 19 sightings (involving 18 gulls) was reported from a single trip made to Portugal by Arnold Gronert (The Netherlands). However, even before I'd had a chance to process these sightings an e-mail came in from Peter Rock, who had just returned to England from a short holiday in Portugal - with no less than 49 sightings of my Lesser Black-backed Gulls (42 different gulls)!

At the same time some windy weather early in the week resulted in some good gull watching along Guernsey's West Coast. On 19 October a new record of seven foreign colour-ringed Great Black-backed Gulls was recorded. Ony one of these birds had been previously seen in Guernsey (Green E.30 - from Chausey Islands, France - Seb Provost). The six new birds included one Norwegian bird -  Black JA609 (nr Mandal, Vest-Agder - Finn Jorgensen), three from Le Havre, France (Gilles Le Guillou (Black 53G, Black 71E and Blue 51C) and two more from Chausey, France (Green B.17 and J.20).

There was also a Lesser Black-backed Gull (Green G:H) which had been ringed as a chick in Bristol, England (Peter Rock).

The next day  there was another of Gilles Le Guillou's Great Black-backed Gulls - Blue 61C, and a Lesser Black-backed Gull from Iceland, but this ring was so badly worn that it was unreadable (Pale Blue - possibly Y 156 or Y166). 

Also of considerable interest is the fact that three of my Guernsey colour-ringed adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls are still present in Guernsey - Black 3.K3, Black 3.J3 and Black 2.C9. Surely these birds will shortly move away for the winter? One chick from Burhou, Alderney (Black 4.T1) was also seen in Guernsey this week.

All in all - an absolutely fabulous week for the Guernsey Gulls colour ring projects! 

GBBG Green E.30 on an earlier visit to Guernsey - PKV



First Gulls ringed in Three Months!

On Saturday 16 October I ringed my first gulls in three months, when Phil Alexander (who is the latest trainee bird ringer under the Channel Islands Bird Ringing Scheme) and I caught seven Herring Gulls at Chouet landfill. Although we will only be able to trap a very small sample of Herring Gulls at the landfill over the winter, I am nevertheless very pleased to be able to do this, as all my Herring Gulls colour ringed over the past two years have been ringed during the summer months. I strongly suspect that some of the Herring Gulls (particularly the juvenile birds) are birds that were born on the south coast of England or the adjacent Normandy and Brittany coasts of France, but it will be very nice to see if this is indeed the case (assuming we can colour ring a reasonable (if small) sample).

Phil Alexander with Herring Gull White 7.AH3 - Chouet landfill - PKV 

Herring Gull White 7.AH6 Chouet Landfill - PKV



Fantastic Photo!

One of the highlights this weekend was great news from Antonio Gutierrez in NW Spain, that he had seen three of my Lesser Black-backed Gulls on the same beach (Pantín) in NW Spain. This isn't the first time that Antonio has seen three of my "Guernsey-ringed" Lesser Black-backed Gulls on the same day...however...how about this for a photo - two chicks both ringed in July 2010 on Burhou, Alderney - and then recorded together over 800km away!  Of course I do wonder whether these two juveniles flew down to NW Spain together...or did they just meet up again on the beach at Pantín?! The wonders of bird migration...FANTASTIC!

LBBG Black 6.T9 and Black 4.X5 on Pantín Beach, Spain - Antonio Gutierrez

LBBG Black 4.X5 Pantín - Antonio Gutierrez

LBBG Black 4.X5 Burhou, Alderney 09 July 2010 - PKV