Saturday - A Nice Morning at Chouet with the Camera

Saturday was a lovely quiet morning with sunshine. The high tide early in the morning concentrated the gulls in Chouet landfill, where I managed to record 53 of my colour ringed Lesser Black-backed Gulls - including three which were recorded for the first time this spring (one had been recorded in winter in Madrid, Spain and another in the autumn in Beira Litoral, Portugal). I enjoyed the opportunity to try out my new digiscope camera (Panasonic FS10) with good light and with the gulls at reasonably close range.



Leucistic Great Black-backed Gull

A leucistic Great Black-backed Gull was present at Chouet on Friday morning. Although I've seen a handful of Lesser Black-backed Gulls with varying degrees of leucism, this is the first GBBG I've seen with this condition.

Leucistic GBBG Chouet Landfill Beach - 18 March 2011 - PKV

Amongst the 400+ Lesser Black-backed Gulls on the beach were 54 of my colour ringed birds, including several more back from winterng in Iberia and France.

There was also evidence of further movement of Great Black-backed Gulls with two more of Gilles Le Guillou's colour ringed birds from Seine-Maritime, France - 57H Black (new) and 28E Black (seen previously in Guernsey).











LBBG Black 2.N9 Returns from Morocco!

Today is a very special day for me. What started as a slow post-dawn session at Chouet, turned into a "golden" day when, on Pembroke Beach, I saw Lesser Black-backed Gull Black 2.N9. This is the gull I have been waiting for more than any other this spring, because the last time I saw him was on 21 December 2010 at Anza, Agadir, MOROCCO - some 2,200 km south of Guernsey! It is hard to describe the sense of wonder I have of such birds. It is so easy to take birds' ability to migrate for granted...but when you follow the route south...and then north again...it really makes you appreciate the amazing spectacle of life on earth!

For today there is nothing else to write...I am a happy man!

LBBG Black 2.N9 Chouet July 2010 - before his migration to Africa - PKV

Anza, Agadir, Morocco - LBBG Black 2.N9 seen here on 20/21 December 2010 - PKV

LBBG Black 2.N9 Pembroke Beach - 17 March 2011 - After his return from Africa! - PKV

More Excitements at Chouet!

Mid way through March and I now have half of my colour ringed Lesser Black-backed Gulls back in Guernsey. Interestingly in 2010 (on a smaller sample) 50% of the LBBGs were back by 10 March (almost one week earlier). Perhaps this is not a surprise, given the long run of cold easterly winds that we have had recently.

A very pleasant surprise yesterday was the re-appearance of Great Black-backed Gull Orange GC9.T. This gull was ringed at Pitsea landfill, Essex, England by the North Thames Gull Group on 9th January 2010. It was seen from 17 -27 March 2010 at Chouet, Guernsey before heading north to be seen at Brennevinsmyra, Mandal, Vest-Agder, NORWAY at the end of April. It is amazing that this GBBG has re-appeared in Guernsey at the same time of year for the past two years. There is obviously a small passage of GBBGs at the moment, with several French colour ringed birds from both Seb Provost’s project based in the Chausey Islands, Manche and Gilles Le Guillou’s based at Le Havre, Seine-Maritime. Some of these birds have been seen in Guernsey several months earlier, while others have been seen for the first time.

Two foreign-ringed Herring Gulls were also observed on 12 March at Chouet Beach. Blue JVC was a typical sighting, having been ringed in winter (January 2010) at the landfills in Gloucestershire by the Severn Estuary Gull Group. However, Red YZB was much more unusual, being a 1st winter bird, which was ringed as a chick in July 2010 on Havergate Island, Orford, Suffolk by Mike Marsh. Mike’s project is a large one that has been running for many years, but this is the first Herring Gull from this project to be reported from the Channel Islands.

 

 GBBG Orange GC9.T CLB - PKV

 GBBG Black 86H CLB - PKV

 LBBG Black 2.F1 - PKV

 LBBG Black 2.T6 CLB - PKV

LBBG White 8.Z0 CLB - PKV

50 Colour Ringed Lesser Black-backed Gulls Sighted at Chouet this Morning

I was thrilled this morning to record 50 of my cr Lesser Black-backed Gulls at Chouet. This included 10 birds which were newly back for the year, together with White 1.T4 – which was already back from its winter wanderings by 26 February 2011, but which sometime after 3rd March moved 270 km north to be at Bishop’s Cleeve Landfill, Cheltenham and then nearby Gloucester Landfill, England on 9th March. Interestingly this bird did much the same thing in 2010 – arriving back at Chouet, Guernsey by 2nd March (from its autumn/winter in Portugal ), where it remained until at least the 6th March – before being seen at Gloucester Landfill, England on 8th March and Bishop’s Cleeve Landfill on 11th March. Only four days later (on 15th March 2010) it was back at Chouet, Guernsey. Why some of our breeding Lesser Black-backed Gulls deliberately make this northwards (apparent) over-shoot in spring before returning to Chouet is not understood.


White 0.U4 also showed a fast movement but this time from NW Spain, where it was seen at A Frouxeira Lagoon, A Coruna on 08 March, back to Chouet landfill Beach, Guernsey this morning – almost 800 km in a maximum of six days.

Another Dozen Colour Ringed Lesser Black-backed Gulls back this Weekend

The highlights of another dozen colour ringed Lesser Black-backed Gulls which were seen  for the first time in 2011 back in Guernsey this weekend were Black 3.K3 which was in Madrid, Spain as recently as 06 March 2011 and Black 2.A8 which is special because Catherine and I saw this very gull ourselves in the Algarve, Portugal in November 2010.

LBBG Black 3.K3 Chouet August 2010 - PKV

LBBG Black 3.K3 Colmenar Viejo Landfill, Madrid, Spain - 23/01/11

LBBG Black 2.A8 Quarteira, Algarve, Portugal - November 2010 - PKV

More Lesser Black-backed Gulls Return

The return of the Bailiwick of Guernsey's breeding Lesser Black-backed Gulls is now very well underway, with more than a third of the adults back in the islands. Amongst the 27 locally colour ringed LBBGs seen this morning at Chouet, six were recorded for the first time this year - including birds seen over the winter in Spain and Portugal.