Great Black-backed Gulls from Four Schemes and Two British Lesser Black-backed Gulls

After a reasonably quiet period, things have really picked up with gull movements over the last couple of days. Early morning visits to Chouet and Pembroke have resulted in sightings of Great Black-backed Gulls from Rainham, Greater London (Orange PF6T. -North Thames Gull Group), Chausey Islands, Manche, France (Green J.60 - Seb Provost), Seine-Maritime, France (Blue 47D - Gilles Le Guillou) and several of my own birds (including three cr juveniles - Yellow 0.PP0, 0.XX7 and 0.VV6).

Lesser Black-backed Gulls have not been outdone either. Today Blue JLL was seen on L'Ancresse Common. This gull was ringed at Gloucester Landfill, England (SEGG) on 22 May 2010, then seen (presumably on passage) in Guernsey at L'Ancresse on 01 August 2010. It is ten days later passing through this year! Also today on Chouet landfill Beach was LBBG White C+G - a juvenile ringed by Peter Rock this summer in one of the cities in SW England.

Finally Lesser Black-backed Gull Black 6.V4 was seen on Chouet Landfill Beach - one of my 2010 chicks from Burhou, Alderney.

LBBG White C+G Chouet Landfill Beach - PKV 

LBBG Blue JLL L'Ancresse Common - PKV 

Gull Flock L'Ancresse Common - PKV 

Gulls on Chouet Landfill Beach - PKV 

GBBG Orange PF6T. Chouet Landfill Beach - PKV

GBBG Yellow 0.CC8 Chouet Landfill Beach - PKV 

LBBG Black 6.V4 Chouet Landfill Beach - PKV 

LBBG Black 7L0 Chouet Landfill Beach - PKV 

LBBG Black 6AA6 Chouet Landfill Beach PKV

A Productive Weekend

Checks of the Island's northern beaches over the past two mornings were very productive with 275 ring reads over the two days. It is very noticeable how the Lesser Black-backed Gulls are thinning out as more and more birds migrat mainly south - 45 colour ring reads of my local birds were taken. Of the 19 Great Black-backed Gulls recorded, two were well-known immature birds from France (Green J.60 from Chausey Islands - Seb Provost) and Blue 47D from Seine-Maritime (Gilles Le Guillou). Hopefully over the next few weeks we will begin to see this year's young from these two sites!

Herring Gull ring reads predominiated with 211 - all local birds. The pick of these were of course the 16 records of my 2011 born chicks! It was wonderful to see the first three of my fledged juvenile Great Black-backed Gulls too (one from Herm, one from Lihou and one from Bordeaux, Guernsey).

Antonio Gutierrez kindly sent me this photo (taken yesterday) of Pantin Beach on the NW corner of Spain. It isn't hard to see why Lesser Black-backed Gulls are thinning in Guernsey now - there are three of them in this photo of Antonio's!

Gulls on Pantin Beach, NW Spain - Antonio Gutierrez

LBBG Black 9F5 - Antonio Gutierrez 

LBBG Black 0.K0 - Antonio Gutierrez

LBBG Black 0.H2 Antonio Gutierrez

Post-dawn Pembroke Beach, Guernsey - 07 August 2011 - PKV



Guernsey Ringed Great Black-backed Gull Seen in Vendee, France

News came in recently of one of my Great Black-backed Gulls, Yellow 0.KK1, which was ringed as a chick on the islets to the north of Herm in June 2010. It was sighted at the well-known gull wintering area of Le Tanchet, Les Sables d’Olonne, Vendee, France on 03/12/2010 by Michel Fouquet. While quite a few “Guernsey-ringed” Herring Gulls have been seen on this coastline in the autumn/winter period, this is the first of our Great Black-backed Gulls to be reported from the area. Although the GBBG project is in its early stages, most sightings of chicks ringed in the islands have so far come from the south-west of England (Cornwall and Devon).

GBBG Yellow 0.KK1 The Humps, Herm - June 2010 - PKV



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



Belgian Mediterranean Gull Back in Guernsey for 6th Autumn

On a largely uninspiring weekend for gull watching here in Guernsey, the highlight was the sighting on Cobo Beach of Mediterrenean Gull White 3E90, originally ringed at its nesting colony in Zandvlietsluis, Antwerpen, Belgium. This is the 6th consecutive autumn that this gull has visited Guernsey. It tends to remain in Guernsey for 6-8 weeks each autumn, before moving on (although the only current record of this bird further south was at Carcavelos, Lisbon, Portugal in January 2007).

Mediterranean Gull White 3E90 Cobo Beach 23 July 2011 - PKV

Gulls at Sea

Yesterday afternoon my son (Merlin) and I went out on a boat off the east coast of Guernsey. It was  a very peaceful afternoon, with a few gulls, a Northern Fulmar and a Common Tern around the back of the boat. It reminded me how lucky we are to have all these seabirds on our doorstep!

Jethou and Herm - 21 July 2011 - PKV



Another Coincidence and the first 2011 ringed adult LBBG back in Spain

Hot on the heals of the report on 19 July of one of my Herring Gulls being seen in Seaton, Devon, England comes a report from the same location (different observer) of a second Herring Gull ringed at Chouet in May 2011 - White 7CF2.

Also yesterday came news from NW Spain (Antonio Gutierrez and José Vidal) of the first of the 2011 ringed adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls being seen back in NW Spain (A Coruna). Hopefully this will be the first of many such sightings this autumn!

Finally today I enclosed a peaceful hour recording gulls at Chouet. Nothing unusual, although there are still very few juvenile gulls on the beaches.

LBBG Black 8J0 Chouet Landfill Beach June 2011 - PKV 



It's a Very Small World!

Something incredible happened last evening. Mike Hill - my original bird ringing trainer and friend since 1974 , who emigrated to England about 20 years ago phoned me from his home in Seaton, Devon, England  to tell me that he had a colour ringed Herring Gull standing on his roof. He gave me the number and said "I don't suppose it is one of yours" - well...it was!

Herring Gull White 2.AK4 was ringed as a 1st summer female at Chouet Landfill in May 2010. I have only seen it once subsequently - in December 2010 again at Chouet.

What are the chances of that - one of my Guernsey Gulls singling out Mike's house some 120 miles or so away across the English Channel?! I love it when life hands out such incredulous coincidences!

Another Cool Morning at Chouet

There were a few more juvenile Herring Gulls at Chouet this morning, and a reasonable number of adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls (including 68 of my colour ringed birds), but it was still cold in the NW breeze.

The Guernsey Met Office has confirmed that June 2011 was the coolest here in Guernsey since 2002 and also the windiest for 20 years. There were also many more days of  rain this year (than last) with precipitation at some stage on every day from 07 to 21 June. Guernsey Water also reports 22% more precipitation in June than the monthly average during the previous decade. Some 2.1 inches (53.3 mm) of rain fell on Guernsey during the month. This unusually wet and windy weather may well explain the widespread breeding failure of Lesser Black-backed Gulls across the Bailiwick of Guernsey this year.

Perhaps the highlight of the morning was Great Black-backed Gull Yellow 0.NN0 seen at Pembroke, as this gull was ringed as a rehabilitated bird in early June at the Guernsey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals HQ. It is testament to the care and treatment of the birds taken into care that gulls such as Yellow 0.NN0 make it back into the wild.

GBBG Yellow 0.NN0 Pembroke 19 July 2011 - PKV 

GBBG Yellow 0.NN0 at GSPCA 02 June 2011 - PKV 

LBBG Black 8P5 Pembroke -PKV 

LBBG Black 7H7 Pembroke - PKV 

LBBG Black 7A9 Pembroke - PKV 

LBBG Black 7A9 when ringed at Chouet landfill 16 May 2011 - Vic Froome



Colour Ring Reading Lesser Black-backed Gulls on Burhou, Alderney

On my recent gull research trip to Burhou, Alderney I was thrilled to find no fewer than 130 of my Lesser Black-backed Gulls which had original ringing details as follows:-

1992 (one), 2003 (two), 2005 (one), 2008 (one from Burhou and one from Guernsey), 2009 (43 adults plus three of the chicks ringed in 2009 which are now back prospecting Burhou for future breeding, plus three from Guernsey), 2010 (28) and 2011 (37 plus seven from Guernsey).
Just over 30 of these birds had been reported outside the Channel Islands last autumn/winter (mostly in Iberia, but some in France and England). I also recorded Black 3.N6, which is the adult Lesser Black-backed Gull ringed in June 2010 which I saw at Anza, Agadir, Morocco in December 2010! Amongst the colony again this year were the three birds seen in 2010 which had been colour ringed at Gloucester landfill, England in 2004, 2007 and 2008 respectively.

LBBG Colony Burhou - 14 July 2011 - PKV 

LBBG Black 4.A0 when ringed on Burhou 13 June 2010 - PKV 

Black 4.A0 on 16/08/10 at Frouxeira lagoon, A Coruna, Spain - Antonio Gutierrez 

LBBG Black 3.N6 when ringed on Burhou on 12 June 2010 - PKV



In addition I recorded seven of my cr Herring Gulls (all ringed originally on Guernsey) and one Great Black-backed Gull – seen only 100 metres from where it was raised on Little Burhou in the summer of 2009!

Polish and British Black-headed Gulls at Vazon, Guernsey

Amongst only 24 Black-headed Gulls at the Richmond end of Vazon today were a British colour ringed juvenile (White 21J0) and the same Polish metal-ringed adult (Gdansk FN75.807) that I saw on both the east and west coasts of Guernsey last August/September. The bird was ringed as a chick at Januszkowice,Zdzieszowice, Opolskie, POLAND on 17 May 2008 (J. Siekiera). Few other cr gulls were recorded on another wet and blustery morning in Guernsey - whatever happened to summer?!

Black-headed Gull Gdansk FN75.807 Vazon, Guernsey - 17 July 2011 - PKV 

Black-headed Gull White 21J0  Vazon, Guernsey - 17 July 2011 - PKV  

LBBG White 3.Z2 Pembroke 17 July 2011 - PKV

GBBG Yellow 0.FF5 Pembroke Beach17 July 2011 PKV 

GBBG Yellow 0.FF5 when ringed June 2010 Bordeaux, Guernsey - PKV 

GBBG Yellow 0.KK3 Pembroke - 17 July 2011 - PKV



Burhou, Alderney

I've just come back from spending the past two days on Burhou, Alderney completing my gull research there for 2011. Although it was, as ever, a tremendous privilege to spend a little time on this magical island and to be very close to a strong colony of my favourite bird (Lesser Black-backed Gull), it was a disappointing trip because the gulls have had a mass failure again this year. This makes it three very bad years out of the last five - with only 2009 and 2010 being successful seasons for the 1,000+ pairs of Lesser Black-backed Gulls there. Lesser Black-backed Gulls have failed to breed successfully in 2011 in all the colonies I've visited on Alderney, Sark, Herm and Guernsey. I presume the cause was the very wet and windy weather just when the chicks would have been hatching.

I ringed 11 Lesser Black-backed Gull chicks, along with six Herring Gulls and one Great Black-backed Gull. On the positive side I did have plenty of time to search the colony for my colour ringed birds, and I was thrilled to record more than 140 of my gulls - including three of my 2009 chicks which are back prospecting Burhou for their future breeding attempts!

Burhou 14 July 2011 - PKV

Sunset Burhou 14 July 2011 - PKV

LBBG Colony (Les Etacs Gannetry in background) - PKV

LBBG colony -PKV

Ortac Gannetry from Burhou - PKV

LBBG chicks - PKV

LBBG Black 7AC2 - PKV

Herring Gull chicks - PKV

Great Black-backed Gull Yellow 0.XX0 - PKV