Another Seabird Colour Ringing Study begins in the Channel Islands

Inspired by similar projects in the Isle of Man and the nearby Chausey Archipelago, France, and conscious that we really don’t know very much about our Great Cormorant population, the Guernsey Seabird Monitoring Team (GSMT) arranged to begin a new project by colour ringing Great Cormorants nesting in the islands. Initially this study is being run in Guernsey, but if all goes well it could expand to include Jersey as well at a later date.

The project was formally initiated today when two members of the GSMT, with special permission from the authorities,  visited the principal colony to assess the season. It looks like another remarkably  early season, with some young already at least three quarters grown, while others are a matter of a few days old. Fifteen chicks were ringed with both a metal ring and a black colour ring (with a white double letter code). Hopefully we will add a  few more to this number over the next few weeks.

And so...the 2012 Seabird Monitoring Season is officially under way…and we are full of excitement and anticipation – eager to see which species are able to do well this year.

Post dawn Chouet

Blue skies and early morning sunshine made for a very pleasant 90 minutes at Chouet this morning. As usual c 100 ring reads of my Lesser Black-backed Gulls were taken. The clear weather probably accounted for a significant arrival of new birds over the past day or two.

Return of the Young Ones

Today was my  first trip to Chouet since Saturday, and although it was bracing standing out in the distinctly chilly NW wind, it proved to be another very successful session with just over 100 ring reads on my Lesser Black-backed Gulls. This total included a few fresh arrivals back in the past few days from Iberia…but the highlight this morning was the first observations of three LBBGs ringed as chicks in the islands. Of these three immature birds we know that Black 4.F1 (Sark chick 2010) was at Plomodiern, Finistere at the end of January 2012, while White 8.V1 (Burhou chick 2009) was seen at Coimbra, Portugal in October of its 2^nd year, and Black 0.V5 (Burhou chick 2009) is a very special bird because it is the first of my colour-ringed chicks that I have seen abroad (in Quarteira, Portugal in November 2010), which I have also now seen back in the Bailiwick of Guernsey – another wonderful milestone in my gull projects! 

The summer gull ringing season commences

Chris, Phil, Carolyn and I managed to get the 2012 summer gull ringing season under way today, with a very nice catch of 47 gulls (including retraps) at Ty Coed...a total made up of 41 Herring Gulls, three Lesser Black-backed Gulls and (to keep Chris happy) even a single Great Black-backed Gull.

Another British-ringed LBBG at Chouet

Amongst c 110 LBBG ring reads at Chouet Landfill this morning was a British metal-ringed immature - London GC40696. It was another exciting session watching gulls feeding at close range and pairing and displaying for the 2012 breeding season.

A change in the weather slows migration

Fresh NE winds and cool, overcast conditions appear to have slowed the migration today, with only one new LBBG recorded from 64 colour ringed LBBGs observed at Chouet Landfill this morning. The strong wind made viewing more challenging than usual..but there were still some very close encounters with gulls to enjoy!