Winter Wonderland!

Guernsey has just been blasted with two days of snow blizzards – the worst since 1979. Goodness knows what the returning LBBGs think of this weather, having spent the past few months in the much warmer climes of Iberia and NW Africa! Hopefully I’ll get back to Chouet soon to see what changes have occurred in the past few days. Until then – a few rather unseasonal photos below from our garden!

My Folk's garden!

Herring Gull Falling From the Sky!

Chris, Mich and I saw something very odd today at Chouet landfill - an immature Herring Gull (White 5FM3 - ringed last December)...quite literally fell out of the sky in front of us. We happened to be watching as a flock of gulls flew over, when this immature bird just stopped flying and fell like a stone to the ground. On the ground it flapped around, but had clearly lost control of its wings. Chris retrieved the gull and we put it in a large gull bag in the quiet for 40 minutes or so. After that we peered in and extracted the gull, which seemed alert again...so we put it on the ground and ...it took a short run up and was airborne again...having regained all its control. It was an amazing thing to see. We were of course very happy that the gull recovered.

The most likely cause - well the gull flock had taken to the air in panic...and we think a Peregrine came through the flock and struck this bird - enough to partially stun it, but not to kill it outright.

As to the rest of our three hour morning - despite absolutely fantastic help from the landfill staff, and several very close calls...we failed to catch any gulls yet again. However...we really do think now that the odds will very shortly swing back in our favour and our spring/summer season will commence.
An odd looking immature gull caused some excitement but despite being very different in jizz, and in structure and plumage it is almost certainly an oddish Herring Gull (see below). It really stood out from the crowd!

LBBGs from Spain and England

A very enjoyable couple of hours at Chouet Landfill this morning resulted in c 50 LBBG colour ring reads, which included Orange T121 from Salamanca, Western Spain (ringed on 23 December 2012). This may well be a Guernsey nesting gull as it was in early courtship this morning.  Red RAB, originally ringed at Orfordness, Suffolk, England as a chick in 2005, was also present. This gull has previous sightings in Gloucestershire  Leicestershire and at Tan-Tan Beach, Morocco.

 LBBG Orange T121 from Salamanca, Spain

LBBG Red RAB from Orfordness, England

Black-headed Gulls in Chester

Given our spectacular lack of success this past winter with our colour ringing project for Black-headed Gulls, which are uncannily wary and difficult to catch in Guernsey, Dave Murray sent me some photos of his local birds in Chester, England. Dave regularly records  not just colour ringed birds  from The Netherlands, France, Poland and Norway, but he also reads and photographs metal rings (which are really hard to see in the field). It just shows how tame his birds are. His selection of colour and metal ring reads this winter involves birds from Lithuania, Norway, Denmark, The Netherlands and France!We are very envious!

Black-headed Gulls and Common Gull, Chester, England - (c) Dave Murray



70 Colour-Ringed LBBGs at Chouet

This morning at Chouet landfill was just like old times, with a tremendous amount of gull activity. Although the wind was still quite strong , the gulls were far more settled today, enabling me to read 70 of my colour ringed LBBGs - many for the first time this season after spending the autumn/winter in Iberia.

A Fantastic Few Hours at Chouet landfill!

Originally Chris, Phil and I were hoping today to take a modest gull catch at Chouet landfill. However, the stiff NE wind and frequent sleet showers persuaded us to postpone the effort for another week. I still went into the landfill to record colour rings...and was richly rewarded with one of my best sessions of the year so far. Amongst the 50+ cr LBBGs was my first Spanish bird from a project run at a landfill in Western Spain - Orange T121. All the remaining LBBG sightings were our returning birds.

There were also at least two adult Yellow-legged Gulls in the Landfill this morning.

Today I had a fantastic spot close to the tipping face, but with a very nice view down onto one of the main resting areas for the gulls. For the last 15 minutes of the session I put down my telescope, binoculars and note pad and simply watched the gulls manoeuvring over the tipping face, some only a few metres from me. It is such a privilege to watch such birds mastering flight in such a dense pack. For me these birds are amongst the most beautiful that we see every day! All in all a really Top Morning!

And Today a Norwegian LBBG!

Some hard work at Chouet Landfill this morning and then around the northern beaches today paid off handsomely with 47 colour ring reads on Lesser Black-backed Gulls. The last ring observed was at Chouet Beach - Blue J73E - a bird ringed as a chick on Rauna, Vest-Agder, Norway in July 2002. This bird has been recorded back in Vest-Agder in 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2012.

The increase in records for Yellow-legged Gull continued with a 2nd winter bird on Chouet landfill Beach (this is my 7th confirmed sighting this year).

Gulls at Chouet Landfill - (c) PKV

Two Norwegian GBBGs and an English LBBG

Viewing conditions were difficult today with fairly distant gulls and a stiff easterly wind. Two Norwegian Great Black-backed Gulls were observed on the beaches at Chouet (both ringed in Vest-Agder, SW Norway), and amongst the 34 cr LBBGs recorded was Yellow L:X (a bird ringed as a chick in Bath in 2001 by Peter Rock). Clearly gulls are well on the move now!

 Gulls on Chouet Beach

GBBG Black JP719 Chouet Landfill Beach

Half a Century of cr LBBGs this Weekend!

Lesser Black-backed Gulls continue to return to the Islands apace with 50 colour ring observations on Friday, Saturday and Sunday in the Chouet area. Many of these birds had been reported over the winter in Iberia or France. The complete absence this winter of large “white-winged” gulls continues, but another adult Yellow-legged Gull was observed on Chouet Beach.  

 LBBG White 4.T7 at Chouet landfill (c) PKV

Herring Gull White 7FM0 at Chouet landfill (c) PKV

LBBG White 8.Z0 Back from Morocco!

What I thought was a very modest session at Chouet landfill this morning with very flighty gulls and difficult viewing conditions...and only eight cr LBBGs recorded...in fact was a fantastic session! This is because LBBG White 8.Z0 was showing very nicely at the tipping face. This gull was ringed in May 2009 at Chouet and it already has a very nice long life history of sightings involving sightings in France and Portugal. However...my last observation of this gull was on 10 December 2012 some 2,200 km away at Anza Beach, Agadir, MOROCCO! I remember this observation so well...and am in awe of the incredible journey this gull has made. Observations such as this provide the greatest thrill of my birding these days!

Another of the cr LBBGs I recorded back today for the first time this spring was White 9.T5, a bird now in its 21st year. I originally ringed this bird as a chick on Burhou, Alderney in July 1992, and we added the colour ring at Chouet in June 2009 (since when it has been recorded in France and Spain).

 LBBG White 8.Z0 at Anza, Agadir 10 December 2012 - PKV

LBBG at Chouet Aug 2010 - PKV

LBBG White 9.T5 at Chouet in May 2012 - PKV

Yellow-legged Gull Back for Another Season?!

Almost to the day Yellow-legged Gull White 1CA9 has been spotted again in Guernsey. This bird was caught and ringed as an adult at Chouet Landfill in May 2011. It was then not seen again until the 15^th February 2012, when it turned up again at Chouet. I then recorded it several times up to 21^st April. I saw it again on 16 August...and then nothing...until yesterday when it re-appeared at Chouet. I do not know where this gull nests, presumably in a mixed pair with a Herring Gull somewhere in the Channel Islands? Now there’s a challenge for Island birders this summer – find where this Yellow-legged Gull is nesting, and confirm what species is its partner?!

Yellow-legged Gull White 1CA9 at Chouet landfill August 2012

Another Gull Catch at Chouet

With a little more time this morning, Chris, Phil and I took a very nice catch of 85 gulls at Chouet landfill. The vast majority were Herring Gulls (82), and this number included 18 retraps (some of which needed a colour ring added or replaced). There was also one adult Great Black-backed Gull to keep Chris happy, while the two Lesser Black-backed Gulls certainly brought a large grin to my face! No time for any photos though - too busy!

Herring Gull in Spain

Juan Cabeza e-mailed yesterday with exciting news of a Guernsey-ringed Herring Gull at Boca do Rio, Porto do Sol, A Coruna, SPAIN on 9th February. White 5CK9 had been ringed at Chouet Landfill in May 2011, and had been seen at Sark Harbour in June 2012, indicating that this could be a breeding bird from that island. Although not unique it remains rare for Channel Islands nesting Herring Gulls to travel as far as North-west Spain each winter. The straight line distance of the movement is c 900 km!

The Migration of Herring Gull White 5CK9

Eighth Time Lucky!

Finally Chris Mourant and I got the 2013 gull ringing season under way with a small but timely catch of gulls at Chouet. Unfortunately the gulls decided to co-operate very late in the morning, so it was a huge rush to try to ring as many of the gulls as possible before closing time. We managed to ring 19 new Herring Gulls and to record four re-traps (the oldest of which was ringed as a chick in Jersey in June 1998). Amongst the catch were two Great Black-backed Gulls (an adult and a 1st summer). We had to release eight Herring Gulls unringed...which bearing in mind all the work we've put in this year to catch them was a little difficult...but very necessary to leave on time!