And Another Old Gannet

At just over 25 years old Northern Gannet F13025 didn't set any longevity records for this species, but it is still a very good age for a wild bird that has such a specialist and dramatic way of life, including plunge diving for fish from up to 25 metres or so! I ringed this bird as a chick on Les Etacs, Alderney on 19 June 1990 (the year Nelson Mandela was released from prison or the Simpsons aired for the first time on US TV - just to scale it), and it was found freshly dead at Sonderborg, Denmark in July this year. One can only speculate how many tens of thousands of kilometres that remarkable bird flew in its life-time!

Northern Gannets nesting on Les Etacs, Alderney (c) PKV



The LBBG Exodus Gets Underway!

As is typical for the time of year., it is now noticeable that the numbers of adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls in Guernsey are beginning to reduce, as the birds begin to migrate after the breeding season. The youngsters are still here, but I now have several reports of adults that are back in Portugal and even Southern Spain. For example Black 7AA6 was known to be nesting on Sark this summer, but it was seen by José Manuel Mendéz at Odiel Marshes, Cadiz, Southern Spain on 4th August.

LBBG Black 0CF4 Finistere, France yesterday (c) Solange Arzel



Super Summer Days!

Yesterday Catherine, Vic and I popped over to Jethou to dismantle the seabird camera until next season. The camera, which Catherine organised, and she and Vic trained on a Shag nest this year, proved to be one of the most exciting and interesting aspects of this year's seabird season! Let's hope for next year we can provide a live streaming camera!

Then we switched over to Herm for a quick swim on one of the finest beaches in Europe (Shell Beach), enjoying a passage party of 20+ Common Terns feeding as we swam.

This morning it was back to more mundane fare....checking Chouet and Pembroke Beaches. The highlights were another observation of the 2nd calendar year Yellow-legged Gull that we colour ringed at Chouet Landfill his May...and the first of the fledged Lesser Black-backed Gull chicks from Burhou - it's almost impossible not to get daily seabird highlights at this time of year!

Jethou

 

Dismantling Seabird Cam on Jethou

Mauve Stinger Jelly Fish (sting only as bad as a nettle I'm told!)

Crevichon

Vic adding another island to his "swimming tick list!"

Antlion on Herm (thanks Jamie for id)

2nd cy Yellow-legged Gull Black 4CT7 at Chouet - all photos (c) PKV



Gulls Gather as Breeding Season Draws to a Close.

I simply love this time of year...on one of our beaches this morning I watched a regular post breeding flock of more than 1,000 gulls...the vast majority were Herring Gulls. Within weeks some of these birds will be in western France, where they will stay until Christmas, before returning to claim their nesting territories again.
As they leave the beaches will host gulls from much further north, as they migrate from northern Europe to Iberia and North-western Africa.
Every day is new and different...and it's such a privilege just to enjoy this wonderful spectacle on this small island!

GBBG White L:CA7 ringed at Looe Island, Cornwall (c) PKV



Young Gulls on the Beaches!

It was another superb early morning outing to the beaches at Chouet and Pembroke. Lots of colour ringed gulls, including juveniles for all three breeding species...I just really love this time of year!

LBBG B3FC1 - rather shy !

Herring Gull W3FT2

LBBG 1FC4

Gulls on Chouet Landfill Beach (c) PKV



Ant-Fest!

It's that time of year again, and this late summer the hatching of flying ants is again very good. As a result the gulls are feasting. It's always wonderful to watch gulls feeding on ants in mid-air in large swirling cauldons. This morning the gulls were all over the Common feasting on ants. Unfortunately a main road runs adjacent to the common and many gulls were also taking dead ants from the road...with the inevitable result that there was at least one casualty. Some drivers are so oblivious or divorced from the natural world that they don't even slow down! To me it's a wonderful spectacle of our natural world...and yet some drivers don't even notice it!

Gulls eating ants on L'Ancresse Common this morning (c) PKV



Immature Lesser Black-backed Gulls summering in Iberia

Although a minority of our Lesser Black-backed Gulls born and reared in the Bailiwick do return back north as far as their natal colonies in their first summers, the majority stay south in Iberia, where they have wintered. It is always a real pleasure for me to hear about these gulls from the growing number of local birders in Spain and Portugal who not only take the time and trouble to report the colour rings, but very often send me wonderful photos of the birds.

Manuel Petiz is one such birder who regularly sends me gull reports and photos from the beaches Portugal's west coast.

(C) Manuel Petiz

LBBG B0CS6 on Burhou July 2014 (c) PKV

0CS6 at Espinho, Portugal (c) Manuel Petiz



Bellegreve Mediterranean Gull Roost Reaches 44 birds today

Viewing conditions at Bellegreve Bay were perfect at high tide this morning, with a very calm sea and beautiful early morning light. The Mediterranean Gull roost contained at least 44 birds today - numbers appear to be slowly increasing by the day!

The Best Med Gull Roost so Far!

The high tide roost at Bulwer Avenue was even more impressive this morning with at least 37 Mediterranean Gulls and 11 Sandwich Terns. Amongst the Med Gulls were three Belgian and one French-ringed birds, and one of the Sandwich Terns was also colour ringed - a Dutch bird I think.

Sandwich Term Lime Green N04 from The Netherlands

Med Gull Green RU18 from Noirmoutier Island, Vendee, France

Site faithful Med Gull 3E90 from Belgium



Med Gulls



Med Gulls 3E90 and 3LLP both from Belgium



Another Foreign-ringed Mediterranean Gull in Guernsey

A quick check of the high tide roost at Bellegreve Bay this morning resulted in a count of c 30 Mediterranean Gulls, including a French-ringed bird.

With Camille Duponcheel's usual stunning efficiency I already have the details for Med Gull Green RU18, seen in Bellegreve Bay this morning. It was ringed as a chick on Noirmoutier Island, Vendee, France in June 2014. It was subsequently seen in Devon, England that autumn, before being seen in Jersey earlier this month.

Med Gulls really do have one of the more complex and interesting dispersal/migration strategies of all the European gulls!

First Adult LBBG reaches Iberia

With my first colour ringed adult LBBGs being seen in NW France a few days back, it was only a matter of time before the first autumn migrant reached Iberia. Last night Manuel Petiz sent me news and a very nice photo of Black 2AL6 on the beach at Espinho, Portugal on 24th July. This adult was known to be in Guernsey this summer. Some of our adult LBBGs really don't hang around after the end of the breeding season!

LBBG B2AL6 at Espinho, Portugal 24 July 2015 (c) Manuel Petiz



Weather for Gulls?!

For ducks maybe...but I don't think the gulls have been appreciating the very wet weekend here in the Channel Islands. The very nice photos below show one of my cr Herring Gulls, which is a regular in Jersey...looks a bit forlorn doesn't it...waiting (like us!) for the sun to shine again?!

Rather wet Herring Gull at Grosnez, Jersey (c) Mick Dryden



The end of the Breeding Season for Gulls

With the end of the breeding season approaching for most of the island's gulls, many of the adults and the first of the juveniles are gathering on the beaches. My first colour ringed adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls are already in the Bay of Biscay, and within days now I expect reports from Northern Spain. The migration is very spread out though, with some of the birds remaining here until late August/early September.
I've already seen juvenile Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gulls n the beaches, and numbers should now grow through the rest of July and into August...before many adult Herring Gulls move south-west to the sandy beaches of western France, where they will moult.

Gulls at Chouet Landfill Beach (c) PKV

Hungarian and Belgian Mediterranean Gulls in Guernsey

A quick look at the high tide roost in Bellegreve Bay today resulted in a count of 26 Mediterranean Gulls, including three colour-ringed bird - two from Belgium and one from Hungary. At least three of the gulls carried only a metal ring, and one of these was read (another Belgian bird). The message is clear...if you want to record some interesting gull movements no other species has such a high percentage of colour-ringed birds as Mediterranean Gulls...and they have a really interesting and diverse migration/dispersal strategy!

Mediterranean Gull White E898 at Bellegreve bay (c) PKV