Guernsey LBBGs watch Spanish Football?!

In recent weeks I have received a very nice series of sightings by Mercedes Fernandez of Guernsey-ringed Lesser Black-backed Gulls from the Manzanares River in Madrid, Spain. I had not appreciated until Javier Marchamalo sent me photos last night just how "urban" these gulls are...as the river flows adjacent to the football stadium of Atletico Madrid.  below are Javier's photos of the site, and Mercedes' photos of some of the gulls which are being seen at the river.



Guernsey Gulls Ringing Totals 2011

In due course I will produce the usual annual report on the work of the "Guernsey Gulls" projects. However, having just competed all the ringing schedules and worked out the total of gulls ringed last year, I thought I'd post them. It is important to remember that these totals reflect the hard work of a significant number of people throughout the catching season...in Guernsey, Alderney and Sark - to them all I am most grateful for another successful and enjoyable year.

The year was characterised by a stunning start to the season at Chouet Landfill, when Paul Roper and members of the North Thames Gull Group joined the local "gull team" for another week of cannon netting in mid-May. A massive total of 1,783 gulls was caught during the week...but even more pleasing than this huge total was the unprecedented numbers of Lesser Black-backed Gulls (my principal study species) trapped - 493! We also caught Guernsey's first Yellow-legged Gull, as well as 1,273 Herring Gulls and 16 Great Black-backed Gulls.

After such a start to the season..the prospects for the rest of the season looked positively awesome...however...such hopes were dashed by another very poor breeding season for gulls throughout the Bailiwick of Guernsey - probably caused this year by a protracted period of cool particularly wet weather just when the majority of gull chicks were hatching. Despite the usual hard work during the summer only 173 gull chicks were ringed across the islands - and it was very sad that only 18 of these were Lesser Black-backed Gulls. This species suffered another virtual complete breeding failure this year (for the third time in five years).

Full details of the ringing totals are available at   http://www.paulveron.com/gullsringingtotals2011.html

And now it is another year...roll on the 2012 gull ringing season!



Happy New Year

With my sincere thanks to everyone who has helped with the Guernsey Gulls projects in 2011 - a record breaking year in so many ways...and my very best wishes for a happy and successful 2012!



GBBG Yellow 0.XX2 back from Cornwall and French Herring Gull

Christmas has been spent enjoying time with the family...so there has been little time for gull watching. However...there was a very good number of Great Black-backed Gulls on Chouet on Christmas Eve (c 200) and amongst these were 13 cr birds (nine from my own project and four well known birds from France). The pick of the bunch was Yellow 0.XX2, ringed as a chick this summer on Crevichon, Jethou. It had been recorded on Guernsey a couple of times in August, but was then seen at East Looe, Cornwall, England on 08 December. On 24 December it was back at Chouet.

Amongst the 2,000+ Herring Gulls was Pale Blue B822 - a bird ringed as a chick in Le Havre, Seine-Maritime in July 2010. The bird had been reared on a roof top in the city, but was found wandering the streets...before being taken to the bird rehabilitation centre run by CHENE. It was ringed there before release.

GBBG Yellow 0.XX2 Chouet 24 December 2011 

GBBG Yellow 0.XX2 Jethou June 2011

Herring Gull Pale Blue B822 Chouet



HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

Dear Friends,

With many thanks for all your help making 2011 a record breaking year for Guernsey Gulls!
Very Best Wishes,


Paul


24 December 2011



Guernsey LBBGs in Morocco and the Canary Islands

This week has yielded two very exciting reports of Lesser Black-backed Gulls ringed in Guernsey. The first was White 2.AF7 ringed as a 1st summer at Chouet Landfill in May 2010, and subsequently seen in July 2010 in Somerset, England, July 2011 in Cardiff, Wales, and Boca do Ría, A Coruna, Spain on 07 August 2011. This bird was reported from Kénitra, Morocco on 18 December 2011! The second (Black 9K5) was ringed as an adult ringed on 18 May 2011, and was recorded three times in Guernsey to 21 June 2011, before being recorded at Bocabarranco Beach, Gran Canaria, Canary Islands on 20 December 2011. This is the first LBBG from the Channel Islands Ringing Scheme to be reported from any of the Canary Islands.

LBBG Black 9K5 Chouet, Guernsey - June 2011 

LBBG White 2.AF7 Chew Valley lake, Someset July 2010 - Len Ingram



A Very Blustery Morning

With a cold NW wind blowing hard into Chouet this morning conditions for gull watching were challenging! The landscape was rather wild and beautiful, with several thousand Herring Gulls feeding at Chouet Landfill, along with 150+ Great Black-backed Gulls. Before retreating from the coast for a hot cup of coffee I logged five cr GBBGs - including two French birds (Seine-Maritime) - both well known in Guernsey. Only one LBBG was seen - which is par for the course at Chouet in the depths of winter! Not long to wait now though before my first LBBGs return - maybe 4-6 weeks!

Chouet Landfill Beach 

Gulls above Chouet landfill Beach



The Success of the Guernsey LBBG Project

Two things happened today to make me very happy about the success of the Bailiwick of Guernsey LBBG project. Firstly Antonio Gutierrez, one of the keenest gull watchers in Spain, saw LBBG Black 6T3 on Pantin Beach, A Coruna. What was very special about this sighting is that it means that Antonio has seen at least one of our "Guernsey" LBBGs in every single month of 2011. In fact in August his "peak" month he saw 33 of our LBBGs! In total this year he has recorded 58 different Guernsey LBBGs on the beaches of NW Spain. This is making a big contribution to the Guernsey LBBG project.

The other big news today was an e-mail from the legendary gull recorder Harry Vercruijsse, who has recently returned from a trip to Southern Spain and Portugal. On that trip he set a new record by recording 91 sightings of our Guernsey cr LBBGs! The previous record being held by the Peter Rock who had tallied 57 sightings in November in Portugal.

It is hard to over-estimate the massive contributions that these observers, and many others, spread across Western Europe are making to our important gull studies - a very big THANK YOU to them all!!!

LBBG Black 6T3 Pantin, A Coruna, Spain - Antonio Gutierrez