Welsh LBBG Returns to L'Eree

The LBBG flock at L'Eree appears to have seen little movement in recent days, with 45 cr readings being taken - all local birds except Orange 9V from The Netherlands and a British-metal ringed adult - London GN85760 - a bird ringed as a chick on Skomer Island, Dyfed, Wales in July 2005, and seen on passage through Guernsey on L'Eree Beach on 22 September 2010 (another example of site fidelity by LBBGs on migration). Other highlights included an adult Yellow-legged Gull and two 2nd calendar year GBBGs from Chausey islands, France (Green K.63 and K.72). Finally Mike Cunningham recorded and photographed (very nicely) Black-headed Gull yellow EHSL (from Antwerp) at Vazon this morning.

 Black-headed Gull (c) Mike Cunningham

Gulls on the High Tide

It was always going to be a difficult pre-work session down the west coast this morning, because of the high tide, pushing the gulls off the beach. However, it was just about workable, and a nice flock of c. 400 LBBGs (few juveniles) was well observed. In this flock were 40+ of our colour ringed birds, along with Orange 9V – the Dutch bird from Moerdijk which appears each autumn on the Island’s west coast. There were very few GBBGs in the flock (c 20), but amongst them were two French birds (one from Chausey – Green K.72 and one from Le Havre – Blue 91D), and two Guernsey birds – Yellow 0.NN1 and Yellow 0L8.

Yet another adult Yellow-legged Gull was located in this flock!

The Guernsey Pelagic

Today a dozen birders went out with Richard Keen on a pelagic seabird trip 10 miles or so NW of Guernsey. It was a very enjoyable day, although both highlights were of the non-avian variety. Firstly a very obliging Sunfish drifting lazily past the boat (with attendant gulls pecking parasites from its skin), and then a small pod of 6-10 Common Dolphins, which came bow-riding albeit briefly, before speeding on their journey.

Birding highlights included 20+ Great Skuas, an Arctic Skua and a possible Pomarine Skua (well that's what Chris Mourant and me thought anyway!), as well as 10+ Sooty Shearwaters and a couple of Balearic Shearwaters and c 30 European Storm-Petrels, as well as an Arctic Tern. I was also pleased to see gulls out in their pelagic environment!

Sunfish (with attendant gulls)

Herring Gulls in Profusion!

With high tide at dawn there was very little beach for the gulls to rest on, so after a quick trip down the west coast, I spent an an hour and a half at Chouet Landfill. In that time I recorded c 150 of my cr gulls - all Herring Gulls, except one Lesser Black-backed Gull (from only 15-20 birds seen) and a couple of Great Black-backed Gulls. There was one very obliging adult Yellow-legged Gull giving very close views.

 Yellow-legged Gull

First Juvenile GBBGs from Le Havre, Seine-Maritime and Portland, Dorset

Despite the blustery conditions this morning, combined with high tide, I was fortunate enough to be able to check c 600 LBBGs along the west coast, locating 36 of my colour-ringed birds. Amongst a very much smaller number of GBBGs (c 100) were my first juveniles of the autumn from Le Havre, Seine-Maritime (Black 92K) and also my first ever GBBG from the new project established in Portland Harbour this summer (White P:37A). Finally, after much searching (and tipped off yesterday by Jamie Hooper – cheers!) I finally managed to see Black-headed Gull Yellow EHSL ringed as a chick near Antwerp, Belgium this summer. So all in all – a very rewarding gull session today! It was interesting to see at least two parties of LBBG fledglings still begging from their very frustrated parents on the beaches this morning.

 Black-headed Gull Yellow EHSL

 LBBG Black 0.F6 L'Eree

 L'Eree Gull Flock

LBBG Fledglings Still Begging from Adult L'Eree

Norwegian and English LBBGs, French GBBGs and a Belgian Black-headed Gull - plus our first Cormorant Sighting outside the Island!

A couple of smallish gull flocks along the west coast this morning contained a Norwegian-ringed LBBG (Black J2842) and an English-ringed (Red DB.DS) LBBG: both on L'Eree, along with three well-known French-ringed Great Black-backed Gulls (Blue 30C, Blue 91D and Green K.51). Later in the morning Jamie Hooper saw Black-headed Gull Yellow EHSL, a juvenile bird ringed near Antwerp, Belgium this summer and originally seen in Guernsey at the end of August by Julian Medland.

Also today, we received our first sighting outside the island of one of our colour-ringed Great Cormorants (Black BA) (a project started only this year with 40 chicks being ringed). The bird was seen on the Loire River at Anetz, Loire-Atlantique, France by Pascal Bellion.

 LBBG Black J2842 from Vest-Agder, Norway

 LBBG Red DB.DS from Suffolk, England

 GBBG Blue 30C from Seine-Maritime, France

 GBBG Blue 91D from Seine-Maritime, France

 Great Cormorant Black BA