Another Fine Morning with LBBGs at Chouet

This morning I focused on LBBGs at Chouet landfill, recording another 130 of our colour-ringed birds, along with Orange T121 the bird ringed by Vicente López Alcazar in Salamanca, Spain last December  and now building a history of sightings in Guernsey this spring. It must be one of our locally breeding birds. I also recorded c 60 Herring Gull rings and 17 GBBGs, including E5508, which I ringed as a chick on Herm in July 1993!

LBBG Orange T121 at Chouet (c) PKV

Another 200 Gull Colour Rings Read at Chouet this Morning

Although viewing at Chouet Landfill is more distant at the moment, the large flat area between windrows does enable a lot of gulls' legs to be checked for rings. As a result in a little under two hours this morning I recorded another 200 rings (roughly evenly split between LBBG and Herring, with GBBGs just reaching double figures). Courtship behaviour, which has been common amongst the Herring Gulls for a couple of weeks, is now also prevalent with the LBBGs - summer is definitely on the way!

First Channel Islands Herring Gull Reported in Belgium!

Simon Feys has just reported Herring Gull White 0HA4 at Nieuwpoort, Vuurtoren, Belgium - our first sighting of one of our Guernsey colour-ringed Herring Gulls in Belgium! We have worked quite hard this winter to try to colour ring a sample of wintering Herring Gulls. Chouet Landfill clearly acts as a magnet for a large number of immature Herring Gulls from outside the Channel Islands. 0HA4 was ringed in our garden (1 km from Chouet) on 02 December 2012. Of course we do not yet know if 0HA4 is a Belgian or French bird that has visited Guernsey in the winter, or one of our local birds wandering north (further than most!). I suspect it is the former...but hopefully time will tell. Many thanks to Simon for this exciting report and for the very nice photos too!

Herring Gull White 0HA4 at Nieuwpoort 11 April 2013 (c) Simon Feys

Spring is in the Air - Kind Of Hard to Believe Isn't It?!

Despite the unseasonably cold weather, Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gulls are very busy pairing on the beaches in Guernsey...and in recent days a few pairs are beginning to take this further...as can be seen below:-

Amorous Herring Gulls on Chouet Beach

Another 100 or so cr reads were taken this morning on LBBGs at Chouet  and a smaller number of Herring Gulls. One metal-ringed LBBG was close enough to tempt me to try to read the ring, and with only the final digit missing I hope we can trace this gull at least to the date of ringing and location - London GC7930?.

Another hat-trick of Foreign Colour Ringed LBBGs at Chouet

The temptation to lie in bed for that extra hour this morning was strong  given how bitterly cold the strong NE wind is today! However...it proved to be another excellent day to be at the beaches early! At Chouet amongst more than 100 cr LBBGs were three foreign-ringed birds. There were two Norwegian LBBGs on Chouet Beach at the same time (another first for me in Guernsey). One of these birds (Blue JL9S) had been ringed as a chick on Rauna, Vest-Agder in July 2004, and never subsequently reported until today - a run of almost 3,200 days! The other Norwegian bird (Black JR42) had been ringed as a chick in July 2006 at Loppa, Finnmark way up in the Arctic Circle! This gull already has an interesting life history of observations in Belgium, France and Spain. The third LBBG was carrying a Spanish colour ring (from the Malaga region). 

 LBBG Blue JL9S Chouet Beach (c) PKV

 LBBG Black JR42 on Chouet Beach (c) PKV

 LBBG White N06F on Chouet Beach (c) PKV

 Gulls on Chouet Beach (c) PKV

No Large White-winged Gulls in Guernsey This Winter

Normally this blog contains positive news...but I ought not to overlook a posting on the complete absence of large “white-winged” gulls in Guernsey this past winter. For the first time I can remember there were no reports of Iceland or Glaucous Gulls in the islands...despite the fact that we had a colder than average winter, and there were certainly plenty of storms and gales over the winter period. Last winter I even recorded both species in our garden.

LBBGs Back from Canaries and NW Africa

In recent days some of the LBBGs that are known to winter as far south as Western Sahara and the Canary Islands have been returning to Guernsey. With little time this morning before work, a very quick scan of Chouet Beach revealed the presence of LBBG White 6S9 a bird recorded in Western Sahara in two different winters. A couple of days before Black 9AA9  (also known to winter in Western Sahara) was back, and before that Black 9K5  (a regular in Gran Canaria in winter) was back for the summer. It is always really thrilling to record these long distance LBBGs back in Guernsey after their epic flights to and from wintering grounds.

 Gulls on Chouet Beach

LBBG White 6S9 back from NW Africa

200 Gull Colour Ring Reads in Chouet This Morning

With the weather still four or five degrees C below seasonal norms, it was another chilly morning at Chouet Landfill, but the gulls were both  numerous and very active feeding today. Apart from single French and English GBBGs (both familiar birds in Guernsey), every one of the 216 colour ringed gulls observed was locally ringed. Yet again the landfill staff were most helpful in enabling me to get a very good location to record rings, and it was marvellous to once admire the flight skills of the gulls at close quarters.

Gulls at Chouet Landfill 30 March 2013 (c) PKV

A Hat-trick of Foreign-ringed LBBGs at Chouet

In very cold and grey weather at Chouet this morning, three foreign-ringed LBBGs were observed. Two were from Suffolk, England (Mike Marsh's project) - Red ALA.U and Red B.UBL. This is really quite unusual for most British-ringed LBBGs seen in Guernsey have come from the Western half of Britain. Mike Marsh informed me that LBBGs are slow to return to their breeding sites in Suffolk this spring, and he also sent me a photo taken at the Orfordness colony area last Sunday (there's no need for any more words!).

Orfordness, Suffolk last Sunday - (c) Mike Marsh

The third bird was Blue J2VP - a gull ringed as a chick in Vest-Agder, southern Norway in 2008, but which already has an extensive life history of sightings including records in Norway, Denmark, Spain, Portugal and Morocco.

 LBBG Red B.UBL at Chouet

 LBBG Red ALA.U at Chouet

Gulls on Chouet Landfill Beach

German LBBG at Chouet and a Small Gull Catch

After all the work that Chris, Phil and I have put in recently to try to keep ticking over colour ringing gulls, it was rewarding on Saturday to take even a small catch of 14 gulls (13 Herring and one GBBG). It was a very modest catch...but enough to help us keep the faith!

While at the landfill we also recorded lots of colour ringed gulls - I mainly focused again on the returning LBBGs, with another 100 or so rings read. Amongst the local birds was a German ringed LBBG (only the 3rd German bird I've recorded in Guernsey in the past five years)!

Gulls at Chouet on Saturday 22 March 2013 (c) PKV

The Benefits of a Rainy Day

Although viewing conditions aren't great in the rain, the big advantage is that there are many fewer dog walkers on the beaches, so the birds are far less disturbed. That didn't stop a couple of scramble motor bikes driving through the gull flock on one beach....but with some patience a very good tally of colour ring readings were taken in a few hours - Lesser Black-backed Gull (141), Herring Gull (92) and Great Black-backed Gull (four).

Gulls on Chouet Beach (unfortunately there is no "photo-editor" in the field to brighten up the view to make ring reading easier!

Two Gulls in their 20th Years!

At Chouet landfill Beach this morning I read two metal rings - Lesser Black-backed Gull  E5629 and Great Black-backed Gull E5508. I had ringed both gulls as chicks in June 1993 (the former on Sark and the latter on Herm). It was quite a coincidence that both these old gulls were in their 20th years - hopefully they've raised a good number of chicks between them in the intervening years!

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Another British LBBG at Chouet, amidst strong return passage of Gulls

The highlight of a couple of hours in rainy conditions at Chouet this morning was LBBG Black W8ZC , which is a bird ringed by Dave Sowter at Walney Island, Lancashire. More than 130 colour rings were recorded on LBBGs yesterday morning and another 60 today, so the arrivals remain very strong. The Norwegian Great Black-backed Gull (Black JP719) ringed as a chick in Vest-Agder last summer is still being seen at Chouet (yesterday and today). Also today Yellow-legged Gull White 1CA9 (ringed at Chouet in 2011) was back on the beach at Chouet.

 LBBG Black W8ZC at Chouet (c) PKV

 GBBG Black JP719 ta Chouet (c) PKV

Gulls on Chouet Landfill Beach 20 March 2013 (c) PKV

English Herring Gull

A quick, but effective, early morning session at the beaches on the north coast this morning resulted in another 59 ring reads on Lesser Black-backed Gulls. The main surprise today was the return of Herring Gull Orange AV1.T - which was ringed as a 1st year on 22/10/2011 at Rainham Landfill, Greater London by the North Thames Gull Group. I first saw this gull in Guernsey on 03 and 17 November, but it has not been seen here again until this morning.

Herring Gull Orange AV1.T at Chouet Landfill Beach - 17/03/2013 (c) PKV