Another Great Trip to Portugal

Last week I was fortunate enough to be able to spend a few early mornings looking for colour ringed gulls around Quarteira in the Algarve, Portugal. Despite being a month earlier than I would  normally visit Portugal there were very good numbers of gulls at Quarteira (4,000+ on some mornings). Lesser Black-backed Gulls were the most numerous at this site. Other sites which are normally very productive (Portimao Fish Port and Porto do Lagos Landfill) were far less so this time, but I only passed the former site twice (both times when fisheries activities were minimal), and visited the landfill once.

Given the limited time available to record gulls, I was very pleased with a total of 106 colour ring sightings involving 80 different birds as follows:- 68 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, nine Yellow-legged Gulls and three White Storks. The Yellow-legged Gulls were all ringed in Iberia (five in Portugal and four in Spain).

The country breakdown for the LBBGs was :- 18 Guernsey, 16 The Netherlands (two projects), 10 England (three projects),six Wales, four each Belgium (two projects) and Portugal, three France, two each Scotland and Norway and singles from Iceland and Spain.

Watching large flocks of LBBGs in the tranquillity of a Portuguese dawn, golden sand at your feet, with the warm sun rising fast in a cloudless sky must surely be one of life’s great treasures....especially when  you are observing some of the same gulls as you see so far away at home!

 Gulls at Quarteira, Faro

White Storks at Porto do Lagos Landfill

First Guernsey-Ringed LBBG Observed in Sweden

Amongst the gull colour ring sightings awaiting my turn from a week’s leave was an exceptional report from Sweden! Snygg Goran reported LBBG Black 8AN9 feeding amongst a flock of several hundred gulls just south of Eldsberga, Halmstad. This bird was caught in our garden on Guernsey in early July 2012, and as it was an adult female bird it was assumed to be a bird from the local population nesting in the Bailiwick. However, it now seem more likely that this gull is from a northern population and that it was just passing through Guernsey in early July last year. Hopefully further sightings in the months and years ahead may cast further light on this fascinating report!

The Remarkable Journey of LBBG Black 8AN9

Nine Red Birds!

After the usual early morning gull tour (little change from recent days), I went to the East Coast at lunch time to marvel once again at the annual Battle of Britain Air Display...and in particular the RAF Red Arrows Display Team. Most birders I know also love aeroplanes...perhaps we just want to fly?! Anyway...it is always thrilling to watch the high speed aerial manoeuvres of the pilots and their BAE Hawk Trainer jets. Watching people who excel at their jobs is almost always a true privilege!

Naturally...the gulls on the East coast were less impressed by the display than I was...but they were soon feeding on the beaches again!!!

Pretty Awesome Flying!

Not a Lot of Change, but nice Yellow-legged Gulls Views

After yesterday’s failure to locate the West Coast LBBG flock, I was pleased this morning to find c 600 birds; mostly at L’Éree with smaller numbers at Perelle. 47 of these gulls were colour ringed (all Guernsey or Alderney birds), and there was little evidence of much change amongst the flock over the past week or so. There are still relatively few juvenile LBBGs amongst the moulting adults and immatures. Two Yellow-legged Gulls (one adult and one 3^rd summer+) showed very well in the early morning sunshine.

 LBBG Black 8AT8 with Yellow-legged Gull

 LBBG Black 0.A8 today

 LBBG Black 0.A8 as chick

 Various plumages of LBBG White 6.V0

LBBGs at L'Eree Beach

Spot the Yellow-legged Gull

Highlights of a couple of hours at Chouet landfill this morning included 200+ cr reads on Herring Gulls, 20 cr LBBGs and 20 GBBGs (including a Norwegian 2nd year bird - Black JP719). An adult Yellow-legged Gull conveniently posed next to Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gulls showing well the difference in mantle colouration between the three species. 

 Rainbow over Chouet landfill

 GBBG Black JP719 (from Vest-Agder, Norway)

 GBBG Green N46 (from Chausey, France)

 GBBG Yellow 0.PP0 (from Guernsey)

 Herring Gulls from Guernsey

Adult Yellow-legged Gull with LBBG and Herring Gulls

New GuernseyGulls On-line Reporting System Goes Live

There is now a new web site where records of all Guernsey colour-ringed gulls and Great Cormorants can be entered online direct by the observers, with instant full life histories available. The site is now fully operational in English, French, Portuguese and Spanish. My thanks to Francois Leclerc, Gilbert Vimard, Carlos Pacheco and Antonio Gutierrez for invaluable help with the relevant translations!
The site has only been possible through the hard work and commitment of Jean-Luc Jean, Peter Carre and Colin Le Conte of Digimap Ltd, to whom we are all very grateful!.

Another advantage of the web site for observers is that once registered you can access your own records of Guernsey birds at all times, and the links will automatically update with any subsequent sightings of these birds.

The web site is available at   http://webmaps.digimap.gg/BirdRings/

So...next time you see a Guernsey colour-ringed gull please access the web site, register and enter your sightings. As before...any questions or issues should be sent to me at pkv@cwgsy.net

For the moment it is not possible to dowload photos onto the site. I hope to work on this function in the future. Please continue to send photographs of any colour ringed birds to me by e-mail.

Many thanks for your continued records and best wishes

Paul

Paul K Veron
GuernseyGulls
web: www.guernseygulls.co.uk
web: www.guernseygulls.blogspot.com

Back to the Landfill

With an early morning high tide, and thick mist after dawn, I spent 90 minutes at Chouet landfill. As expected there were few adult LBBGs (less than 50) but amongst them was Norwegian bird - Black JP50, ringed as a chick in July 2006 in Vest-Agder. Amongst a handful of GBBGs were three French-ringed birds from Chausey Islands. It was heartening to see so many juvenile gulls feeding at the landfill, mostly Herring Gulls (with very few cr birds!), but also a small number of LBBGs and GBBGs.

 LBBG Black JP50 from Norway

 Herring Gull White 9HW2 (rehabilitated by GSPCA this summer)

 GBBGs from Chausey islands, France

Chouet landfill in the Mist