Here Today...Gone Tomorrow...Back Next Week?!

It's a familiar story now...some of our earliest returning Lesser Black-backed Gulls arrive back in the Islands, take a look at their breeding colonies...and then decide that after all there's really no rush to take up their territory and so they move back south for a few more days or a week or two (not longer). And so it is with Black 8AN0 - the first cr gull of the season seen on 04 January by Julian Medland. I don't know where this gull wintered...but it was not in the Channel Islands. Last night I received news that gull enthusiast Alain Fossé had seen this gull on 15 January at Champteusse-sur-Baconne Landfill, Maine-et-Loire, France - a straight line distance of 250 km from Guernsey. The insights that colour rings give us into the lives and ecologies of our nesting gulls are truly amazing!

The Recent Flight South-east of LBBG Black 8AN0

Spring arrives in Guernsey!

When I studied passerines, spring was often heralded by the first returning Common Chiffchaff or Northern Wheatear...but for me these days...this honour goes to the first Lesser Black-backed Gull which is known to have wintered south of Guernsey. This year the first colour ringed bird back is Black 8AA9,  an adult male ringed in May 2011. This bird has spent each of the last three winters around the Aviles estuary, Asturias, Spain. I first saw this gull back on 16 March in 2012, then 21 February in 2013...so this year is the earliest return so far recorded. It was last seen at Aviles on 31 December 2013.

 LBBG Black 8AA9 at Chouet in March 2012

LBBG Black 8AA9 at Zeluan Beach, Aviles, Spain (c) Ivan Díaz Pallares

LBBG B8AA9's Annual Migrations 2011-2014

New Year = New URL for GuernseyGulls Web Portal

Many regular observers of Guernsey colour-ringed Gulls will know that colour ring observations can be reported direct on line, with instant access to the bird's present (and future) life history. This important innovation was made possible through local digital map company Digimap Ltd. With a new year the URL for this web service has moved to

http://birdrings.digimap.gg/Default.aspx

For a short period both the old URL and the new one will work, but early in the year Digimap will switch off the old one...so please update your favourite to the new web site. There is a note with the new URL at the former URL.

Many thanks and please keep your gull cr observations coming! Many thanks! Paul

Scandinavian Herring Gull in Guernsey

My first real gulling session of the New Year yesterday at Chouet landfill Beach produced one of my "most wanted" gulls - a Scandinavian Herring Gull - Larus argentatus argentatus. This nominate race of Herring Gull breeds in Scandinavia and the Baltic. Although the gull winters in Western Europe (and is not uncommon in SE England in winter), I am not aware of any previous records in the Channel Islands. This is probably more a reflection that we aren't recognising the subspecies rather than them not being here in very small numbers in many winters? With this bird the black Norwegian colour ring (with data logger) was a give away for the identification.

The gull had been ringed as a breeding adult in May 2013 on the Arctic seabird island of Hornoya in Finnmark, Norway. I've previously seen three GBBGs in Guernsey from Hornoya, and was fortune enough to visit the island with my son on a fabulous birding trip to Arctic Norway in 2003.

Herring Gull Black JX355 at Chouet landfill Beach (c) PKV

The Movement of Herring Gull Black JX355 (almost 3,000 km)

Back to Africa!

I've got to get my focus back on Guernsey, but an e-mail last night took me straight back to Morocco! Christian Pedersen sent me details from his November trip to Agadir with Arild Breistol. Christian and Arild had 35 sightings of 15 different Guernsey Lesser Black-backed Gulls in their week! This is a very good showing from Channel Islands birds, especially considering there were so few chicks colour ringed in the Islands last summer. Amazingly some of these gulls have now been recorded at Anza for three consecutive winters, with observations back in Guernsey each intervening summer - a wonderful record of these gulls fantastic journeys!

LBBGs at Anza December 2013 (c) PKV

First Guernsey-Ringed LBBG back a Bit early in 2014

The first Guernsey cr LBBG of 2014 has recently been seen in Guernsey! Julian Medland recorded Black 8AN0 at Banque Imbert, St Sampson’s on 4^th January. This is a very interesting record, because the gull was originally ringed as an adult female in our garden on 08 July 2012. I assumed this to be a breeding adult, but apart from a single observation at Chouet on 02 August 2012, this bird has only been recorded once more in Guernsey and that was on 25 January 2013 at Perelle. I would not expect any the LBBGs that have wintered in NW France or Iberia to be back in Guernsey until around the 3^rd week of January…so whether this is an early returning breeder, or a bird which belongs to a population further north remains a mystery. I hope further sightings in the months and years ahead enable us to answer such questions, and to understand the ecology of our gulls very much better than we do at present!

A Typical GBBG Early Life History

Great Black-backed Gull Yellow 0XX5 was ringed as a chick on Jethou Island in June 2011. Since then it has dispersed around the Western English Channel in movements which are very typical for Channel Islands GBBGs in their pre-breeding years. The life history of this gull is set out below, along with a map of the movements and some photos.

Although only around 60-75 GBBGs are colour ringed each year in the Bailiwick, we are now building enough data to begin to understand some aspects of the movements of this enigmatic gull species.

GBBG Yellow 0.XX5 St-Guenole (c)P-V Vandenweghe

ColourRing	MetalRing	Date	ReportingCircumstance	Location	Country	From First KM	Days Elapsed
Y0XX5	J1262	27/06/2011	initial ringing	Jethou	GUERNSEY
Y0XX5	J1262	18/10/2011	colour ring sighting	Lampaul; Ouessant; Finistere	FRANCE	223	113
Y0XX5	J1262	08/11/2011	colour ring sighting	Perelle Beach	GUERNSEY	13	134
Y0XX5	J1262	15/05/2012	colour ring sighting	St-Guenole; Finistere	FRANCE	231	323
Y0XX5	J1262	16/05/2012	colour ring sighting	St-Guenole; Finistere	FRANCE	231	324
Y0XX5	J1262	18/08/2012	colour ring sighting	Kerity; Penmarch; Finistere	FRANCE	231	418
Y0XX5	J1262	04/09/2012	colour ring sighting	Kerbinigou, Treguennec, Finistere	FRANCE	223	435
Y0XX5	J1262	24/09/2012	colour ring sighting	Ushant; Finistere	FRANCE	221	455
Y0XX5	J1262	25/09/2012	colour ring sighting	Ushant; Finistere	FRANCE	221	456
Y0XX5	J1262	12/02/2013	colour ring sighting	East Looe River; Looe; Cornwall	ENGLAND	174	596
Y0XX5	J1262	22/08/2013	colour ring sighting	Kerity; Penmarch; Finistere	FRANCE	231	787
Y0XX5	J1262	31/12/2013	colour ring sighting	Chouet Landfill Beach	GUERNSEY	8	918

2014 Begins Where 2013 Left Off

No...I don't mean the continual wet, grey and windy weather (although it is!)...I mean with a Yellow-legged Gull...perhaps the same 3rd W+ bird as was on Chouet Landfill Beach a few days ago. This gull was seen at L'Ancresse Common by Jamie Hooper.

Yellow-legged Gull on L'Ancresse Common (c) Jamie Hooper

Another Yellow-legged Gull to End the Year!

Despite the grey, wet and windy weather I went out to Chouet this morning for an hour to complete the gull watching year. While there were no major thrills - 19 colour-ringed GBBGs was a reasonable haul (four French and one English birds) along with the regular wintering Black-headed Gull from Poland (White TARM).

A 3rd winter+ Yellow-legged Gull was my 51st observation of this species for the year - and to think I actually went decades birding in Guernsey before I even saw this species! There is no doubt that recent years have seen a very significant upsurge in sightings in Guernsey. I'm hoping to undertake a simple analysis of records in Guernsey with the island's bird recorder Mark Lawlor later in the winter.

In the meantime many thanks to everyone who has helped in any way with our gull research in the Bailiwick of Guernsey in 2013...and Very Best Wishes for a Happy and Gull-rich 2014!

 3rdW+ Yellow-legged Gull at Chouet

 Spot the Yellow-legged Gull (it's easier in the flesh!)

A Grey and Wet End to the Year at Chouet...but as ever...Gulls to Enjoy!

Northern Gulls

I finally got back into the field in Guernsey today...and there was a distinctly "Northern" feel to the gulls at Chouet with 250+ Great Black-backed Gulls, including 22 colour-ringed birds (mostly local birds, but also two French, three English and one Norwegian). The Norwegian bird was a first winter, ringed as a chick north of Bergen (Hordaland) in June 2013, and then seen previously at Skegness, Lincoln in August 2013.

There was a also a 1st Winter Glaucous Gull - my first in Guernsey this year!

Glaucous Gull at Chouet (also GBBG White L:AC4 from Looe Island, Cornwall, England) (c) PKV

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has helped in any way with the gull research this year, and wish every one who reads this blog a Very Happy Christmas and a Peaceful and Gull-Rich 2014!

For this year's Christmas photo I've not chosen an individual gull, or gulls at any site on land...but instead a photo from one of many memorable gull watching days here in Guernsey in 2013...when I went out with Guernsey Sea Fisheries on patrol in August...and watched Lesser Black-backed Gulls where they are truly at home...at sea!

Remarkable Coincidences!

During my week in Morocco earlier this month, I was fortunate to see nine of my own  colour-ringed LBBGs from Guernsey. However, thanks to prompt replies from Roland-Jan Buijs and Eric Stienen (respectively), I have just learnt that I saw some other “familiar” gulls at Anza. Remarkably I had observed two of the gulls (one from The Netherlands – Black 9.8 and one from Belgium –Blue UJAC) in September 2013 in the Algarve, Portugal. What are the chances of this?!

Less surprising, given LBBGs known winter site fidelity, I have also discovered that many of the gulls seen this December (including three Guernsey birds) had been seen by me at the very same site (Anza) either in December 2010 or 2012 (or both!).

It really is remarkable to meet up with the same gulls so far apart on the globe!

A Glimpse of the Anza Gull Bonanza!

Below is a short video of what it's like to enjoy the gulls on the beach at Anza!

Colour Ringed Lesser Black-backed Gulls at Anza, Morocco

Here is a comparison of the country of ringing for my Lesser Black-backed Gull reads from three trips to Anza, Agadir, Morocco - each trip has been in early December. The numbers refer to individual birds (not total sightings):-

Lesser Black-backed Gulls	2010	2012	2013
Norway	31	65	54
The Netherlands	32	64	54
Belgium	19	28	29
Denmark	4	18	23
England	17	28	22
Germany	6	8	12
Channel Islands	7	7	9
France	7	7	8
Scotland	0	5	6
Wales	2	5	5
Iceland	3	3	1
Ireland	0	0	2
Portugal	0	1	1
TOTAL	128	239	226
(Effort was more limited in 2010)

The complete picture by country for 2013 only is as follows:-

	The Netherlands	100	54
	Norway	105	54
	Belguim	59	29
	Denmark	36	23
	England	39	22
	Germany	21	12
	Guernsey	18	9
	France	12	8
	Wales	14	5
	Scotland	11	6
	Ireland	5	2
	Iceland	4	1
	Portugal	2	1
TOTAL		426	226