Amidst the Hail and Sunshine...Lots of Gulls!

Several seasons unfolded in a couple of hours this morning at Chouet landfill with cold winter winds and heavy hail showers, followed a few minutes alter by warm spring sunshine! Around 240 gull colour ring reads were taken - c 160 LBBGs, 70 Herring Gulls and nine GBBGs.Several LBBGs were recorded for the first time this season, and there was a lot of courtship behaviour from the gulls - summer must be on the way!

Gulls at Chouet Landfill 22 March 2014 (c) PKV

A Stunning Morning at Chouet Landfill

After the frustrations of foggy weather and poor visibility for the past 48 hours today dawned clear and bright. With high tide at 0600 the choice this morning was obvious - Chouet Landfill for a few hours...then a quick look at the landfill beach. The layout of the landfill today was just about perfect for observation. In two and half hours inside the landfill and 20 minutes at the beach afterwards I recorded almost 250 colour ringed gulls - the best session of the year so far! The majority were LBBGs (c 170), with c 60 Herring Gulls and 14 GBBGs. Regular LBBG Blue ACE (ringed at Gloucester, England) was seen for the first time this season today, and there was one English (Cornwall) and three French-ringed GBBGs present (all from Chausey Islands, Manche). All in all a truly marvellous gull watching session!

Gulls at Chouet Landfill and Chouet Landfill Beach (c) PKV

Swiss-Ringed Yellow-legged Gull in Guernsey!

Last September I saw and photographed a 1st winter Yellow-legged Gull on L'Erée Beach, Guernsey. The gull carried a metal ring, and after almost two hours I managed to secure the complete code - M034174. However... I could not read the address for the scheme. It took us a little while, but after help from Paul Roper and Mark Grantham we finally traced the correct ringing scheme. The gull was ringed in May 2013 as a chick at Fanel Nature Reserve, Neuchatel, SWITZERLAND! This is our first gull movement involving this country, and is another indication of the origins of some of the Yellow-legged Gulls that are seen in Guernsey now each autumn.

 Yellow-legged Gull Sempach M034174 14 September 2013 L'Erée Beach, Guernsey (c) PKV

The Movement of Yellow-legged Gull Sempach M034174

More Fog...but also a German LBBG!

It's been very foggy for the past couple of days, hampering my efforts to record our returning cr LBBGs. I've still managed a decent number of ring reads in tricky conditions...including a German-ringed bird today(Yellow H14H).

LBBG Yellow H14H at Chouet Landfill Beach (c) PKV

Gulls in the Mist - Lots of Them!

With more and more Lesser Black-backed Gulls returning to the Island now from their winter travels, I'm spending a short time at Chouet most mornings to try to record lots of our colour ringed birds. 150 different cr LBBGs yesterday morning was my highest count so far this year. Earlier in the week I saw one of Peter Rock's LBBGs Red D:Y, ringed as a chick in Gloucester, England in June 2008. Yesterday a new GBBG (White L:AZ7) from Looe Island, Cornwall, England was recorded, along with long staying GBBG P:43A from Portland Harbour, Dorset, England.The cool misty weather of the last couple of days is clearly not holding back gull migration!
Today the fog is so thick I can barely see the beach!!

Gulls in the Mist on Chouet Landfill Beach (c) PKV