Bus pass boys at the beach

Allan Hale writes:

The “Bus Pass Boys” are a group of birding pensioners, two of whom are ringers. We make regular visits to Great Yarmouth beach in Norfolk to read colour rings on Mediterranean Gulls, some of us since 1999 (when we didn’t possess bus passes!). Our first birds are on site from about mid-July and most are gone by mid-March.

Mediterranean Gull at Great Yarmouth. Photo taken by Allan Hale.

We have identified nearly 100 different Mediterranean Gulls that were ringed in 10 different countries. They have originated from Belgium, Germany, France, Poland, Britain & Ireland (only two), The Netherlands, Denmark, Czech Republic, Hungary and Serbia. There have been multiple sightings of many of these gulls (click here for a complete ringing scheme overview of recoveries for Med Gull). Many valuable life histories have been identified, with some of the birds mentioned above having also visited Spain, Portugal and The Azores.

Some of our Mediterranean Gulls have been shown to reach a ripe old age. Two of the birds we have seen this winter were originally ringed in 2001, one of them already three years old when ringed.

The BTO were impressed with our efforts and they suggested in 2013 that we should have a “joint venture” to try and cannon net some of these birds and fit them with British colour-rings. Very few Mediterranean Gulls are ringed in Britain so we took this as a challenge! Our aim was to add to the pool of ringed birds at Yarmouth and to further understand where these wintering birds originated. Maybe British breeding birds are there – we just didn’t know.

Stunning summer plumage Mediterranean Gulls. Photo taken by Irina Samusenko.

It wasn’t as easy as we had hoped. It is well known that Mediterranean Gulls are more intelligent than the people trying to catch them (most are also better looking!) At time of writing we have caught and ringed 46 Meds and had 'our' birds seen in The Netherlands, Belgium, France and Poland. We have also establish that some British-breeding Mediterranean Gulls winter at Great Yarmouth.

Last week we received notification of a sighting of one of our birds that was truly spectacular. The bird had been ringed at Great Yarmouth on 22 November 2015. It was seen on the beach until the end of February 2016 then disappeared for the summer. It had returned to the beach by the end of November 2016 and remained until at least 18 February 2017. Remarkably it was next seen 15 April 2017 at Trostenetskij Rubbish Dump, near Minsk, in Belarus. ‘Our bird’ was apparently paired with a colour ringed bird ‘red PKU6’ which was ringed in Poland.

'Our bird' (right), enjoying some delights in Belarus. Photo taken by Irina Samusenko

This represents the first British or Irish Mediterranean Gull that has been reported from Belarus and it is the most easterly sighting of any of our Mediterranean Gulls.

To report any ringed or colour ringed birds please go to www.ring.ac.

A Western Palearctic first highlights another special bird

Expert gull watcher Killian Mullarney came up trumps on Sunday at one of his gull hot-spots at Duncannon, Wexford by managing to identify a Western Palearctic's first Vega Gull on 10th January. This is currently considered a subspecies of American Herring Gull by the BOURC and this mega-rarity is more at home breeding in northeast Asia or wintering in the Pacific.
 

Vega Gull is not the only interest in this photo. Photo by Irish Birding and the finder / photographer Killian Mullarney

The photos published on Irish Birding showed the Vega Gull (centre), but even more importantly to the BTO Ringing Scheme it shows that it is stood next to a colour-ringed Herring Gull: White 8CP6.

Since being ringed on Lihou Island, Guernsey in June 2011, 8CP6 has been seen a few times in Guernsey in the autumn and winter of 2011/12, then after 'going missing' it was seen on Hayle Estuary, Cornwall in January 2015. This is the first bird from the Guernsey project to be found in Ireland. In fact, there are only three reports of foreign-ringed Herring Gulls in Ireland, from Iceland, Netherlands and France.

With more and more birders and ringers enjoying the delights of gulls at rubbish dumps and roost sites, the movements of gulls between countries and local sites can be studied in more detail. One particular Mediterranean Gull for example has been reported in Ireland 80 times since being ringed in Poland in 2011.

First BTO-ringed Mediterranean Gull recorded in Morocco

Sean Kingston, the British & Irish Mediterranean Gull colour ring coordinator, recently contacted us with the following story:

The breeding population of Mediterranean Gulls in the UK has gone from strength to strength in recent years with the number of breeding pairs breaching the 1,000 mark for the first time in 2010 (Holling et al 2012). 2014 was the first year that Mediterranean Gulls were recorded successfully breeding in Cambridgeshire. A pair fledged two chicks which were colour ringed by Tony Martin on 8th June 2014 as 2XL0 and 2XL1.

2XL1, the sibling of 2XL0, ringed in Cambridgeshire in 2014. Photo by Tony Martin

On Monday 30th March 2015, 2XL0 was re-sighted by Brian Small of Limosa Holidays among a flock of 15 Med Gulls at Oued Souss, about 40 minutes south of Agadir in Morocco. This is the first sighting of a BTO-ringed Mediterranean Gull in Morocco. 2XL0 had flown 1,600 miles, or 2,600 kilometres, from its birth site in Cambridgeshire to its wintering grounds in Morocco.

Photographic proof of 2XL0 in Morocco. Photo by Brian Small

Over two thirds of the Western European population of Mediterranean Gulls head south each autumn and winter primarily along the Atlantic Coast of Portugal between Lisbon and the Algarve. So while it is not unusual for Mediterranean Gulls to leave the UK in winter, it is unusual for a bird to fly as far south as Morocco, as this is close to the southern end of the wintering range for Western European Mediterranean Gulls. Renaud Flamant, international Mediterranean Gull colour ring programme coordinator, does receive occasional reports from traveling birders of European-ringed Mediterranean Gulls as far south as the Gambia and Mauritania.

Fledged Mediterranean Gulls have an annual survival rate of over 80% per annum so it is possible that 2XL0 may be around for at least the next ten years (the longevity record is held by a bird that was ringed as an adult in 1991 and caught again 15 years, 3 months and 7 days later - ed.). Hopefully 2XL0 will have sense and continue to winter in beautiful warm Morocco however this is by no means certain as many juvenile Mediterranean Gulls change their wintering location from year to year and really only become site faithful upon reaching adulthood at three years of age.

Many thanks to Tony Martin, Brian Small and Renaud Flamant.

Further reading
Holling, M., & the Rare Breeding Birds Panel. 2012. Rare breeding birds in the United Kingdom in 2010. British Birds 105: 351–430.

A Mediterranean beach

Allan Hale writes:
"I have been reading Mediterranean Gull rings on the beach at Great Yarmouth since 1999. Of late a group of us have been taking the project much more seriously and we try to make a monthly visit during the period from late summer until the end of winter.

Since the 2009-10 winter we have identified 58 different Mediterranean Gulls that were ringed in 10 different countries.  They have originated from Belgium (32), Germany (12), France (3), Poland (3), U.K. (2), The Netherlands (2), Denmark (1), Czech Republic (1), Hungary (1) and Serbia (1).  There have been multiple sightings of many of these gulls.  Many valuable life histories have been identified, with some of the birds mentioned above also visiting Spain, Portugal and The Azores.

Mediterranean Gull - Dawn Balmer

Mediterranean Gulls have been shown to reach a ripe old age. Three of the birds we have seen this winter were originally ringed in 2001, one of them already 3 years old when ringed. We are anxiously looking out for another which was ringed back in 1999 and last seen at Great Yarmouth during late 2012.

Reading colour-rings has been a rewarding experience. Many onlookers have shown an interest in what we have been doing and have been amazed at the results."

Lee Barber writes:
"Even with all the data collected of colour ringed birds, there are still quite a few unringed birds that visit the site, that we know nothing about. Allan decided to take this project to another level and with the help of Jez Blackburn and his Cannon Netting skills and the kind permission of Seafront Enforcement and Facilities Officer, Keith Eglington, an attempt to catch and ring some of the unringed birds and to collect biometric data on the ones that already have rings was organised.

Now a scarce regular breeding bird, about 20 chicks are ringed every year and the annual total for adult Med Gulls for the last nine years vary from none to eight. These birds can be very wary to anything unusual but hopes were high for a catch, even if it was just one bird (see online report).

Canon net firing - David Pelling

After a couple of canon net fires and 15 unringed and 3 ringed in Belgium Med Gulls were safe under the net, with a few Black-headed Gulls. They were then metal and colour ringed, aged, weighed and measured and then released. We were lucky to have a reasonably large catch and we were able to compare the different ages of birds (below). The second year bird has a light orange beak but more importantly has black wing tips.

Mediterranean Gull. First year bird left, second year bird middle, adult right - David Pelling

 
Hopefully as the winter goes on, more gulls will be ringed and add to our knowledge of the survival and movements of this species. Some birds visiting Great Yarmouth have been seen more than 200 times so the life histories of these birds is fascinating.

The History of One Med Gull and Three Rings

Luke Phillips, who works for the RSPB, told us last week about a Mediterranean Gull that is visiting Radipole Lake RSPB Reserve 18 years after it was first caught for ringing in The Netherlands.

According to the ringing database, this would be the longevity record for Mediterranean Gull recorded in the UK, but not as old as the longevity record for Europe, which was a Med Gull ringed by the Greek Ringing Scheme and recorded 22 years and 1 month later.

Many Mediterranean Gulls are ringed and colour ringed in the Continent, but only a few dozen are ringed in the UK each year. In 2010 only 22 birds were ringed with a GBT ring, contrasting with the 618 ringed birds that were recovered/resighted during the same year. The number of birds wintering and breeding in this country is increasing, and this trend is expected to continue in the future.

The travels of this Mediterranean Gull are very well documented, its life history spanned 6 pages!

In summary:

It was ringed in The Netherlands as a pullus and was given colour ring WHITE 96A on 02/06/1993.

It was caught again in Belgium in 1999, the metal ring was replaced and the colour ring had been. In 2006 was caught again in Belgium, the metal ring replaced and a WHITE 3K20 added.

As 3K20,it was seen on 06/12/2011 in the UK for the first time at Radipole Lake where up to 450 Med Gulls were recorded in a single evening by Luke Phillips.

The colour ringing of Mediterranean Gulls is well coordinated in Europe and sightings can be reported here.

To find out more about longevity records in the UK go to the on line ringing reports, and for European longevity records go here.

Thanks to Luke Phillips for telling us about this gull and to Chris Parnell for both finding the bird and for providing the photograph.

One good tern deserves another... and another...

Tony Murray writes and provides photo:

The plight of the Roseate Tern has been well documented over the last few years. The National Parks Wildlife Service (NPWS) has been involved in wardening the largest ternery in Ireland at Lady’s Island Lake, Co. Wexford for many years now. Since my move from Co. Mayo to Co. Wexford in 2004, this site has fallen under my responsibility as the Wildlife Ranger for South Wexford.

The annual tern wardening project generally involves management of the site, predator control and monitoring. The deployment of nestboxes, ringing and ring reading has also been done at other Irish, UK and French Roseate Tern colonies.


The task has got bigger and bigger over the last few years as our numbers of gulls and terns have increased. Mediterranean Gulls are up to 10 pairs and it has also been good news for all our tern species. Roseates have climbed from 66 in 2004 to over 150 pairs this year. Through ring reading, it is great to show the growth is due to 'home grown' individuals, but however some have relocated here from Dublin.

Our Sandwich Tern numbers continue to grow as well, with 1100 to 1300 pairs between 2004 and 2006. We are now currently just shy of the two thousand mark! Ring reading has again shown plenty of 'home grown' birds breeding but a couple from Inner Farne, Farne Islands, Northumberland and Strangford, County Down have been recorded recently.

Mediterranean Gull goes the way of the Little Egret

While on a birding trip at Terceira Island, Azores, Simon Buckell was lucky enough to see a colour ringed Med Gull on 09/02/2011. This species is very interesting as they can, and do, move from country to country very easily. This bird is no exception.


Med Gull, White 30V2, otherwise known as 616158 was ringed as a chick on 17/06/2010 at Slijkplaat, Hellevoetsluis, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands 51'51N 4'05E. It was then seen again on the Med Gull hotspot that is, the seafront at Great Yarmouth, Norfolk on 16/10/2010. Amazingly this bird was next seen on the beach at Praia da Vitoria, Terceira Island, Azores 38'42N 27'03W! The longevity record for a British Med Gull is 15 years so hopefully we'll be able to track its movements back and around the rest of Europe for years to come.


View Med Gull in Azores in a larger map

We have had 12 previous reports of UK bird ringed birds in the Azores and we have had 1 Med Gull before, seen 3 times. After the Little Egret previously posted, who knows what species will be next.

Thanks to Simon for letting us know and letting us use his photo (http://shorebirder-waderworld.blogspot.com)