Frozen Water Helps Identify Visiting Gulls

Cold conditions can result in some of our local lochs and ponds freezing over. This can be a disadvantage for birders as most waterbirds move out to unfrozen more saline areas such as estuaries. However, the ice covered waters often attract gulls and ducks where they can still roost in safety. The clear lines of a frozen loch offer a great opportunity to check the legs of the gulls for colour rings.

During the third week of January such cold conditions occurred causing most water bodies to freeze. Checking these areas resulted in four interesting Herring Gulls being recorded. The first (Yellow Y:D85) was originally ringed at Harewood Whin Landfill, west of York on 30/06/2017, the next (Orange UA5Z ) was ringed at Pitsea Landfill, Essex on 25/03/2017, the third was a locally ringed bird (Yellow T:341) while the forth (Black JN377) was a much older bird of the argentatus sub-species and was ringed in Vardo, Finmark, Norway on 05/06/2010. This site is 2784km away from Meikle Loch.

Map showing origins of yellow Y:D85, black JN377 and orange UA5Z

Black JN377

Orange UA5Z with the locally ringed bird Yellow T:341 in the background

As many wintering gulls send much of their time in fields or on the water their legs are seldom visible. Their use of the frozen ponds and lochs has highlighted that there are probably quite a few colour-ringed gulls around which go unnoticed. MS

Gull Update

We're now into the second year of the joint Grampian and Tay big gull project, and it's been another successful season. So far this year in Grampian we've colour ringed 280 fully grown gulls, mainly Herring but also the occasional Lesser and Greater-backed. We also ringed 120 chicks on the coast (including these Greater chicks below) 60 of which were colour ringed.



Tay Ringing Group colour ringed 70 gulls in Montrose. The St. Serf's island gull colony on Loch Leven was also colour ringed for the first time, with a total of 150 chicks, mainly Lesser Black-backed. So far we've had five St. Serfs birds seen in Portugal and two in Northwest Spain, one of which was photographed by Manuel Carregal (below). 



Also this year we started colour ringing Common and Black-headed Gulls for the first time. We've done 160 Common Gulls so far, mostly chicks in an upland colony, and have already got some interesting movements out of them, which will feature in a future blog post.

The Black headed Gull colony we regularly ring had poor breeding success, but we managed to ring a few chicks elsewhere, and also mist netted some fully grown birds in the Autumn.  Hopefully we'll get a snowy winter and catch lots more.  

• For big gulls with yellow rings, with the code the letter T followed by a colon and three numbers, please report to Euan Ferguson at e.ferguson17@hotmail.co.uk
• For big gulls with yellow rings, with the code the letter T followed by a colon and two numbers, then either the letter A or C, please report to Neil Mitchell at nfmitch2000@yahoo.co.uk
• For Common Gulls (orange rings) and Black headed Gulls (yellow rings) with the code 2X followed by two letters, please report to Calum Campbell at calumcambl@hotmail.co.uk

A big thank you to all the ringers and observers who have made these projects possible. Please continue looking out for colour rings. 

Euan

Colour-ringed sightings in the North East

In addition to the many colour-ringing projects run by GRG, birds of other ringing groups have also been noted in the North East. The following are details of some colour-ringed birds seen this year.

On 11 September a Pale-bellied Brent with two white darvics was seen within a small flock of five on the Ythan. This bird had been ringed at Strangford Loch, NI on 17/10/2005 and during its travels had been recorded in France, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. This Brent was seen later in the month on the Solway Firth, presumably heading again for Ireland.

Colour-ringed Red Knot are not very common on the Ythan, so when one turned up on 17 August, it was interesting to receive news that it had been ringed at De Richel in The Netherlands way back on 27 July 2001. Also intriguing was the fact that this was the first sighting since ringing – perhaps giving hope for all those ringed birds you have never heard of since the ringing date.

A Black-tailed Godwit observed at the Ythan on 1 September was identified as being from Iceland. This Godwit was ringed at the nest on 1 July in NW Iceland.

On 18 September a Black-headed Gull was seen on the musselbeds of the Ythan. It had a white darvic and had been ringed in Rogaland, Norway on 8 April 2012 (see below map).

A Kittiwake at the mouth of the Ythan on 21 August had originally been ringed at Lowestoft Harbour on 27 June 2011. This is the second year when a similar bird has been seen in the same area.

Two Herring Gulls were seen on the cliffs north of the Bullers of Buchan. The first, on 13 March, had been ringed on 30 November 2007 at a landfill site near Scarborough, while the second, noted on 13 July originated from Pitsea landfill in Essex. It had been ringed on 27 March 2010 and was previously spotted in northern France (see below map).

Although many Forvie Sandwich Terns were fitted with rings and darvics and have dispersed, one “foreign” colour-ringed bird was seen among the “local” birds on 24 August and later at Cairbulg on 2 September. This young bird had been ringed in Zuid-Holland, The Netherlands on 19 June 2012.

MS

Recent Gull Sightings

The frustratingly mild winter we've has this year has meant that gulls haven't been very hungry, making catching them quite challenging. However, some interesting sightings have come from the birds we've managed to ring. We had good numbers of northern Argentatus Herring Gulls about at the beginning of the year. Distinctively pale plumaged first winter Herring Gull T:610 (above), which was ringed at Peterhead Harbour on 8th January, confirmed its Scandinavian roots when it was seen and photographed by Arnt Kvinnesland at Ferkingstad, Karmoy, Norway (below) on the 14th March.

The past few months we've also had lots of sightings from the Herring Gulls we ringed during the summer. Most of these have been around North East Scotland, but we've have had several birds travel further south, mostly to England, and recently one to Ouddorp in the Netherlands. A map of our long distance Herring Gull movements is below. We are now down to a 1 in 4 sighting

rate overall.

Glaucous Gull T:193, ringed last August at the Ugie Estuary, Peterhead (below with a satisfied Calum) which was then seen at Boldon Flats, Durham in Decemeber, has been sighted again several times across England.

It was seen at Newburn Sewer, Seaton Carew on 15th January, and then it went down to Cotham Landfill Site, Nottinghamshire for a couple of weeks from the 18th February (photographed below by Nick Crouch). It was next seen for a few days at Ogston Reservoir, Derbyshire from the 8th March. It then went north again, and was at Longnewton Reservoir, Cleveland on the 24th and 25th March.

It will be interesting to to see where it turns up next. Please look out for it and any other colour ringed gulls, send sightings to e.ferguson17@hotmail.co.uk. All our gulls have yellow rings with the letter T followed by a colon and three numbers.

A big thank you to all observers and photographers.

Euan

Gulls on the move

T:605, Duthie Park (Ewan Weston)

We are now getting some interesting sightings from the gulls we've been colour ringing since the summer. Most of our sightings have been from Herring Gulls around Aberdeenshire, however some have gone further afield. We've had two, both ringed on the same day, seen in England, one at Greatham Creek, Teesside and one at North Hykeham, Lincolnshire. Going further south was Herring Gull T:228, ringed at Torry in August and seen in Boulogne-sur-Mer, Pas-de-Calais, France four months later. This is only the second Grampian ringed Herring Gull recorded in France, the previous had been ringed as a chick.

T:209, Peterhead (Chris Gibbins)

The bird that has travelled the greatest distance so far is Lesser Black-backed Gull, T:027, ringed at the end of June in the Asda car park beside Aberdeen beach. It was caught by hand after it was chased inside a shopping trolley!

It was then sighted in September at El Puerto de Santa Maria in the south of Spain. It was resighted several times into November. We only colour ringed seven Lesser Black-backed Gulls this summer, so we were very pleased to get such a good movement out of one of them.

T:027, El Puerto de Santa Maria (Rafa Garcia)

Similarly, we have also only colour ringed seven Great Black-backed Gulls so far, yet we've still had one venture abroad! T:007 was ringed on boxing day at Peterhead Harbour, and seen four days later in St. Peter Ording, Germany!

A nice surprise this summer was managing to colour ring a Glaucous Gull at the Ugie Estuary, Peterhead on the 3rd August. We heard nothing at all about this birds whereabouts until it was seen at Boldon Flats, Durham on 23rd December. Few Glaucous Gulls have been ringed in the UK, so it will be interesting to see where this bird turns up next.

Thank you to all observers and photographers. Please check all Gulls you see for colour rings, all our rings are yellow with the letter T followed by a colon and three numbers.

Euan

Last Gulls of the Summer

We've reached the end of summer and the end of our gull darvics. The 250th was put on a Lesser Black-backed Gull today, after a whoosh net catch on Aberdeen beach. Time to order some new rings!

Most of the birds ringed over the summer have been Herring Gulls, but seven Lesser Black-backed Gull, two Greater Black-backed Gulls and a Glaucous Gull have also been colour ringed. The Glaucous is the first to be ringed in the UK since 2002, with only 60 birds having ever been ringed.

The first Greater Black-backed Gull (above) we colour ringed this year at Fraserburgh was seen 45 miles away at Lossiemouth 4 days later. Having only ringed two Greaters so far that's a good resighting rate! We intend to catch more this autumn at the harbours up north.

Several birds we caught had already been metal ringed. The oldest was ringed as a chick at Aberdeen harbour in 1997. Many gulls are now being resighted around the city. The photo below shows two juveniles we'd ringed at different sites standing right next to each other. Amazingly we'd only ringed three juveniles at that stage! From our resightings we are seeing that breeding birds don't necessarily feed near the nest site, with birds ringed in our gardens in the suburbs seen on rooftops 8 miles away in the city centre. Hopefully more resightings will help us understand more about the movements and population of Aberdeens gulls.

Please check all gulls you see for colour rings.

Euan 

100th Gull Colour Ringed

We have been catching large gulls this summer around Aberdeen for a new colour ringing project, and caught our 100th bird today. This particular bird had all ready been metal ringed, by myself last summer. Like the majority of the birds we've ringed it was an adult Herring Gull. We have also ringed four adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls, and are now starting to catch this years juveniles as they come off the roofs. Most of the gulls have been caught by hand around the city, although some have also been clap netted in our gardens. Gulls are easisest to catch at this time of year, with juveniles fully grown yet still reliant on their parents for food, meaning adult gulls are more confident and reckless than usual. Hopefully we will ring a lot more before summer is over. Please check the gulls you see around Aberdeen for rings.

Euan

Colour Ringing Gulls

We have started a new colour ringing project: Herring Gulls (and Lesser and Greater Black-backed Gulls if we can get our hands on them). "The North East Scotland Gull project" as I've just decided to call it will see us putting colour rings on any large gull we catch in the Grampian and Tay area, with Ben Herschell from Tay Ringing Group colour ringing gulls in and around Montrose.
   We ringed our first birds today, caught by hand at a legendary site we refer to as "the magic fence." Hopefully they will be the first of many this summer, as we are soon getting to the period when gulls are easy to catch. They lose all caution and common sense when they have chicks, as they desperately try to secure Asda smart price bread for them

Catching at the Magic Fence - thanks to Keith Barker for sending us this photo Another bird caught later in the Burger King car park!

Please look out for our gulls, all have a yellow ring on the left leg, with the letter T followed by a colon and three numbers.
Euan, Calum and Raymondo

GBB Gull ringing

What do you do with 17 loaves of bread, a turkey carcass, two mince rounds, a pizza and a whole salmon that Raymond has had since November? Thats right - an expedition to catch gulls in the harbours of the North-east!

Despite a distinct reduction in the number of herring gulls in the harbours due to the lack of fishing boats coming in over the festive period, we tried a few tried and tested catching methods as well as a bit of improvisation. The result was 11 GBB gulls and 3 herring gulls.

As a side effect though, Euan managed to make us think we should carry a first aid kit with us when out ringing and Raymond had to sit in a car on his own as he was designated stinky salmon toucher.

Great gulls!

The snow in Aberdeen has halted some of the waxwing chasing in the last week or two. Out in Westhill we've returned to our favourite garden ringing of gulls. A couple of miss-fires with a whoosh net has meant a change in tactics so we are now using a classic clap net as that seems to work better in the 20in of snow we have in our garden.
In the last few days we have caught over 60 gulls with another 10 by the young lads in Peterculter. We've been weighing all of the birds and they seem to be stable with about 10% of birds being significantly below weight.


Star birds have been a juv Black headed Gull British control and a Stavanger Common Gull - taking our tally to four for our garden in the two years we have lived here!

The most interesting bird was a common gull we rang yesterday morning in Westhill and was caught less than 2 hours later in Peterculter by Euan and Calum - a distance of 4.2km as the gull flies. This was the lightest bird we have caught in the garden so it was maybe that which made it travel further for food.

Gulls number have decreased in Westhill as birds have probably headed into town looking for food where there's less snow. But we will try again tomorrow with our reduced bread from Tesco!

Ewan and Jenny

Gullalicious

It’s been a few months since Danny kindly set up the GRG blog, so we thought it was about time that something was posted on it!



With the amazing snowfall we have had it has given us the opportunity to do some winter gull ringing – a GRG speciality. So far we have had reasonable success and a few failures, mainly due to the depth of snow. A total of 9 herring gulls, 5 black-headed gulls, 80 common gulls and 1 rook have been caught. Amongst these there have been a small number of interesting recoveries, some of which we have already found out ringing details.





The first ringing details we received were of a GRG bird that was ringed at Culterty field station in Newburgh by Paul Doyle on 30/6/1995 as a chick and captured on 2/1/2010 in the park outside Skitts’ house in Newburgh with two other birds. Nice to see an older bird and one that was reared in the region too.



Over in Westhill we have had the lion’s share of the success with 5 Herring gulls, 2 black-headed gulls, 78 common gulls and a rook caught in our wee garden with Tesco reduced counter bread. This has included an old GRG bird and a nice Norwegian ringed and colour-ringed bird. The GRG bird was ringed at the Don mouth on 25/2/2001. We were able to get the history of the Norwegian bird within a few hours on a Norwegian colour ringing website. The bird had been ringed as an adult male in Tromso on 23/4/2004, was sighted twice that June at the same site, again in June 2005, July 2007 and then nothing until it turned up in a catch of 27 gulls in the garden on 6/1/2010. The distance from Tromso to Westhill is 1727km and it was 2084 days since it was originally ringed!

Ewan & Jenny