A ringed Lesser black-backed gull

20 Thursday Oct 2022

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, colour-ringed birds, colour-ringed gull, colour-ringed Lesser black-backed gull, Lesser black-backed gull

Whenever I spot a colour-ringed gull, I always try to get photographs of the ring so I can report the sighting and find out the bird’s history. Sometimes that history is quite exciting, with birds being reported from foreign shores, but this particular seabird, a Lesser black-backed gull spotted at Roath Park lake last week, is a bit of a stay-at-home.

221020 ringed lbb gull (2)

According to Peter Rock, urban gull expert and ringing scheme organiser, the gull was ringed in Cardiff in 2020 but has only ever been sighted at the lake. Peter does say that it might ‘set off late to spend its winter somewhere unknown’ … or it might just hang around in Cardiff all year, as many gulls do. If I visit the lake during the winter months, I will certainly be looking out for it.

221020 ringed lbb gull (1)

296/366 A gull’s history

22 Thursday Oct 2020

Posted by sconzani in birds

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, colour-ringed gull, colour-ringed Lesser black-backed gull, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Lesser black-backed gull

Yesterday’s inbox contained an email with the life history of this ringed Lesser black-backed gull I found at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park and reported to the BTO’s ringers on 5 October. This bird was first ringed on Flat Holm Island, in the Bristol Channel off the south Wales coast, on 1 July 2017. A couple of months later, on 6 September, it was spotted at Cosmeston, and then it headed 1200 kms south to Matosinhos, a port and fishing town in Portugal, where it was seen twice in October 2017, on the 27th and again on the 31st. The bird wasn’t seen again until my recent report so it’s anybody’s guess where it’s been for the past three years.

201022 ringed lesser black-backed gull

301/365 Wanderings of a Great black-backed gull

28 Monday Oct 2019

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, colour-ringed bird, colour-ringed gull, Great black-backed gull, movements of Great black-backed gulls, Portland Bird Observatory

191028 GBB gull (1)

We saw a lot of Great black-backed gulls during our long weekend birding at Portland Bird Observatory at the end of September, both tackling the strong westerly winds out over the huge seas and also taking a breather from those winds, snoozing in a field just along from the Obs. And, while the rest of our group was seawatching near the obelisk, I walked west along the coastal path and found one Great black-backed gull standing alone on rocks at the water’s edge.

191028 GBB gull (2)

This particular gull was ringed so I reported the sighting. It turns out the bird was not far from where it was first ringed in June 2015, on the breakwaters of Portland Harbour, as part of the Portland Gulls project. Joint project leader Terry Coombs kindly emailed me the history of P:49B and commented that ‘From the sightings we have it seems to favour Portland in the winter and cruising the Channel during the warmer months’. Apart from many sightings in the Portland area, it has also been spotted at RSPB Dungeness, on 16 March 2015 and 9 March 2019, and on the Axe estuary, on 19 August 2015.

191028 GBB gull (3)

My sincere thanks to Terry for providing the history of this gull. You can read more about his Portland Gulls project on their blog, and please do report the ringed birds (of all species) that you see – tracking bird movements is a huge part of their protection and conservation.

102/365 November in Portugal

12 Friday Apr 2019

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, colour-ringed gull, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Flat Holm Island, Larus fuscus, Lesser black-backed gull, movements of gulls

I have been out wandering today but, rather than sharing some photos from that, I want, instead, to share this information I’ve received about a ringed bird I reported. The bird is a Lesser black-backed gull (Larus fuscus), which I spotted at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park on 1 April and reported through the European Colour-ring Birding website.

190412 Lesser black-backed gull ringed

It’s a common enough bird, of course, and, as you can see from the list of sightings below, it seems to spend most of its time flying back and forth between Flat Holm Island and Cosmeston, except in November 2017, when it obviously fancied some time in warmer climes. I can’t help but wonder whether that was a one-off trip or whether it just hasn’t been spotted and reported on its other European sojourns.

08/07/12          FLAT HOLM ISLAND, Cardiff
02/09/12          Cosmeston Park, Cardiff (23 km, NNW, 56 days)
13/10/12          Cosmeston Park, Cardiff (23 km, NNW, 97 days)
12/06/14          Cosmeston Park, Cardiff (23 km, NNW, 1 yr 339days)
24/08/14          Cosmeston Park, Cardiff (23 km, NNW, 2 yrs 47days)
14/09/14          Cosmeston Park, Cardiff (23 km, NNW, 2 yrs 68days)
14/09/14          Cosmeston Park, Cardiff (23 km, NNW, 2 yrs 68days)
26/07/15          Cosmeston Park, Cardiff (23 km, NNW, 3 yrs 18days)
06/09/15          Cosmeston Park, Cardiff (23 km, NNW, 3 yrs 60days)
03/04/16          FLAT HOLM ISLAND, Cardiff (3 yrs 270days)
24/04/16          Cosmeston Park, Cardiff (23 km, NNW, 3 yrs 291days)
29/04/16          Cosmeston Park, Cardiff (23 km, NNW, 3 yrs 296days)
04/05/16          Cosmeston Park, Cardiff (23 km, NNW, 3 yrs 301days)
02/07/16          Cosmeston Park, Cardiff (23 km, NNW, 3 yrs 360days)
21/08/16          Cosmeston Park, Cardiff (23 km, NNW, 4 yrs 44days)
13/05/17          FLAT HOLM ISLAND, Cardiff (4 yrs 309days)
14/05/17          Cosmeston Park, Cardiff (23 km, NNW, 4 yrs 310days)
04/11/17          Costa da Caparica, Setúbal, Portugal (1493 km, SSW, 5 yrs)
07/07/18          FLAT HOLM ISLAND, Cardiff (5 yrs 364days)
01/04/19          Cosmeston Park, Cardiff (23 km, NNW, 6 yrs 267days)