Chicks of Cardiff Bay

22 Saturday Jun 2024

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Canada geese, Canada goose goslings, Cardiff Bay birding, Lesser black-backed gull, Lesser black-backed gull chicks, Oystercatcher, Oystercatcher chick

For the first time in ages I walked a circuit of Cardiff Bay on Tuesday – I usually avoid the place in the summer as there are too many people for my liking, but I’d heard there were some chicks to be seen so I went looking. These are they …

240622 canada geese (1)

Canada goose (above and below): there were two broods of goslings, one of five and one of six, with their parents and a flock of 20-plus adult geese (as if they were all keeping an eye on the children) in one of the now-landlocked old docks. They’ll be stuck there until they learn to fly but I’ve heard people have been feeding them (perhaps that’s also why so many adults are present) so hopefully they’ll all develop to maturity.

240622 canada geese (2)

Lesser black-backed gull: one chick was still on the dolphin where their nest must have been (there is no other way the chick could have got there), squawking almost repeatedly at an adult gull that was perched higher up the dolphin structure. The other chick had either fallen or jumped from the dolphin and was nearby, at the water’s edge, washing and preening.

240622 lesser black-backed chicks

Oystercatcher: this was the main reason for my walk and definitely the highlight. A pair of Oystercatchers has been returning to the same spot, on another of the dolphin structures, for several years, to breed but they have always failed to raise a chick to adulthood. It is a very odd location for their nest – no other Oystercatchers breed locally so I wonder if this is where one of them was originally hatched. So far, this year’s breeding attempt is going well so let’s hope their good luck continues.

240622 oystercatchers

A Flatholm gull

22 Friday Sep 2023

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

At Cosmeston, during Monday’s walk, I spotted this juvenile Lesser black-backed gull and was able to read the code on its left leg ring, F:D94. With a little searching on the European Colour-Ring Birding website, I found that the bird was probably ringed on the island of Flatholm, just over 3 miles off the south coast of Wales and a well known breeding site for Lesser black-backed gulls. I fired off an email reporting my sighting.

230922 lbb fd94 (1)

Just a short time later I got an email back, saying that the ringing group on Flatholm has now set up a website for the birds they ring. I found the website easy to use and it gives you instant feedback about the gull you’ve seen. F:D94 is one of this year’s breeding successes and was ringed as a chick on Flatholm on 1 July. So, for any birders amongst my followers, if you happen to spot a Flatholm bird (they have a tiny metal ring on their right leg and, on their left, a blue plastic ring with an alpha-numeric code that starts with an F), please do report your sighting on their Flat Holm Gulls website.

230922 lbb fd94 (2)

Lesser black-backed gull chicks

16 Friday Jun 2023

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Lesser black-backed gull, Lesser black-backed gull chicks, urban gull chicks, urban gull nest

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, here’s an update on the Lesser black-backed gulls that nest each year amongst the chimney pots of a house across the back lane from my flat. (I’ve posted many previous blogs about these birds, the most recent being Fledged, 19 July 2022.) Two chicks have hatched so far this breeding season, and I’ll be keenly watching their progress.

230616 lesser black-backed gull chicks

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)

Fledged

19 Tuesday Jul 2022

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Lesser black-backed gull, Lesser black-backed gull chicks, urban gull chicks, urban gull nest

Last Saturday afternoon, with much screeching and peeping, this year’s Lesser black-backed gull chick fledged from its home amongst a neighbour’s chimney pots – the same location and, presumably, the same pair of gulls as I’ve posted about here before (in The eggs have hatched!, June 2019 and Fledging, July 2020). I’m never sure whether the chicks’ departures from these rooftop nests are deliberate or accidental – some over-jealous wing-flapping, perhaps? But this year it was certainly well timed to miss the scorching heatwave – I can’t begin to imagine what the temperature would be on the rooftops in full sun.

I’m pleased to report the fledgling has made it through its first couple of nights and days. When I headed out early Sunday morning for a walk, it was sitting across the road in the local church grounds, an adult on the roof top keeping an eye on it, and that’s where it seems to have remained, a relatively safe and sheltered spot next to a very busy road. Fingers crossed for its continued survival!

220719 LBB fledgling

p.s. The top two images were taken when it was still in the ‘nest’; the photos are dated 11 and 12 July respectively.

More urban gull chicks

15 Tuesday Jun 2021

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Lesser black-backed gull, Lesser black-backed gull chicks, urban gull chicks

As I meander around the local area on my daily walks, I’ve been keeping an eye out for more examples of Lesser black-backed gulls nesting in our urban environment. For the birds, I guess any small flat space on a roof top is the same as a ledge on a cliff face, and they are certainly very good at finding and using those spaces for their nests. Both of today’s examples are from the health care sector, the first on top of a building at Llandough Hospital and the second, with two well-grown chicks, on the rooftop of Nuffield Health Cardiff Bay Hospital.

210615 urban gull chicks (3)

Cheeping up a storm

05 Saturday Jun 2021

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, gull chicks, Lesser black-backed gull, Lesser black-backed gull chicks, urban gull chicks

My nearest Lesser black-backed gulls (the ones who’ve featured in many previous blogs, see here and here) were late getting started this year and are still sitting tight.

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But, down at the end of the lane, in amongst the chimney pots, another regular pair of Lesser black-backed gulls is once again raising a family.

210605 LBB chicks (2)

And, when I passed by yesterday, these three youngsters were cheeping up a storm, especially when mum – or dad – returned to feed them.

210605 LBB chicks (3)

296/366 A gull’s history

22 Thursday Oct 2020

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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

246/366 Junior

02 Wednesday Sep 2020

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, gull chick, Lesser black-backed gull, Lesser black-backed gull juvenile, urban gull nest

I feel a bit like a proud parent sharing photos of their child when I post news of the Lesser black-backed gull that was born amongst a neighbour’s chimney pots but … here’s junior, a month on from the last update. It still comes back to the nest area almost every day, still screeches pleadingly at its parents for food, but it seems to be doing well, and looked rather splendid in the soft light early this morning.

200902 lbb juvenile

219/366 Gull update

06 Thursday Aug 2020

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, gull fledgling, Lesser black-backed gull

It’s two weeks today since junior Lesser black-backed gull flew the coop – or, in this case, the nest amongst the chimney pots, and I’m pleased to report that it seems to be thriving.

200806 lesser black-backed gull fledgling (1)

I’ve spotted it on neighbouring shed and house rooftops several times, and I’m sure it’s the same bird, as one or both of the adults sit on the nest site while junior screeches at them for food from somewhere nearby. It’s so nice to be able to report a success story.

200806 lesser black-backed gull fledgling (2)