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.

210605 LBB chicks (1)

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)

206/366 Fledging

24 Friday Jul 2020

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, gull chick learning to fly, gull chicks, Lesser black-backed gull, urban gull nest

From an initial count of three chicks, the local Lesser black-backed gulls nesting amongst a neighbour’s chimney pots have managed to raise one to fledging. I’ve been watching it practising its flying skills over recent days and, finally this morning, it has left the shelter of its nest site.

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Though it was pottering around the rooftops for a while, I can no longer see the chick. Now follows the dangerous time for this fledgling of learning to find its own food, finding shelter against bad weather, escaping domestic cats and dogs in the various neighbours’ gardens, and avoiding cars on roads…. Good luck, little one!

200724 lbb chick (18)

172/366 Chicks

20 Saturday Jun 2020

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

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gull chicks, gulls nesting amongst chimney pots, Lesser black-backed gull, urban gull nest

The neighbourhood Lesser black-backed gulls, presumably the same pair as last year, have bred again, amongst the chimney pots of a house over the back lane from me. I first noticed them checking out their previous nesting spot a couple of months ago – the photo below was taken on 22 March, and there was a lot of mating activity in early May (see Bonding, 4 May).

200620 1 LBB gulls 22March

The female started sitting in mid May, and I spotted the first chick on 12 June.

200620 2 chicks 12June

Now there are three chicks, the same number as this pair started off with last year, though they only managed to fledge one. I’ll keep you updated on this year’s success (or failure) rate. Fingers crossed!

200620 3 chicks 17June

125/366 Bonding

04 Monday May 2020

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature, spring

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, gulls mating, Lesser black-backed gull

During the past couple of weeks, it’s been fascinating to watch two Lesser black-backed gulls – presumably, the same two who nested amongst a group of neighbouring chimney pots last year – renewing their pair bonds and practising their seduction techniques. The process goes a bit like this …

200504 lesser black-backed gulls (1)

They circle each other, beaks thrust towards the sky in unison, and there’s some low bird-speak (as opposed to gull shrieking) …

200504 lesser black-backed gulls (2)

One bird (the female, I think) begs the other for food, as if it is a chick, and the second bird regurgitates a niblet of food …

200504 lesser black-backed gulls (3)

There’s more circling and beak thrusting and chatter …

200504 lesser black-backed gulls (4)

Finally, the males jumps on the back of the female, though it takes them a couple of minutes to spread their wings, tails, feathers to reach the right angle to achieve copulation …

200504 lesser black-backed gulls (5)

And this happens more than once, the male remaining on the female’s back until they’ve copulated three times during this one session …

200504 lesser black-backed gulls (6)

Once finished, he jumps off, she puts her head down and waggles her rear end, and there is more low chatter, and a little beak bumping, before they both fly off.

200504 lesser black-backed gulls (7)

1/366 And we’re off!

01 Wednesday Jan 2020

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature, winter

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birding, birdwatching, Black redstart, British birds, Cardiff Bay birding, Goosander, Lesser black-backed gull, Turnstone

And so another year, another decade has kicked off, and I started as I mean to go on, with an 8-mile walk around Cardiff Bay, immersing myself in the local wildlife. I counted 43 species of birds, found 28 species of wildflowers in bloom (more on them tomorrow), and spotted 1 moth. I finally met someone I’ve ‘known’ on Twitter for ages, and bumped into 2 fellow birders. The weather may have been shite (gloomy, partly foggy, partly low cloud, sometimes drizzle) but it was a mighty fine way to jump start a new year.

My good camera didn’t come out often as it doesn’t like the wet and the photos I did take are very grainy due to the poor light, but I’ll include a couple anyway.

This male Goosander was posing nicely – wish I could’ve done him justice

200101 3 turnstones

There were 14 Turnstones along the Ely embankment today, 7 of which ventured up on to the pavement – never seen that before. Lingered watching for quite a while …

For those who like lists, the birds were: Robin, Lesser black-backed gull, Feral pigeon, Starling, Great tit, Blackbird, House sparrow, Woodpigeon, Herring gull, Carrion crow, Dunnock, Blue tit, Long-tailed tit, Magpie, Cormorant, Coot, Great-crested grebe, Mallard, Goosander, Grey wagtail, Turnstone, Collared dove, Mute swan, Redshank, Tufted duck, Wren, Blackcap, Black redstart, Moorhen, Pied wagtail, Raven, Goldfinch, Song thrush, Little grebe, Linnet, Reed bunting, Cetti’s warbler, Shoveler, Sparrowhawk. Pochard, Grey heron, Meadow pipit, and Jackdaw.

A record shot of the Black redstart

A bit gory, sorry, but a reminder that it’s a ‘bird eat bird’ world out there! Not sure what the victim was

184a/365 The Big Yin lives!

03 Wednesday Jul 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, birds, nature

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

190703 LBB gull chick

The best news! The biggest of the three Lesser black-backed gull chicks is still alive. It must’ve fallen off the roof. I had searched the back of the house with my bins and found nothing and couldn’t hear anything, but now it’s on the roof of the lean-to attached to the back of the house. It’s moving around just fine and a parent has been down to feed it. I suspect it may have fallen into the front garden (a miracle it survived the tumble), the home owners have found it, and moved it around the back and on to the roof so it could be seen by its parents. Fingers crossed!