Ring-reading weather

Well 2016 seems to be getting off on the same foot as the back end of 2015, with yet more wind and rain meaning there's not a lot of mist-netting to be done. But there are still gulls to catch and, just as importantly, rings to read.

So a few of us have been out staring at gulls and waders again, catching up with some old colour-ringed friends, and the last week has seen birds from all over Europe resighted. We've seen Black-headed Gulls from Belgium and Poland (no fewer than three!) and also a 20-year-old bird ringed locally, Med Gulls from Belgium, Ireland and France, a Herring Gull from the Channel Islands (seen previously at Dungeness, Kent), a Black-tailed Godwit from Hampshire and a Curlew from The Netherlands.

Sadly none of my photos are any good, but a couple of the Polish Black-headed Gulls at Par Beach Pool were also photographed by Allan and Iain Stewart, so thanks to them for these.

Returning Curlews from the Continent

We've had a little run of colour-ringed Curlew sightings recently, with three different birdsringed in three different countries. Two of these are in fact returning birds, proving that there's some degree of faithfulness to wintering sites of European birds.

Red/Metal, Red/Green was ringed as a breeding male on 30th May 2013 in Kattenvenne, Germany, and was first seen at Rosemullion on 10th August 2013. It then returned to breed at Kattenvenne in 2014 and was back at Men-aver beach, Helford River, on 13th August 2014.

RM,RG at Rosemullion in August 2013

This morning at Devoran, in amongst over 100 roosting Curlew, were two other colour-ringed birds. White (S), Red (A) was a bird ringed as a chick on 13th June 2013 at Sekdoorn, Zwoll, The Netherlands. It was first seen in Cornwall on 22nd September 2013 and then at Devoran on 29th December 2013 and again today (17th August 2014).

SA when it was ringed a a nearly-fledged chick...

...and as seen at Devoran in August 2014

The other bird was a new one to us, but we do know that it was a bird ringed as part of a BTO project looking at how waders use the Severn Estuary. This will have been a bird ringed in autumn/winter so may have been on passage when ringed, or has now switched wintering area.

BL/M, R/YW at Devoran in August 2014

Thanks to John St Ledger for the photo of RM,RG and Gerrit Gerritsen for the photo of SA as a chick.

T:013 returns from Spain

We blogged recently about a few big gulls at Lizard Point, including a pic (also below) of Great Black-back T:013.

We've now received the details back for this bird and it has quite an interesting history. The whole story behind it's ringing featured on the BTO's Demog Blog last year just after it had been resighted in Spain. It was seen in A Coruña from 13th January to 26th February 2013 and then again from 15th October to 29th November 2013, but hadn't been seen since. It is presumably still too young to be breeding so is just perhaps summering closer to home...

T:013 wen it was ringed in Aberdeenshire...

...and when it was first resighted in Spain

The photos originally appeared on Demog Blog and are courtesy of Euan Ferguson and Antonio Gutierrez.

Another sightings first

...and this time it was an 'at sea' record of one of our Kittiwakes; the first sighting of one of our birds away from our study sites. This excellent record came from group member Tony Blunden on a pelagic trip out of Penzance. Having photographed a bird off Longstones Lighthouse he thought might be ringed, zooming in produced a rather hazy image of one of our rings.

Now so far we've only ringed Kittiwakes with rings beginning A, C and P and those beginning P were ringed as chicks in 2012 or 2013, so that rules them out. So the ring must start C, which narrows it down to a small set of options. Most of these have horizontal bars or curly bits or such like, so the only real possibilities are CL and CT. Even just typing them here, you can see that the vertical bar of the two letters sits either close to or apart from the curl of the C. So with a judicious bit of photoshop-ery with similar unused rings, we're pretty sure this must be CT.

Well I think it's convincing... CT was ringed as a breeding adult at Trewavas Head in July 2013, 29km from where Tony was lucky enough to catch it in flight

Gulls on the move again

It's been too windy again this weekend to get any nets up, but it's been way more productive to get a 'scope out and look seaward at gulls. Numbers of Great Black-backs are building up again at Lizard Point and we're regularly getting birds from Looe Island and further afield now. We've even had a bizarre run of close neighbours, with colour rings LAN1, LAN3 and LAN7 all being seen over 10th to 12th July; all ringed as chicks on Looe Island on 25th June 2011.

Black 51M at Lizard Point today - another Normandy bird

Best record of the week though has been Herring Gull White 7FS7, seen on 12th July. We don't see many colour-ringed Herring Gulls at the point, and this bird had been ringed as a chick on Lihou Island, Guernsey, in June 2013. It has since spent most of its time in France, seen at Treffieux Landfill several times in January 2014.

We've also heard of some other movements of gulls we've blogged about before. Black 96N (ringed in Normandy, France in June 2013) was seen at Lizard Point back in the spring (blogged here) and was also seen on Looe Island six days later. Just recently it popped up in northern France, seen at Port-en-Bessin-Huppain on 28th June.

Black 96N at Lizard Point in the spring

Another poor CES visit and pasty-snatching gulls

A couple of us did the postponed CES this morning at Gunwalloe and despite the mud, sweat and much cursing, managed a paltry 23 birds. This doesn't exactly compare well with the 132 bids on the same visit in 2011, but oddly does beat the nine birds from last year. Most of this morning's catch were Reed Warblers (16, including two birds ringed in 2011), but a juvenile Whitethroat and an adult Swallow added a bit of interest. Finally (!!) we also caught our first Cetti's Warbler of the year; a bird we originally ringed as an adult back in 2011 and not recaught since. Having said that, one of the 2011 Reed Warblers hadn't been caught since ringing either...

On the gull front, last week was a bit manic, variously ringing 'pasty-snatching' gulls in St Ives (10 adults), rooftop gulls in Falmouth (nine chicks) and Great Black-backed Gulls on both Mullion Island (16 chicks) and Looe Island (74 chicks). The latter isn't our project, but read more about it on the Tamar Wildlife site. All of these gulls also received shiny new colour rings, so ones to keep an eye for in the future.

Blue W:186, caught with the help of an ice cream, turned out to be the
regular bird that holds territory at Rod's Deckchairs in St Ives

Sunny day on Mullion Island ringing gull chicks (Daisy Salmon)

We've also just seen the final county ringing totals on the BTO's online ringing report and it's interesting to compare with group totals. This is more a reflection of the lack of ringers in Cornwall, but in 2013 the group ringed ALL of the Storm Petrel (235), Cormorant (11), Shag (6), Kittiwake (10), Dipper (3), Stonechat (15), Wheatear (3) and Linnet (45) ringed in the county! Blowing our own trumpet a bit, we also ringed more than 90% of Meadow Pipit (392), Goldfinch (314) and Reed Bunting (48) in the county. So again a big thanks to everyone who helped out or let us ring on their land in 2013.

At the county level, more Great Black-backed Gulls (80) and Jackdaws (480) were ringed in Cornwall in 2013 than any other county, withe other notable totals for Rook (62, beaten only by Sussex) and Yellow-browed Warbler (19), losing out to the Northern Isles: Orkney (29) and Shetland (31).

Cannon-netting Guernsey gulls

This week a small contingent for WCRG have been over in Guernsey helping out Guernsey Gulls and North Thames Gull Group cannon-netting on the island's one and only landfill site.

Over the week we squeezed in 12 fires, catching just over 1,200 big gulls, colour-ringing 316 Lesser Black-backed and 730 Herring Gulls. Add to that a fair few Great Black-backs and a very smart Yellow-legged Gull and it's been a good week.

After catching, gulls are kept in a large keeping cage (a modified cage trap really), which ensures they stay cool and relaxed, using a small catching box to deal with a few birds at a time.

Running repairs on the keeping cage Cornwall-stylee

All birds ringed during the week were also colour-ringed as part of a long-term project monitoring productivity at breeding colonies on the island. Several birds were also caught which needed a colour ring replacing, having effectively worn out their original ring.

The good side of 6FF9

The not-so-good side of 6FF9

The tip is also often a rather interesting place to work, sharing it with some unexpected characters.

New French Kittiwake at Rinsey

We regularly see French-ringed Kittiwakes in our study colony at Rinsey Cliffs, and already this year we've seen two. One (OYM,NWR - Orange, Yellow, Metal, Black, White, Red) is a regular, seen several times in 2012 and 2013, but one seen yesterday was a new bird for us.

Shocking photo of YBM,YRL on a pretty hard to observe ledge!

YBM,YRLwas ringed as a chick at Point du Raz, Plogoff, in 2005 and is the oldest French bird so far at Rinsey. Since ringing it's not been seen again in France, so chances are it's been somewhere in the southwest breeding in recent years, so it'll be interesting  to see if it hangs around. We've seen an older bird at nearby Trewavas Head (ringed in 2002) but haven't had a chance to get there yet this year.

T015 trades Spanish dumps for sunny Lizard Point

Our run of colour-ringed Great Black-backed Gulls has slowed down a bit, so we've had to make do with the occasional Lesser Black-backed Gull instead! But Orange T015 was an interesting one, seen at Lizard point on 17th March.

T015 at Lizard Point on 17th March (Terence Thirlaway)

It was ringed in February 2010 at a rubbish dump near Salamanca, central Spain (red marker), and is almost certainly a British breeding bird. In 2011/12 it wintered further east, seen at two other Spanish rubbish dumps (blue markers).

T015 at ringing in Salamanca, February 2010 (Miguel Blanco)

 It was seen on the same dumps again in March 2013 and February 2014 and was last seen at Colmenar Viejo on 2nd March, so made a quick two-week movement back up to Lizard Point.

T015 at Colmenar Viejo, Madrid (Delfin Gonzalez)

There have only been 15 records of Spanish-ringed Lesser Black-backed Gulls in the UK, but this is the second in Cornwall, following another colour-ringed bird seen at Gwithian in 2006.

Geeb-fest at Lizard Point

The last couple of weeks have seen large numbers of Great Black-backed Gulls (and the odd Iceland and Glaucous Gull, and even a smart Kumlien's Gull!) gathering on the reef at Lizard Point. There seems to be an endless stream of colour-ringed birds in amongst them as well, with birds from as diverse places as Norway, Wales, Channel Islands and France! So far we've recorded 13 different colour-ringed birds, and  the origins of some of those we've photographed (well Tony has photographed) are below.

JP164 was ringed as a chick at Risøy, Mandal, Norway in June 2011

White LAK2 was ringed on Looe Island, Cornwall, in June 2010 and has been seen several times in Guernsey

White LAY4 is another Looe Island bird, ringed in July 2012 and has previously only ventured as far as Camel Estuary

Black 96N was ringed in Normandy, France, in July 2013 and has been seen at Dawlish Warren, Devon, in October and December

Black 25L was ringed in Normandy in May 2012 and has been seen multiple times in Guernsey, lastly on 22nd February

P01B was ringed at Portland Breakwater, Dorset, in June 2013, and this is the first sighting since ringing

Yellow 0KK5 was ringed as a chick on Lihou Island, Guernsey, in June 2010. It has been regularly seen on the islands since ringing, and was also seen on the Plym Estuary in August 2012.

Yellow 0TT6 was too distant to photograph (and a bugger to read!), so here's a photo of it when it was ringed on Lihou Island, Guernsey, in June 2011. It has also been seen at Dawlish Warren, Devon, in April 2012.

Yellow 1PP7 was ringed as a chick at Jethou, Guernsey, in June 2013. The only sighting since then was on Looe Island, Cornwall, on 20th January 2014.

Green M65 was ringed as a chick in June 2013 at Iles Saint-Marcouf, Manche, France. Interestingly it was also seen on Looe Island on 17th January and 25th February.

Among a few other interesting birds was Herring Gull Red S:037 which I originally saw in Newlyn Harbour in October 2011. It had been rehabilitated and released at Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset, in July 2011, and was reunited with me again at Lizard Point on 11th March!

Out of county cannon-netting and a Dutch Curlew

With the local weather set to continue at 50mph winds and hail showers, we're not going to be doing much until the end of the year, so escaped out of county yesterday for some cannon-netting with Axe Estuary Ringing Group. Unfortunately the birds hadn't read the script and after a long (and cold!) wait we fired on the only birds that had made it across the newly-formed ice sheet in front of the cannon net: two Shelduck and a Moorhen. Just to make matters worse, the day was run as a ringing demonstration, but I hope the visitors were suitably happy with the few birds they got to see!

The assembled masses watching Greg ring his first Shelduck

The group are particularly keen to catch Shelduck as they have a long-term colour-ringing project on these birds, so catching two new birds was better than nothing. Both were juveniles, one male and one female, so it was a good opportunity to compare the sexes side-by-side.

Female Shelduck,sexed by the dull bill and pale flecking on the face

All Shelduck are also ringed with a single coded yellow ring,
remarkably similar to our own Peregrine colour rings!

On our way back we stopped off briefly outside of Truro to check a dead Barn Owl on the road and after battling through brambles (scars to prove it this morning!) and perching on top of the fence along the busy road we could see it wasn't ringed, which saved the need for a death-defying dash to retrieve the bird!

After failing to find any of our colour-ringed gulls in Falmouth, in the fading light I stopped off briefly at Devoran where a roost flock of Curlew produced this rather smart colour-ringed bird. It looks to be from The Netherlands, but we'll have to wait and see.

Thanks to Adrian Bayley for the group photos at Axe Estuary and Greg Wills for the Shelduck photos.

More colour-ringed gulls

The weather is looking a bit more promising for the weekend, so hopefully we'll have some ringing news of our own shortly... But in the absence of calm days, there's always the fall-back of looking at gulls! After misjudging the tide at Hayle estuary yesterday, Copperhouse Creek was my only option, and I was greeted by this rather sleepy-looking Norwegian Black-headed Gull.

J4U4 was ringed as a chick back in 1991 near Stavanger (Norway) so is a very impressive 22 years old! It has been seen at Radipole Lake (Dorset) in February 2005 and was then recaught and colour-ringed as a breeding bird in Norway in April 2012, which then guaranteed a few more sightings. It bred locally in Norway in 2012 and was then not seen until January 2013 when it was on Hayle estuary. It was seen again in February before returning again in October 2013 and still there yesterday, so it'll be interesting to see if it's a regular wintering bird in Cornwall.

J4U4 in breeding plumage in Norway in May 2012

Interestingly, most birds from this Norwegain study head to Scotland and northern England, so a regular Cornish bird is very unusual.

This map shows the finding locations of birds from the Norwegian study,
showing how exceptional J4U4 is in its choice of wintering site.

A quick stop at Stithians Reservoir then also reunited me with a bird we'd ringed in Falmouth over the summer: W:032. It had been seen at the reservoir a couple of times already, but nice to catch up with one of your own birds away from home!

Thanks to Nils Helge Lorentzen for providing the details on the Norwegian bird so quickly, but note that these can now also be reported online here, with details instantly available! Thanks also to Alf Tore Mjøs for letting me steal his photo of J4U4 in full summer attire.