Common Gull - Blue 2ATX

Back at the end of June, Shane Wolsey and I spent a morning on Big Copeland colour-ringing Common Gulls as part of his study into their ecology (see here).

Well, it seems as though one of the birds we ringed, 2ATX, didn't quite make it off the island!  

Jim Wells, Chairman of the Northern Ireland Raptor Study Group, got in touch earlier this week to say that during a recent outing to Big Copeland, he found these near the jetty in Chapel Bay.

We don't know what the predator was, but Jim says it did not have the characteristics of a peregrine kill, a species which he has been studying for 30 years, so he knows a thing or two about them!

Photo by Jim Wells

Photo by Jim Wells