T35J returns!

If you've been following the blog since last winter, you might remember I reported on T35J, a Polish colour-ringed bird, which had originally been ringed in Lithuania (see here).

Keith Stevens got in touch yesterday to say that the bird has returned to Antrim for the winter and Chris Smith sent through a photo which he got of the bird.  Assuming this bird is returning to the continent to breed, this supports the theory that the vast majority of "our" Black-headed Gulls which we see in winter, are actually only wintering here.


Photo by Chris Smith

Establishing where our wintering birds are coming from is one of the main objectives of this study, and we hope that this winter we will be able to increase the number of wintering birds caught and ringed to try and definitively show where our birds are coming from.