Black-headed Gull - EX97278

Back at the start of last month, I blogged about a short visit I made to Lough Neagh where I reported seeing several of our colour-ringed study gulls, as well as a juvenile fitted with a metal ring (see here).

Interestingly, it was ringed on the left leg and this got me thinking...other than me, there can't be too many left-handed ringers ringing black-headed gulls in NI (assuming this was a Northern Irish bird), and I said to myself, "I bet Philip Galbraith ringed that!"

Thankfully, with the help of some bread, a good camera and plenty of luck, I was able to take enough photos of various angles of the ring, allowing me to piece together the number.

Sure enough...EX97278 was ringed by Philip Galbraith during our evening on Mew back in mid-June (see here).  This bird was one of the 55 black-headed gulls we ringed that evening, but which were too small to colour-ring.

Red - Mew Island (ringed 19 June 2013)
Blue - Antrim Forum (re-sighted 3 August 2013)

At around 50 km, it's not a massive movement for a black-headed gull, but is interesting nonetheless.