An early Christmas present

It's been a bit hectic at work and home recently but thankfully a miserable, rainy day has afforded me some time to sit down and update the NI BHG database, respond to emails and update the blog.

There were a couple of weeks worth of emails to trawl through, extract any reports of colour-ringed gulls and add them to the database which allows us to keep track of all the reports.

Once I had added in all of the recent reports I noticed that the total number of re-sightings was sitting on 1613, over 1500 re-sightings! 

2ADV, Antrim, 21 Dec 14
Photo by Gareth Platt

2ADR, Corbet, 13 Dec 14
Photo by Robin Vage

Now, while it's not very important on the grand scheme of things, it's a milestone I had hoped to surpass in 2014 and I'm delighted that the efforts of our gull spotters and reports from the public have helped us reach this total. 

Many thanks to everyone who has taken the time to report a sighting or send a photo during 2014. Each and every report is very much appreciated and greatly received, whether it be the 100th report of the same bird from the same site, or the first report since ringing. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!