Black-headed Gull - White 2APT

There seems to have been a bit of an influx of Black-headed Gulls with white colour-rings during recent weeks...or perhaps the white rings are just more noticeable than other colours?

Another white-ringed (as opposed to white-winged) gull was recorded last week by Gareth, during one of his regular ring-reading trips to Lough Neagh at Antrim.

The code on the ring was 2APT, which meant that it was ringed somewhere in the UK or Ireland. Just for good measure, Gareth was also able to read the code on the metal BTO ring!

Photo by Gareth Platt

After checking the database on cr-birding, Gareth emailed Tom Dougall who rapidly replied (within 20 mins!) to tell us that this bird was ringed as a chick at a colony in the Moorfoot Hills in the Scottish Borders on 16 June 2013. 

This is the first re-sighting of it since ringing. It is also the first record from NI for this particular colony, the furthest west had previously been a record from Argyll.

Thanks to Gareth and Tom for the information and photo.