Mediterranean Gull - White 3KNT

Ronald Surgenor got in touch via Facebook to let me know of a colour-ringed Med Gull which he had photographed at Portrush, County Antrim.

The first year bird was fitted with a white ring with 3KNT inscribed on it.

Photo by Ronald Surgenor

I passed on the details of who to contact and he heard back a short time later from Camille Duponcheel that this bird had been ringed as a chick in the Netherlands by Frank Majoor on 27 June.

Ronald's re-sighting is the first since ringing.

Many thanks to Ronald for the report and to Camille for the information.

Back again....T35J

I know we shouldn't have favourites, but one of the colour-ringed gulls I most like to see is  T35J .

This was the first colour-ringed Black-headed Gull I saw when I first started this study almost two years ago, and I was delighted to discover that it was ringed in Lithuania (see post from October 2012 here).

Well, Gareth Platt got in touch last week to report that T35J has returned to Antrim for another winter. This is, at least, the third winter that the bird has over-wintered at Antrim.

Mediterranean Gull - Green RJN5

A day or two after Cameron reported seeing Med Gull E742 at Whitehead, he photographed another colour-ringed Med Gull at the same site.

This was juvenile with a green ring, RJN5.



Photo by Cameron Moore

We heard back that this individual had been ringed as a chick on 29 June at Polder de Sebastopol, Vendee in France. Cameron's report is the first since ringing, which isn't surprising as it had only been ringed 5 weeks earlier. 

 
Many thanks to Cameron for the photo and reporting it and to Camile for the information.