February / March 2012

A blog about reading coloured rings on Gulls from my base in Tallaght in Dublin

Med Gull Red 4P5

February 2012 started well with 4P5 at Dodder Valley Park on the 1st and on the 2nd a metal ring Stockholm 6430814 was read again at Sean Walsh Park, so one Polish and one Swedish - great start.  On the 3rd at Sean Walsh Park there was a Juvenile Mediterranean Gull but could only read ???6166.  It just wouldn't turn around!  I decided to try again tomorrow.  I only spend 20 min a day in the Park, at Lunch time and had spent most of my 20 min with camera ready as it was 10m away.  Too far to read a metal ring with bins but with a 500mm camera lens it can be read later.

Med Gull EW66166

Now, I know I said that I only got a partial and got another digit a few days later, but later in the year I began to network with another ring reader. I was told that only 21 Med Gulls were ringed in 2011 with just a BTO ring.  (Each metal ring has a address, Ireland and the UK has  'Report BTO London SW7' inscribed on it).  So, via a gentleman called Tony Murray who I think ringed the bird, who told Sean Kingston who told me! Oh this was the first sighting since ringed.  It was ringed on Lady's Island in Ireland.

Black Headed Gull E5VA

All February the Dutch BHG E5VA showed well but always at a particular location, so once a week I went to that location. I checked my photos - wow all these Black Headed Gulls have preferred areas within the park. But by the 3rd of March it was gone.

Black Headed Gull W[NUT]

The Danish Black Headed Gull White NUT showed sporadically throughout February but by March only Juveniles remained. The Danish metal ring 6229447 was the last to depart on March 9th and although some gulls remained, none had rings.

What I learnt - Reading metal rings is really difficult.  I successfully read 12 metal rings of 6 individuals in February but I got 24 partial readings of others.  It seems that 1 in every 3,000 Black Headed Gulls has a Darvic ring and 1 in 500 has a metal ring.  Not great odds.  As Darvic rings are made in a variety of colours they prefix the code with the colour. So W[NUT] is a white ring with inscription NUT.

Graham