August 27th
The number of Black Headed Gulls is up and down, perhaps they are passing through. Only 1 metal ring in Sean Walsh Park today, but I don't often get them from Belgium!
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| Black Headed Gull from Belgium. |
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| Brussels written on the ring. |
August 24th
When you see a flock of birds in the same location every day you could assume they are the same birds. Reading rings has taught me that this assumption is incorrect. There were 42 Med Gulls today and none of the 5 coloured ringed birds from yesterday were present. There were 3 different coloured rings and AKAJ which was at Bulloch Harbour yesterday was in Dun Laoghaire today! However, bird of the day goes to a CR Sandwich Tern. Probably Scottish from near Aberdeen, I will wait for a reply.
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| CR Sandwich Tern |
August 23rd
The last few weeks have produced no new rings in Tallaght so this morning I went to the coast to read a few Mediterranean Gulls. There was a flock of 17 at the base of Dun Laoghaire East Pier with 5 coloured Rings!
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| Mediterranean Gull (Canus melancephalus) with ring |
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| Mediterranean Gull (Canus melancephalus) with ring |
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| Mediterranean Gulls (Canus melancephalus) with rings - 2 in 1 frame! |
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| Mediterranean Gull (Canus melancephalus) with ring |
I even had a quick trip to Bulloch Harbour and read 4 Great Black Backed Gulls and another colour ringed Mediterranean Gull! The metal ringed Black Headed Gull I saw on August 9th was read again
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| Great Black Backed Gull from Irelands Eye colony off Dublin |
August 9th
Same route as last week end, Bullock and the Sandycove produced almost the exact same birds. The only exception was I read a metal ring at Bulloch Harbour on a Black Headed Gull.
What is interesting is that although it is just another Black Headed Gull that I have read before at the exact same location. It is the only metal ring I know somebody else had read in the field! It was ringed in 2005 in the south of Sweden.
August 3rd
A damp misty morning which improved as it progressed. The tide was very low and Bulloch only produced a single Great Black Backed with a Coloured Ring. Again ringed in Dublin. Sandycove had 20+ roosting Common Terns in with the Mediterranean Gulls.. Read 4 Mediterranean Gulls.
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| Mediterranean Gull, Juvenile from France |
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| Mediterranean Gull from Belguim |
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| Mediterranean Gull. |
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| Mediterranean Gull. Ringed in Dublin |
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| Great Black Backed Gull. |
August 2nd
Howth this morning to see what's around. Eleven Great Black Backed Gulls with coloured rings - all from Ireland's Eye. Two Coloured ringed Herring Gulls also from Irelands Eye. I also read a couple of metal rings. Nothing foreign unfortunately!
1VM was interesting as I had never seen it at Howth before. I had observed this individual at Bullock Harbour back in May 2014.
1VR is a regular at Howth, but the size of the Great Black Backed Gulls always impresses me.
However bird of the day must be Great Black Backed Gull 2HC. Ringed in 2009, this is my first sighting. It just shows how long term a ringing project can be. This is my 9th 2009 Great Black Backed Gull that I have seen for the first time in 2014!
