Dublin Urban Gull Project.
Gulls are spectacular birds but Urban Gulls seem to get a lot of bad press. However, they do fulfill a vital role in Urban Ecosystem and Herring Gull numbers have declined so quickly in recent years they are now RED listed. Lesser Black Backed and Greater Black Backed Gulls are amber listed. The Ringing Club, that I am a member of, have taken up the challenge of studying them. The Irish Midlands Ringing Group has now colour ringed about 100 large gull pulli, mainly Herring Gulls, over the last 3 weeks in the City Centre of Dublin. We also ringed 145 large Gull Pulli on Ireland's Eye as a control group for comparison.
The ringing of Pulli – Flightless Juveniles or “Chicks” has now come to the end for this nesting season and the task of re-sighting them has commenced.
Our ring sequence runs from 001:D to 999:D
001:D is called Leo because he was ringed on the Roof of the Dail!
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| Dublin Great Black Backed Gull 345:D on Irelands Eye. Pulli - Preflight Juvenile |
Large Gulls have never been colour ringed in Dublin City Centre before so we have no data as to their survival, dispersal, usage of particular sites etc. So we have almost 100 coloured ringed Urban raised Gulls to try and locate in Dublin City and see how they fare.
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| Dublin Gull Project - 025:D near Heuston Station |
We will watch the data and the type of questions that we hope to answer from this study over the next few years are the following.
· We know Gulls from Irelands Eye venture into the City, but do the City Gulls venture out to sea? Will they turn up at fishing ports such as Howth or Dun Laoghaire.
· What is their Survival rate?
· Do they move? I know from reading Gull Rings in Dublin that I see Herring Gulls from Scotland and the Isle of Man. Will our Urban controls also move south?
· I also read Gulls From Irelands Eye on Playing Fields and in the Parks of Tallaght, will the urban Gulls also venture away from the Urban City to the Suburbs to feed?
Sightings can be sent to medgullring@gmail.com
