May 2023

 24 May 2023

What a busy month.  With Swans there are both hatchings and thankfully 100's of sightings of my project colour ringed individuals.  All to be added to database and entered into the BTO for my Adult Survival project.  I am way behind with all the correspondence but I do some catch each evening.  Apologies if you are left waiting for a report, I will get to them.  Likewise with hatchings, I have only 10 nests on my spread sheet that have hatched, so at least 6 more to verify and enter.

Tymon Park - Spawell or Wellington Road Pond

Herring Gull survival project is also in full swing.  We have had many hours of ringing and ring reading.  Unfortunately,  it looks like we will not get to Lambay this year, but 94 Herring Gulls recorded so far in Dublin  The aim was to get to about 200 individuals, more if possible.

For Great Black-backed Gulls, this year has been somewhat of a disaster.  As an apex predator, it looks like last winter bird flu has has a massive impact.  Shenick Island has gone from approx 50 nests last year to about 20 this year.  This sort of crash seem to be replicated at each colony I visit.

To date we have only recorded 50 of the target of 100 individuals.  They are just not around.  As with all species I do have many outstanding sightings to process, but there doesn't seem to be many new sightings on first review