I was dropping Ciaran off in Preston this afternoon, so we decided we’d take a quick look at the docks for Black Headed Gull rings. When we arrived we were greeted by lots of gulls which were eager to have a feed before they went off to roost. It was obvious the gulls were going to be easy to catch, so we decided to catch a few…. after 1hr 30mins of catching/ringing, a few turned into 41 new birds & 1 control – that of a Norwegian ringed bird!
For any ring readers at Preston Docks, or birders who are going to see the Iceland Gull, who maybe interested in giving ring reading a go. All the rings start with – EX541**. All the juvs were ringed on the left leg, the reason for this is because there is a Danish ringed juvy, ringed on the right leg & it'll allow Ciaran to easily pick this bird out, and hopefully read the full ring code.
Hey Kane!
ReplyDeleteWhat did you read on the danish one? Nice work anyway! We have been ringing about 750 gull since october here in Copenhagen!
Jesper Brinkmann
Hi Jesper,
ReplyDeleteGood to hear from you! Ciaran has only managed to read part of the ring - so up to now he's got 6J-00, hopefully over the next few days he'll be able to read the full ring code! We'll keep you posted ;-)
Cheers Kane.
Morning, are you using a hand held net for the Black-heads or just nabbing mid-flight as the come to bread? They are far more wary of both methods up here!!
ReplyDeleteHi - All the gulls we catch are taken either out of the air (by hand) or caught on the ground, again by hand. None are caught by nets - they seem really wary of nets. You had a good garden session, especially for Blue Tit!! Cheers Kane
ReplyDeleteThink I will give the BH Gull a shot in the new year, you've inspired me!
ReplyDeleteBlue tits were a mare, I know a few ringers that just release them un-ringed however I like to monitor my local birds via retraps.
Have a good Christmas and all the best for 2011... Good ringing!
Dave