Northern Ireland Black-headed Gull Study

2014 Report

INTRODUCTION
Between the mid-1980s and late-1990s, the number of breeding pairs of Black-headed Gulls in
Northern Ireland declined rapidly. Down 74% from c.38,000 pairs to c.10,000 pairs, the species is
red listed in Ireland and is a priority species in Northern Ireland.
In response to this decline, a colour-ringing project began looking at the ecology of Black-headed
Gulls (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) in Northern Ireland in November 2012.
The main objective of the project is to learn more about the species in Northern Ireland through:

Determining dispersal / natal fidelity of juveniles from a colony;

Survival rates;
Movements of adults from breeding and wintering grounds, and;
Migration movements from GB and continental Europe

Through fitting the gulls with coloured rings, which have a combination of letters and numbers
engraved on them, we hope to track movements of individual birds through re-sightings and reports.
Liaising with Kjeld Pedersen, the European coordinator for small gull colour-ringing projects, and the
British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) each colour-ringing project is assigned a different combination of
colour and codes. This means, when a colour-ringed Black-headed Gull is reported, the European
coordinator can pass the information on to the relevant project leads. The Northern Ireland project
has been assigned orange rings with a black four alpha-numeric code, starting with the number 2,
followed by three letters e.g. 2AAA
It is also important to note that the colour-ring is fitted to the birds left leg. A standard, BTO metal
ring will is also fitted to the birds right leg, on which will be another unique code.

CATCHING METHODS
Fledged birds are mostly caught by hand at various sites in Counties Antrim and Down. These sites
are typically locations where the birds are used to being fed (e.g. near fast-food restaurants or duck
ponds) and are particularly confiding.
The three breeding colonies at which young were colour-ringed in 2013 were once again visited in
2014. All, namely Blue Circle Island, Larne Lough; Copeland Islands and Castle Espie, Strangford
Lough are located on the east coast of Northern Ireland.
Blue Circle Island,
Co. Antrim

Copeland Islands,
Co. Down

Castle Espie,
Co. Down

TOTAL

2013

60

26

92

2014

62

19

61

142

TOTAL

122

45

67

234

Blue RSPB Blue Circle Island, Larne Lough, Co. Antrim

Yellow Copeland Islands, Co. Down
Green WWT Castle Espie, Strangford Lough, Co. Down

Sixty-two Black-headed Gull chicks were ringed on Blue Circle Island in 2014 (spot the colour-ring!)

RESULTS
As of 31 December 2014, a total of 298 birds have been colour-marked (64 fledged birds and 234
pulli), resulting in 1628 re-sightings of 92 individual birds by 59 different observers. This is a resighting rate of almost 31%.
Most of the re-sightings have been at the original ringing locations, but there have been a couple of
small movements within the UK.

2ADD, ringed at Carrickfergus in December 2013 was recorded at Antrim during February, March and
April, before being recorded back at Carrick in October.

2AAJ ringed at Antrim on 12 December 2012, was recorded at Antrim throughout winter 2012-13 and
in December 2013. In February 2014, it was photographed at Seahouses in Northumberland by Gary
Woodburn, before being photographed back at Antrim in early December.

DISPERSAL

Red line indicates movement of one bird

Blue line indicates movement of two birds
Green line indicates movement of three birds

2BJH, ringed at Castle Espie on 19 June 2013, was recorded at Killtonga Nature Reserve,
Newtownards by Chris Henry throughout Autumn 2014.

Ringed during the same visit as 2BJH, 2BJL was photographed in Ballymena by Gareth Platt on 5 Sept.
MORTALITIES
One bird was been recovered dead in 2014:
2BJX, ringed by Eimear Rooney at WWT Castle Espie on 19 June 2014, was struck by a golf
ball at Ballyearl Golf Course in October. It was subsequently euthanized by a vet on welfare
grounds.

BIRDS FROM OUTSIDE NORTHERN IRELAND

Ringed and colour-ringed birds from elsewhere, recorded in Northern Ireland, are also being noted
to provide more detail and allow a bigger picture to emerge of where birds are coming from to
breed or winter here.
During 2014, birds from a number of European countries including Germany, The Netherlands,
Denmark, Norway, Lithuania, Iceland, Latvia, England, Scotland and Poland were recorded in
Northern Ireland.

Norwegian ringed bird, White J4TJ, was ringed Oslo on 19 April 2013 was recorded in Belfast in
January 2014

Blue 2J03, ringed in NW England was photographed by Paul McCullough at Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim

Ringing locations of over-wintering black-headed gulls recorded in NI

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Many thanks to anyone who has taken time to report sightings (in particular Gareth Platt, who has
contributed hundreds of re-sightings to the project), provided photographs, assisted with ringing, or
granted permission to ring on their land; including North Down Borough Council, WWT Castle Espie,
RSPB NI and Copeland Bird Observatory.
Thanks must also go to those who supported the successful Kickstarter appeal, which has enabled a
new batch of colour-rings to be purchased, in particular thank you to Stephen Burnside, Amy
Collette, Peter Mellor, Marc Ruddock and Fulton Somerville.
Chris Acheson
Ana Almeida
Hany Alonso
Jonny Andrews

Chris Henry
Stephen Hewitt
Nigel Ireland
Kev Kirkham-Brown

Barry OMahony
James ONeill
Peter ffrench Mullen
Peter Munro

Kerri-Ann Armstrong
Suzanne Belshaw
Artur Blad
Jonny Blair
Gary Brown
Ciaran Burns
Seamus Burns
Brenda Campbell
Mervyn Campbell
Colin Davies
Aaron Devlin
Margaret Dick
Ian Dickey
Richard Donaghey
Mark Doyle
Gavin Ferguson
Stephen Foster
David Galbraith
Philip Galbraith
Keith Glasgow
Anne Guichard
George Henderson

Adam McClure
January 2015
e: bhgni@ymail.com
b: www.bhgullsni.blogspot.co.uk
f: www.facebook.com/bhgni

Andy Lawton
Kerry Leonard
Kerry Mackie
Kenny and Pauline Majury
Karl Martin
Peter Matchett
Kevin Mawhinney
Pat McClure
Paul McCullough
Graham McElwaine
Davy McIlveen
Neville McKee
Pat McKee
Stuarty McKee
Michael McLaughlin
Sandy McWilliams
Lowell Mills
Rodney Monteith
Cameron Moore
David Morrow
Ian Morrow
Nina OHanlon

Ken Perry
Stuart Pike
Gareth Platt
Michal Polakowski
Eimear Rooney
John Scovell
Chris Smith
Mark Smyth
Wes Smyth
Keith Stevens
John Stewart
Ronald Surgenor
Matthew Tickner
Irena Tomankova
Robin Vage
Neal Warnock
Pat Watson
Jim Wells
Gary Woodburn
Clare Vet Group