30/11/16 - Gulls galore

Another successful gull catch at Harewood Whin landfill site at Rufforth last month resulted in 347 large gulls being cannon netted and colour-ringed as part of an ongoing project. The totals for the day included 344 Herring Gulls, 1 Greater Black-backed Gull and 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls - bringing the overall totals of gulls colour-ringed since March 2015 to just under 1600. A total of 400 sightings have been sent in so far, involving nearly 200 individuals, with sightings stretching all the way along the East Coast and as far west as Bristol and south to Cornwall. 

A few highlights are listed below:

- Lesser Black-backed Gulls have been sighted in France, Spain, Portugal and Morocco.

- Herring Gulls have been reported from France, Jersey, the Netherlands, Belgium and Norway, and several have been noted interchanging between here and landfill sites down in Essex by the North Thames Gull group.

- A single Greater Black-backed Gull was caught with a Norwegian ring on, and one of our ringed GBB was spotted in Cornwall. 

The collection of this data is certainly adding to our knowledge of ‘local’ birds that join the nationally important LDV roost sites and feed on the landfill site during the day – and will hopefully tell us what these birds might end up doing after this site, like many landfill sites, start to close next year. Please send any sightings in of any colour-ringed birds seen whilst visiting the reserve or elsewhere – thank you. Many thanks to the team for their efforts and an extra thank you to the staff at Yorwaste, without whose help and cooperation this would not have been possible.