Update from Shawell

This is a good time, as lots of gulls are passing through Shawell at present. Over the weekend, including Friday afternoon, I read over 50 colour-rings, which is very good for the site. A few old looking colour-rings were amongst them, so I'm looking forward to receiving the replies.

It's always pleasing to photograph a gull inflight only to see it has a colour-ring. On Saturday afternoon I called out Caspian Gull as a gull sailed overhead. Steve Nichols was perhaps understandably a little un-convinced. Well when I reviewed the photo later I could see it was wearing a German colour-ring XCCL - a Caspian Gull - although I couldn't check its DNA as it flew over 😊

The next bird that flew over was a young Lesser Black-backed Gull and you guessed it, it was also sporting a nice colour-ring. DCUB ringed in Suffolk this summer.

Caspian Gull numbers are slowly increasing with first calendar-year being the most numerous (although very small numbers). A couple of adults have been around including a real beast that made even the Great Black-backed Gulls look nervous.

First Calendar-Year Caspian Gull, Shawell A5 Lagoons.