Rare Gulls at Penclacwydd

video-grab of Franklin's Gull

The Mediterranean Gulls on the lagoon at Penclacwydd have been in good condition recently and the following videos show a young pair getting amorous (the young birds have black in the wing tips) and a lone adult that appears interested in a Black-headed Gull. There's also a short video of the Franklin's Gull which last weekend provided the second record for Carmarthenshire and the third for West Glamorgan.
YOUNG MEDITERRANEAN GULLS
ADULT MEDITERRANEAN GULL
FRANKLIN'S GULL

More Med Gulls in Bracelet Bay...

Despite the stormy conditions good numbers of Med Gulls can still be seen feeding in the race off the lighthouse when the tide is falling.


Front-to-back: 2nd winter, adult winter and 1st winter.

White 3K80 was ringed as a pullus on 02-Jun-06 at Zwijndrecht (Ineos complex), Antwerpen, BELGIUM and has been seen in our area in each subsequent year. A minimum of 42 Mediterranean Gulls have been frequenting Bracelet Bay recently including a few birds whose rings I have not managed to read.

Med Gull [White 35J7] back in Bracelet Bay

Details received of White 35J7, seen back in Bracelet Bay on 19th Ocotber, show it to be another well-travelled individual, having spent last winter in s-w Portugal. Most of the birds we see generally move between the Benelux countries and southern coasts of the British Isles and northern France.

Serbian Mediterranean Gull

I have just received details of the colour-ringed Mediterranean Gull 'Red YHE8' that was present in Bracelet Bay on the 13th October. Apparently this is the first Serbian bird to be seen in Wales. Also present that day were 'White 34H2' and 'White 38J0', both Belgian birds; White 34H2 (ringed as a chick in 2002) is quite well travelled having been seen in France and Germany as well as visiting a number of sites in South Wales. White 38J0 appears to simply commute between Belgium and Swansea.

Med Gull [White C378] returns again!

Just received details of a couple of colour-ringed Mediterranean Gulls seen recently in the Bay. White 3C78 (originally bearing White 46E), was ringed as a chick near Antwerpen, BELGIUM on 4th June 2002 and was seen in Bracelet Bay in its first winter by Harold Grenfell on 03 February 2003. Since then it has returned most winters and has been seen by a number of local observers. It appears not to be a very widely travelled bird when compared with some, other ports of call only being Pas-de-Calais & Somme in FRANCE and Oost-Vlaanderen in BELGIUM, where it possibly breeds. In 2009 Harold saw it again on 8th March, it was then seen in Pas-de-Calais in July before returning to Bracelet Bay where I saw it on 25th September.

White 35E2 was ringed a chick at Oost-Vlaanderen, BELGIUM on 21st May 2005, it was seen again in the colony in May 2008, and appeared in Bray harbour and Dublin IRELAND in Jan-Feb 2009 before I saw it at Blackpill on 21st September.

If you see a colour-ringed bird please report it to the scheme organisers found via the very useful c-r birding website at http://www.cr-birding.be/

Iceland Gull in Bracelet Bay

At least three Iceland Gulls were seen in the area this winter, this first-winter bird, seen here with some of the Mediterranean Gulls in Bracelet Bay, hung around until at least the 14th March.