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a team went out to the Outer Bund at the
end of June to ring an annual quota of 500 Gulls for English
Nature. Sarah Dawkins reports ...
Having visited the Outer Bund on 15 June
to undertake the colony count and assess the best date for
ringing, it had been decided that today was the day to ring
the majority of the gull chicks. Hence a team of 6 met bright
and early at the Nene End before driving around to the back
of the seawall to begin the walk out across the mudflats to
the Outer Bund on the falling tide.
Approaching the colony, it was clear that
this was going to be perfect timing for the ringing phase
of the gull monitoring contract as there were good numbers
of very large gull chicks running around the grassy slopes.
Operating as a team we rounded up small groups
of chicks from the slopes and creched these with a team to
do the ringing whilst a couple of people checked through the
rocks for more chicks. We operated like this for four hours
(with a brief respite for lunch) and, by the time we were
due to depart the island, had managed to use 443 of the 448
rings we had with us. Obviously, we couldn't leave it like
that and three people went off to see what they could find,
returning with 5 birds and the perfect species mix to finish
off the ring strings! Our initial assessment had been spot
on and most of the chicks were the perfect size for ringing;
we would not have wanted to delay another week - some of those
caught flew off when released!
Most nests had hatched by now. Chick mortality
was not particularly high, although a few very large and well-feathered
chicks had succumbed since our last visit. There were a few
more dead adult gulls than on the previous trip including
just one recovery of a herring gull.
Team returned to the seawall at about
4pm very hot and tired, and smellier than I care to remember
- and this time there wasn't even the option of a shower at
base before the journey back to Norwich!
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