More Meds and darvic BHGs

There was horse racing on again today which meant there were high numbers of Black-headed Gulls at Passage House, c400+. With them were just two Mediterranean Gulls, an adult and a juvenile, the adult being a different bird to Friday's.

UPDATE - only just noticed this, but the BHG in front of the Med is also wearing a ring. Top letter looks like an F so could well be another new bird, but hard to tell!

A look through the closer Black-headed Gulls proved worthwhile with two darvic ringed birds, which for a brief while were in the same scope view! One of them was white 27J1 which I first found on the 6th July. This bird was ringed as a chick at a breeding colony just south east of Reading, Berkshire in 2011. It was seen on the Otter Estuary later that year, and was seen back at the breeding site in April 2013.

The other bird was was new in - black A3S3. I very nearly missed this ring. I scanned past it, but then thought, "hang on, did I just see a ring on that bird?!" It seems as if this bird was ringed in Germany, but I'll update when I get a reply.

I find digiscoping invaluable for reading rings. If there's no heat haze I reckon I can get twice as much detail as just looking through the scope. It also allows you to analyze the ring on the computer when you get home in case the ring was at an awkward angle meaning only part of the code was visible, as was the case with the black ringed bird.

White 27J1

Black A3S3