The Workington 72 ( Med. Gulls ) ... one ringed in Ireland ... two in Belgium ...

The yellow-ringed bird had been ringed in Dublin on 1st September 2014 as a juvenile. It was seen again in that area about a week later but not subsequently.  Med. Gulls have bred in Wexford in small numbers since 1996 but the ringer tells me that they do not breed in Dublin but are known to come there in the winter from France, Belgium and The Netherlands.

This bird was next seen on 9th May 2015 at NSG Teufel und Pfaffensee.  This is a former coal mining site that has been extensively restored as a wetland and lies 35km north of Frankfurt.

The next time this bird was reported was in the company of 71 other Med. Gulls at Workington ...

... the other two ringed birds carried white rings and had both been ringed in Belgium at a nesting site in May 2017.  One was a 3CY (2ndS) bird and the other an adult ...

... part of the flock including some Black-headed Gulls and juvenile Lesser Black-backed Gulls ...

... the Med. Gulls have a liking for standing in the seaweed and only occasionally wandering up onto a rock to reveal rings ...