My first WeBS count. Highlights from Inchmery Quay included 405 Mediterranean Gulls, one of the highest counts here in recent years. Also 55 Curlew and 85 Oystercatchers, 3 Common Sandpiper and 5 Common Gulls.
One of the Common Gulls was wearing a colour ring. 2ABH was ringed as a 2nd winter bird in 2012 at Pitsea Landfill in Essex. It is now 11 years old. Three years after being ringed it was seen again 90 miles to the south west at Hill Head. It was seen again the following autumn, September 2016, 5 miles (as the crow flies) away at Lepe. It now appears to be returning to winter in this area with another sighting at Inchmery in July 2018 before today’s sighting. 10 years is a typical lifespan with adult survival rates of 86% pa.
90% of UK Common Gulls breed in Scotland but the odd pair have bred or tried to breed in Hampshire in the west of the Solent.
Common Gulls
Patch Birding 