More Gulls and Wader chicks

This evening three members of the Orkney Ringing Group and myself went across to one of the small uninhabited islands that has a small colony of  Great Black-backed Gulls to ring any chicks that we could find.

We started off by finding and ringing a couple of Herring Gull chicks.

Herring Gull chick

We then moved onto the Great Black-backed Gull colony where we found and ringed 25 chicks.

Great Black-backed Gull chick

As we were searching the area for gull chicks an adult Snipe flew out of the heather. A close look around the immediate area revealed two Snipe chicks which we were able to ring.

Snipe chicks

We also found an Eider's nest with three chicks on it but these weren't ready for ringing.

Eider chicks

When we got back to where our cars were parked we had a quick scan of the pool in the field next to the track. I spotted an adult Lapwing skulking in the long grass at the edge of the pool. A scan along the grass at the edge of the pool revealed three Lapwing chicks which we were able to ring.

Lapwing chick

The drive back to my house added an Oystercatcher chick, which was in a field next to the road, and a Common Gull chick which was wandering up the track to my house.

The evening was finished with the ringing of the three Blackbird chicks that were in a nest in my garden.

So all in all a good evening of ringing with a few more birds/species than expected. Last year at the gull colony we ringed 1 Herring Gull and 31 Great Black-backed Gulls, this year we did two of the former and 25 of the latter.