Mediterranean Gull's

[MagpieMick]

Went to Southend Pier, Essex yesterday 27.01.08 great day's birding, along the way home stopped off at Westcliff-on-Sea for "Rossi" the famous Ring-billed Gull and on to Two Tree Island.

Anyway on the pier was 20+ Med Gulls two i photographed were ringed this one was ringed in POLAND !!!!



And this one was ringed in HAMBURG !!!!



I have sent the details off to see what other infomation they can tell me about where and when, and stall post the finding here !!

Mick..

[Wild-Woman]

Nice shots Mick. I can remember when seeing a Med Gull was rare! Going back a few years now though. Sounds like you had a good birding day.
Jules

[big bill]

nice pics Mick well done lets know what comes back
Cheers...Bill

[aeshna5]

Lovely birds. The Med Gull that's been in central London recently was also ringed in Germany!

[rlchew]

Nice pics Mick.

Southend seems to be attracting increasing numbers of Med Gulls in recent years and Rossi has been visiting each winter now for several years.

Richard

[stephen p]

Nice Photo's Mick,

Hope you get more info on the pair.

[MagpieMick]

I've had a reply about the 1st winter bird with the green ring:

It was ringed on June 16th 2007 at Pionierinsel in Elbe estuary north west of Hamgurg.

All the sightings of this bird that have been recorded have been at Southend Pier since being ringed August and September '07 and two sightings this year.

Mick..

[Ukwildlifeo]

Ive heard about the med gulls in southend. I must pop up there at some point

[Jolanta Zofia Nowak]

Med Gulls seem to be on the increase generally. It all seems to be part of this 'Northerly drift' of species. One could point to similar trends with e.g. Little Egrets (and maybe Cattle Egrets too?) and various insect species.

Global warming, I guess.

[rlchew]

There is some information on the Southend Med Gulls here ....

South East Essex RSPB Local Group - Our Population of Mediterranean Gulls

Richard