Porthllisky greater black-back gull ring recovery

While walking from Caerfai to St Justinian we found a dead gull on the strand line at Porthllisky. Click here for the walk We dutifully sent the record in to the BTO and were delighted to get such a detailed response from the Skokholm wardens.

Hi Julia and thank you for reporting this gull (missing metal ring MA37966).

It was indeed a youngster, ringed as a fledgling here on Skokholm Island on 18th June this year. It had not been seen since it left the Island this August.

Sadly death shortly after fledgling is not unusual as they try to get to grips with life away from the colony. We lose quite a few to injuries around fishing boats, perhaps the missing leg indicative of getting too close to a winch or moving parts.

The colour rings help us to build up a picture of survival. As you can see from the attached map, most of our youngsters head down to the southwest before returning to Pembrokeshire as they get older. About 15% of fledglings survive the four years to breeding age and about 80% of adults survive between breeding seasons.

The following map was attached ...

More details about the work of the Skokholm wardens can be found at skokholm.blogspot.co.uk .....