News

TRIP - Pitsea - 06/02/2010: Yet another tough day with problems before getting to the tip with the head gasket going on the Land Rover on Thursday! Alternative arrangements were made to get the kit to the tip and a session looked possible. The set was OK apart from the fact we had to run the cable accross the road with arctics and compactors running over it. We got the rubbish rolled at first break and we had taken a catch within ten minutes. This was a good catch of 300 plus birds and we should have been happy. However, we re-set and tried for a second catch - with at least one Mediterranean Gull in the catching area - but the firing cable had been damaged making it impossible to fire. All in all a good day.06-Feb-2010


TRIP - Pitsea - 23/01/2010: A tricky day with mild weather, fox and Starling problems making taking a catch very difficult. Excellent perseverance from the compactor drivers allowed us to take a catch of just over 100 birds. A quick re-set attracted birds including over 1000 Starlings, which we just could not fire on. However, 76 birds were colour ringed out of the catch and there was a Belgian control Herring Gull.23-Jan-2010


TRIP - Pitsea - 09/01/2010: A really good start to 2010 after a poor first half to the winter. The tip was full of birds and due to the cold conditions they were hungry. At first there were too many birds and safety was a problem. However, after about half an hour birds settled down and we were able to take a catch. We did not realise quite how big it was until we ran out of sacks with about 20 Herring Gulls still under the net. We ringed these birds direct from the net and took everything else off the tip and into the workshop to process. After processing we were really pleased with the number of big gulls in the catch.09-Jan-2010


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Aims

The aim of The North Thames Gull Group is to study the gulls making use of the landfill tips on the Essex coast of the Thames estuary, east of London.

We do this by catching the birds feeding on the waste using a cannon net, a technique requiring a special licence. The first step is setting the net.

Once captured, the birds are extracted from the net before being marked with individually numbered metal leg rings.

Whilst ringing the birds, we take measurements and study plumage characteristics. A sample are given orange colour rings which can be read with a telescope without the bird being recaptured.

Recent Photos

Acknowledgements

The group operates with the excellent support and cooperation of Veolia Environmental Services which operates the domestic landfill sites and Pitsea and Rainham.

We are grateful to the Banbury Ornithological Society, the Essex Birdwatching Society and GlaxoSmithKline for providing funding for the colour ringing programme, and to Risto Juvaste for supplying the rings.