Catches

Pitsea - 27/03/2010: A day with few gulls on site, so clearly many had moved back out to their breeding grounds in the last few weeks. With the threat of showers we took a quick early catch of only Black-headed Gulls and re-set to see what the weather did. We were lucky enough for it to hold off and a small second catch was possible. A few Mediterranean Gulls were seen but none in the catching area.

Catch 1

Species Ringed Retraps Controls Colour ringed
Mediterranean Gull 0 0 0 0
Black-headed Gull 151 4 1 0
Common Gull 0 0 0 0
Lesser Black-backed Gull 0 0 0 0
Yellow-legged Gull 0 0 0 0
Caspian Gull 0 0 0 0
Herring Gull 0 0 0 0
Great Black-backed Gull 0 0 0 0
Catch totals 151 4 1 0

Catch 2

Species Ringed Retraps Controls Colour ringed
Black-headed Gull 74 0 0 0
Lesser Black-backed Gull 4 0 0 4
Herring Gull 31 1 0 31
Great Black-backed Gull 1 0 0 1
Catch totals 110 1 0 36
Trip totals 261 5 1 36

Pitsea - 06/03/2010: A large team went to Pitsea today and we were lucky to get a really good load of waste from the first dustcart in. Birds were quickly down but the compactor driver running over the cable meant the spare cable had to be deployed. Luckily there was lots of food and an excellent catch of 449 birds was soon in the bag. We elected to re-set for a second attempt and after a couple of hours with a single Mediterranean Gull in the catching area we took a second catch. It was still early so we re-set for a third attempt but ended up with too many birds in the catching area so did not fire. The day total ended up at 722 new birds. Highlights were also a control Common Gull from Finland and a Black-headed Gull from Denmark.

Catch 1

Species Ringed Retraps Controls Colour ringed
Black-headed Gull 305 2 0 0
Common Gull 8 0 1 0
Lesser Black-backed Gull 33 0 0 33
Herring Gull 98 1 0 64
Great Black-backed Gull 1 0 0 1
Catch totals 445 3 1 98

Catch 2

Species Ringed Retraps Controls Colour ringed
Mediterranean Gull 1 0 0 1
Black-headed Gull 174 0 1 0
Common Gull 1 0 0 0
Lesser Black-backed Gull 27 0 0 26
Herring Gull 73 1 0 1
Great Black-backed Gull 1 0 0 1
Catch totals 277 1 1 29
Trip totals 722 4 2 127

Pitsea - 20/02/2010: A day that started with the threat of rain and snow turned out fine and we were able to take two really nice catches. A large catch of small gulls first with a splattering of other gulls. The second catch was very respectable but the best thing was the groups second Caspian Gull.

Catch 1

Species Ringed Retraps Controls Colour ringed
Black-headed Gull 441 0 3 0
Common Gull 5 0 0 0
Lesser Black-backed Gull 8 0 2 9
Herring Gull 12 0 0 3
Catch totals 466 0 5 12

Catch 2

Species Ringed Retraps Controls Colour ringed
Black-headed Gull 185 0 3 0
Caspian Gull 1 0 0 1
Herring Gull 92 1 2 48
Catch totals 278 1 5 49
Trip totals 744 1 10 61

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Methods

The North Thames Gull Group catches gulls using a cannon net, which involves firing a large net over birds feeding on freshly spread rubbish.

Once the net is set and the cannons connected, a load of rubbish is dumped and a waste compactor vehicle spreads it out and withdraws from the catching area. When enough gulls are in the area and it is safe to do so, the net is fired.

The team of ringers then removes the gulls from under the net and temporarily places them in hessian sacks which are stored in a holding area for processing. Birds are then identified to species, aged and fitted with an uniquely numbered metal ring. Measurements may be taken to help identify the race or breeding population of the birds we are catching.

Starting in 2008 we have also started fitting colour rings (orange rings with black letters and numbers) which allows the birds to be relocated without needing to be recaptured. There are many more bird-watchers looking for colour-ringed gulls, than there are cannon netting teams, so this greatly improves our chances of understanding the movements of the birds from the Thames Estuary.

If you see a bird with one of our colour rings, please send details (ring-code, date, location, species) to

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Totals

2010 calendar year

Species Ringed Retraps Controls Colour ringed
Mediterranean Gull 1 0 0 1
Black-headed Gull 1575 7 10 0
Common Gull 19 0 1 0
Lesser Black-backed Gull 86 0 2 86
Yellow-legged Gull 1 0 0 1
Caspian Gull 1 0 0 1
Herring Gull 699 8 8 302
Great Black-backed Gull 96 2 0 97
Totals 2478 17 21 488

2009/10 winter

Species Ringed Retraps Controls Colour ringed
Mediterranean Gull 1 0 0 1
Black-headed Gull 1952 7 16 0
Common Gull 21 0 1 0
Lesser Black-backed Gull 213 0 5 216
Yellow-legged Gull 9 0 0 9
Caspian Gull 1 0 0 1
Herring Gull 1136 11 11 546
Great Black-backed Gull 134 4 0 136
Totals 3467 22 33 909

2009 calendar year

Species Ringed Retraps Controls Colour ringed
Mediterranean Gull 3 0 1 0
Black-headed Gull 1950 4 18 0
Common Gull 19 0 1 0
Lesser Black-backed Gull 172 0 4 176
Yellow-legged Gull 8 0 0 8
Herring Gull 1208 7 7 366
Great Black-backed Gull 100 2 1 39
Totals 3460 13 32 589

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