Colour-ringed Mediterranean Gulls at Sandy Cove

19/12/16 - In the roost at the Forty-foot.
Red PRN6: - Ringed as an adult on a nest at Mietkow in Poland on 26/05/15. It was first recorded in Ireland on 03/08/15 at Sandycove, and stayed in the same area until 01/03/16. It was recorded back in Poland on 30/03/16 at Sulislawice, and again on 08/04/16. On 17/04/16 it was at Lobnitz gravel pit in Germany, and was back at Sandycove on 19/07/16. It has been seen there regularly ever since.

This map from the website http://ring.stornit.gda.pl/, run by the Polish ringing group Polring indicates at least 2 records from the Netherlands, which I couldn't find on their database. The German record looks like it might be on passage.

26/12/16 - Close to the shoreline at Sandy Cove.
Green AKAJ: Ringed as a pullus on the nest on 01/07/11 in Hamburg. Its first Irish sighting was on 02/03/12, it stayed until 22/05/12, well into the breeding season. It popped up on Merseyside on 09/06/12, before coming back to Ireland from 18/12/12 to 06/04/13. Looks like a bit of juvenile wandering about in its first year.

It has returned to Ireland every autumn since, first sighting dates vary from 27/06 to 02/08, and it stays in the Sandycove area until returning to Germany (presumably) to breed. It usually leaves in the first week of March (dates vary from 01/03 to 12/03). There is only one record from mainland Europe besides the original ringing record, and that was on 08/04/16 when it was at Niedersachsen in Germany

26/12/16 - Close to the shoreline at Sandy Cove.
Yellow 2X1J: Ringed as a juvenile on 03/12/13 at Sandycove. It stayed in the same area until its last sighting on 12/03/14. Since then it has followed the same general pattern as other Med Gulls, arriving at Sandycove every autumn between 21/07 and 17/10, and staying through the winter until leaving in Spring, with last sighting dates between 22/02 and 18/03

Its breeding ground seems to be on Pionierinsel Island at Niedersachsen in Germany, where it was seen regularly between 10/04/15 and 20/06/15, returning the following year when there were sightings on 14/05/16 and 22/05/16 at the same site. It was identified as a male with territorial behaviour in 2015, and was retrapped and measured in Germany on 23/05/15.