With an invitation from Dr V to join him and Peter Rock ringing gulls on the rooftops of Cardiff, all a ringer could do was book a Monday off work (hardship...), make sure his number 2 pliers were in good order and set the alarm for "lie in".
Peter has been studying urban gulls for a good while. All the chicks are colour ringed with this year's birds having black rings with three yellow digits; letter, plus sign, letter. If you see any colour ringed gulls then please let Peter know at pete.rock@blueyonder.co.uk . All sightings are valuable!
A big thanks to Peter for an excellent, if slightly damp, day.
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The first two roofs we visited had gulls that were either two young (like the
two above) or too old; only suicidal mad men chase flighty gulls around on a
roof top!
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Cardiff offers urban gulls a plethora of nesting sires. Plus chippy lane provides
pretty rich pickings (accept when Facey is there; try getting between him and a
Clark's pie).
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How many people noticed us on the rooftops being mobbed by pissed off
parent gulls? OK quiet a few; we got a few waves and gawping looks.
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| Long walk and short drop... worth it for three lesser chicks though. |
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| The roof tops of Cardiff; where chickens go to die... |
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| Peter (left) and Dr V processing the last of the chicks on this roof. |
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Its no secret that urban gulls divide opinion and some may
call for a cull. But netting buildings just results in needless
suffering; this herring gull was one of two birds we found on this
roof alone. They would have died a long and lingering death
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| Our last roof was the most productive with twenty chicks ringed; all calmly
waited while they were ringed.
The sight and noise we had for most of our "roof time"
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