Russian ring recovery

Had a really quick response to the colour-ringed Black-headed Gull I saw on New Year's day. The bird was ringed as a chick at Sosnovaya Polyana, St. Petersburg, Russia, on 10th June 2010 and its ringer, Dmitrijs Boiko, stated this was the first recovery of this bird since it was ringed. 1,280 miles from Crossness - Excellent stuff!

1,280 miles from St.Petersburg, Russia to Crossness, London

A Russian 3rd calendar year (just!!) Black-headed Gull

This is my first Russian-ringed Black-headed Gull I've had to date, but it's no surprise really considering a lot of the Thames winter gulls seem to push in from Eastern Europe and the Baltic states.

Also, two Lesser Black-backed Gulls (UL0T and GN6T) from New Year's day were much more typical - birds from the NTGG, with 1 from Rainham and 1 from Pitsea.