The Workington Mediterranean Gull ( aka Stumpy ) is back ... for its ninth year ...

There were three Med. Gulls at Workington Harbour yesterday ... two adults and a second summer ... and all looking pristine with jet black hoods showing crisply in the sunshine and that clear air created by the northerly breeze ... and one of those was the regular wintering bird ...

... it was on 30th July 2009 that I first found this bird, then in first-summer plumage ...

... it had been ringed as a nestling at Kieldrecht, Oost-Vlaanderen, Belgium on 27th May 2008 ... and here it was 429 days later and 641 km from the ringing site, direction NW.

... it has been reported only twice at locations other than the Workington area ... once on 15th April 2010 when it was at Seaforth NR, Merseyside ...

... and then on 3rd July 2015 at Dawlish Warren, Devon ...

... this was 2593 days after it was ringed and 540 km away ...

... there are no reports of it during the breeding season ... perhaps it returns to its natal site ... but who knows ?   the reports of it in NW and SW England would certainly be consistent with that ...

... while Workington is a site that often hosts Med. Gulls numbering into double figures in early autumn, it is not a major wintering location ... some individuals with colour rings have passed through Workington in successive years before going on to spend the winter in Spain ...