Pete Rock AA Gull codes

Peter Rock’s Cohorts      Please report any sightings to pete.rock@urbangulls.com

Please do keep a look out for ringed Herring Gulls and Lesser Black Backed Gulls in the Bristol and Bath region. All birds are ringed as nestlings. Large colour-rings (35mm tall), always on RIGHT tarsus with metal on left tarsus. See table below for the ring details.

Peter has ringed an amazing 11,000 of them, and so far has 90,000 post-fledging records, with a recovery rate of 60%. Bristol birds have been logged travelling a massive cumulative 9.2 million kilometres! 

This is the same as 13 years of non-stop Bristol to London car journeys. 

Recoveries range between Tampere, Finland to The Gambia (seee map below). Here’s one who has an interesting history: Black3 M:K, ringed on the old Courage Brewery in Bristol in 2006. Many records from Gloucester Landfill up until 2011 when it closed suggested that he was breeding in Gloucester, but he winters in Gafanha da Nazaré, near Aveiro in Portugal. Pete writes 'I’ve seen him there over many years. Nowadays I expect to find him in a small part of the fishing port and he didn’t disappoint this year; I found him there on 31st October during the annual ring-reading trip to Portugal'.

Peter uses the info to understand more about the behaviour of gulls in cities:

-they learn where the food sources are

-when it is lunch time at local schools

-when bin days are

And they help clear up after Glastonbury Festival.

The Bristol Study is unique, and can help us learn about any changes to behaviour as well as things like finding new breeding sites.

Year	Cohort	Ring	Code	Notes
1980	YELLOW1	AA	Black	Thin letters.
1981	ORANGE1	AA	Black	Thin letters.
1982	WHITE1	AA	Black	Thin letters.
1983	SKY1	AA	Black	Thin letters.
1984	GREEN1	AA	White	Thin letters.
1985	MAUVE1	AA	White	Thin letters.
1986	BLACK1	AA	White	Thin letters.
1987	RED1	AA	White	Thin letters.
1988	PG1	AA	Black	Thin letters.
1989	BLUE1	AA	White	Thin letters. Mid Blue (now greyish)
1990	BROWN1	AA	White	Thin letters.
1991	ORANGE2	AA	White
1992	WHITE2	AA	Red
1993	YELLOW2	AA	Black
1994	BLACK2	AA	Yellow
1995	ORANGE3	AA	Black
1996	GREEN2	AA	White
1997	WHITE3	AA	Blue
1998	BLUE2	AA	White	Dark Blue.
1999	RED2	A.A	White	Stop between letters.
2000	ORANGE4	A:A	Green	Colon between letters. Orange now yellowish
2001	YELLOW3	A:A	Black	Colon between letters.
2002	PG2	A:A	Black	Colon between letters.
2003	WHITE4	A:A	Green	Colon between letters.
2004	BLUE3	A:A	Orange	Colon between letters. Dark Blue.
2005	GREEN3	A:A	White	Colon between letters.
2006	BLACK3	A:A	Yellow	Colon between letters.
2007	WHITE5	A:A	Red	Colon between letters.
2008	RED3	A:A	Black	Colon between letters.
2009	GREY1	A+A	Red	Plus between thin letters.
2010	BLUE4	A+A	White	Plus between thin letters. Mid Blue.
2011	WHITE6	A+A	Green	Plus between thin letters.
2012	BLACK4	A+A	Yellow	Plus between thin letters.
2013	YELLOW4	A+A	Black	Plus between thin letters.
2014	PG3	A+A	Black	Plus between thin letters.
2015	ORANGE5	A+A	Black	Plus between thin letters.
2016	RED4	A+A	White	Plus between thin letters
2017	GREEN4	A+A	White	Plus between thin letters
2018	WHITE7	A=A	Black	Equals between letters
2019	BLUE5	A=A	White	Equals between letters
2020	YELLOW5	A=A	Black	Equals between letters
2021	ORANGE6	A=A	Black	Equals between letters

2022

GREEN5

A=A

White

Equals between letters

2022

WHITE8

T=F

Black

Equals between letters from T=F onwards

2023

RED5

A=A

White

Equals between letters

2023

RED6

T+U

White

Plus between letters from T+U onwards

2024

BLACK5

A=A

Yellow

Equals between letters

2025

ORANGE7

A&A

Black

Ampersand between letters

Note 2 colours were used in 2022 and 2023