Lake Naivasha Cruise - 27th July 2024

 After our stay at Lake Nakuru, we drove across to Lake Naivasha, where we enjoyed an hour long boat ride, adding 5 new species of bird and a new mammal species.

Birds seen were: White-browed Robin Chat, Blacksmith Plover, Red-eyed Dove, Ruppel's Starling, African Sacred Ibis, Hadada Ibis, Great Egret, Little Egret, Squacco Heron and Grey Heron. The new species were: Long-tailed Cormorant, Pied Kingfisher, African Fish Eagle, Black Crake and African Jacana. 

Long-tailed Cormorant

Pied Kingfisher

African Fish Eagle

Black Crake

African Jacana

Whilst there, we also saw several mammals, including Hippopotamus, Plains Zebra, Wildebeest, Cape Buffalo, Thomson's Gazelle and the new one, Waterbuck.

Waterbuck (and Wattled Starling)

Rufford - 15th November 2025

 Yesterday, I had a couple of hours at Rufford. It had been raining very heavily for the previous twenty four hours (!), and the water levels were very high. There were only about 50 Black-headed Gulls there, but I did manage to see 8 ringed birds.

The "best" bird was 223A, a bird that was originally ringed, as an adult, on 13th February 2019. Since then, it has been recorded just 4 times in the UK, and once in Denmark, on 19th October 2025. My sighting was my first, since February 2022 (!), so was long overdue. Welcome back!

223A

Other birds seen for the first time this winter were: 280B (ringed by me, as an adult, in November 2022, and last recorded on 15th February 2025) and 298C (ringed, as a 2nd calendar year bird, on 4th February 2024 and last seen on 2nd March 2025). 

280B

298C

The other birds seen were: 207C (8th time since July), 270C (2nd sighting this winter), 221F (4th sighting this winter), 234F (6th sighting this winter) and 259F (2nd sighting, since being ringed on 18th October 2025).

"Broken Beak" was also on the water, along with his partner and 3 well grown cygnets. Other birds seen were: Grey Wagtail (1 adult an 1 juvenile), 1 Buzzard (overhead) and  a single "redhead" Goosander. 

Broken Beak and family

Linacre Ringing and WeBS

 On 26th October, I was down at Linacre for a ringing session. We managed to catch 61 birds, including our first Redwing of the winter (a juvenile) along with the following birds, new/retrap: Blue Tit 18/1, Great Tit 6/1, Coal Tit 6/0, Long-tailed Tit 14/1, Wren 1/0, Robin 1/0 and Goldcrest 10/0. The retrap Great Tit was a juvenile that I had originally ringed, in Box c3, in May 2025. 

Last weekend, (9th) I carried out the monthly WeBS count at Linacre. Numbers were beginning to build up, with the following birds seen: Mallard (69), Tufted Duck (73),  Moorhen (7), Coot (5), Cormorant (2), Grey Wagtail (1), Pied Wagtail (1 on the muck heap by the main entrance), Black-headed Gull (6), Mandarin (38) and a single Kingfisher. 

Whilst on site for the WeBS walk, I also had the first Fieldfare of the winter (c.40 flew over) and a couple of Raven very low over the bottom reservoir. 

Rufford - 29th October 2025

 On Wednesday 29th, I popped across to The Carrs, at Church Warsop, to see if there were any ringed gulls around. I saw 2 new birds. Afterwards, I went across to Rufford, and spotted another 20 (!) ringed gulls, including P519, the Lithuanian-ringed bird, that I first saw in January 2019.

The two birds seen at The Carrs were 277C (ringed in January 2024, as an age 5, born in 2023) and 201F  (ringed in February 2024, also as an age 5).

277C

Arriving at Rufford, there were about 250 Black-headed Gulls, including a lot of birds not seen before, or not seen this winter. The highlight for me was P519, back for, at least, its 8th winter.

P519

Other birds seen were: 285A, 295A (1st sighting this winter), 269B (1st Rufford sighting), 202C (1st sighting this winter), 207C, 258C, 270C (1st sighting this winter), 273C (1st sighting this winter), 214F, 221F, 223F (1st sighting this winter), 234F, 239F, 259F (a 1st winter bird, ringed on 18/10/25), 261F (1st sighting since December 2024), 262F, 287F (my first sighting), 2V05 (1st sighting since January 25), 2V10 and 2V16.

269B

259F

287F

Other birds seen were: Kingfisher (1), Common Gull (1), Lesser Black-backed Gull (2 adults), Mute Swan (4 unringed adults) and the first Goosander of the winter (10 birds; 8 redheads and 2 males).

Common Gull

Spurn Point - 25th October 2025

 On Saturday, Jayne and I went over to Spurn Point NNR to visit our nephew, who is volunteering there. Whilst there, we had an eight and a half mile walk from the Bird Observatory to The Point, and back, and managed to add 4 new species to the Year List.

The first new species was Whimbrel (200), that we saw feeding around the estuary and beach area.

Whimbrel

The next two species: Snow Bunting (201) and Black Redstart (202) were added on the walk down to The Point.

Black Redstart 

The final new species was a single Yellow-browed Warbler (203) that was feeding in willows around Sykes Field.

Other species seen were: Knot, Redshank, Dunlin, Curlew, Oystercatcher, Brent Goose, Whooper Swan, Chiffchaff,  Meadow Pipit, Stonechat, Skylark, Swallow, Buzzard and a female Bullfinch, that we tried, unsuccessfully, to turn into a "Northern" Bullfinch!

Bullfinch

Rufford - 12th October 2025

Last Sunday, I was down at Rufford for a couple of hours, and had the best session of the autumn so far with 18 ringed birds (16 of "ours", a metal-ringed bird and a brand new Dutch-ringed bird) spotted.

The 16 birds were: 2V10 (2nd sighting this autumn), 2V16 (2nd sighting this autumn), 258A (4th sighting this autumn), 273A (2nd sighting this autumn), 283B (2nd sighting this autumn), 207C (6th sighting this autumn), 245C (3rd sighting this autumn), 258C (7th sighting this autumn), 209F (1st sighting, since ringing, as a 1st winter bird, in October 2024), 214F (1st sighting this autumn), 215F (2nd sighting this autumn), 217F (2nd sighting this autumn), 221F (2nd sighting this autumn), 234F (4th sighting this autumn), 239F (2nd sighting this autumn) and 262F (1st sighting on the autumn. Last seen in December 2024). The metal ringed bird was EM21570 (2nd sighting this autumn). 

209F

214F

262F

The new, Dutch-ringed bird, was an adult, with a white darvic EV.V2. It was originally ringed, as an adult, on 7th June 2022 at Berkel en Rodenrijs, The Netherlands, by Benny Middendorp. It was reported here again on 9th June 2022, and again on 10th March 2024, before my sighting at Rufford.

EVV2

Red-backed Shrike

This weekend, Jayne and I were don on Norfolk. We spent yesterday in Norwich, and then went up to the north coast for a spot of birding today.

Our first stop was Marston Quay/Marshes, where we had a quick walk along the coastal path to see a 1st year Red-backed Shrike (198) that had been present for a week or so. We were very lucky, and the bird showed well, along the hedgerow, as soon as we arrived (others had been there looking for it for up to an hour and a half!!). Despite being very windy, I managed to get a few decentish photos.

Red-backed Shrike

Our next stop was RSPB Titchwell. It was quite quiet, but se did get a "Year Tick", Bar-tailed Godwit (199).

Bar-tailed Godwit

Other birds seen were: Sanderling, Avocet, Redshank, Ruff, Oystercatcher, Dunlin, Knot, Lapwing, Golden Plover, Linnet, Pied Wagtail, Meadow Pipit, Skylark, Mute Swan, Teal, Shoveler, Gadwall, Marsh Harrier. Kestrel, Red Kite, Buzzard, Herring and Black-headed Gull.

Sanderling

It was quite sunny, and warm at times (17 degrees), and we also spotted 3 species of butterfly: Large White (1), Wall Brown (1 female) and Red Admiral (2).