I spent half an hour at Rufford Country Park this afternoon (in the wind, rain, hail and sunshine!) to see if any
Black-headed Gulls were still around. There were just 20ish birds present, including an old favourite,
Dutch-ringed EUM3. I first saw this bird at Rufford on 3rd February 2019, and again on 18th February 2019. It is a 2 year old bird, ringed in The Netherlands in May 2017. What was really nice to see today, was how far it had moulted since I last saw it. Here's a couple of pictures. The first one was taken on 18th February 2019, and the second one was taken today. What a transformation!
18th February 2019
20th March 2019
Luke was also there today (with his family), and he also saw EUM3, but he also managed to get a new metal-ringed bird, starting VA4 _ _ _ .
Danish BHG VA4 _ _ _
As you can see from the picture, this is a 1st winter bird, born in 2018. I'm pretty sure it's a Danish bird, for 2 reasons. Firstly, I've had another bird with a ring starting VA4 this winter, in Alvaston Park, Derby, which was confirmed as a Danish bird, and, perhaps more importantly, the letters run vertically up the ring, which is the same as for the other confirmed Danish birds. Unfortunately, neither of us could get the remaining 3 digits (I didn't even see the bird!!) so this might be "one that got away".
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