Thursday 22 August 2024

Rufford - 2 new gulls and 3 cygnets!

 Tuesday's visit to Rufford was a great one, with sightings of 9 darviced Black-headed Gulls, including 2 new birds. In addition, the (in)famous Mute Swan, Broken Beak, appeared with his mate and 3 new cygnets.

The new gulls, 211B and a Norwegian-ringed bird, J2586, were both seen feeding with another c100 Black-headed Gulls. 211B was ringed in January 2022, as an adult bird. Until Tuesday, it had only been seen once, at Center Parcs, on 7th August 2024. Presumably, it over-wintered here last year, but evaded our eyes, and there haven't yet been any records of it, in its breeding site.

211B

The Norwegian bird, J2586, was the second new bird. It had been ringed 1004km away, in June 2023, as a chick/pullus. My sighting was the first since ringing. Hopefully, it'll hang around for the winter.

J2586

Other birds seen were: 206A, 258A, 273A, 293A, 283B, 207C and 258C (click on their labels for more information).

As well as the gulls, there were also 10 Canada Geese, 10 Greylag Geese and a family party of Mute Swans, 2 adults and 3 cygnets. The swans, both unringed, were Broken Beak and a female bird.

Broken Beak and family

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