Linacre WeBS and Ringing

 This week, I have been down to Linacre a couple of times to carry out this month's WeBS count and for a ringing session.

The WeBS count was as follows: Mallard (46), Tufted Duck (28 adults, no breeding again this year), Mandarin Duck (5), Coot (8; 5 adults and 3 juveniles), Moorhen (8; 5 adults and 3 juveniles),  Grey Wagtail (4), Cormorant (1), Grey Heron (1), Great-crested Grebe (4: 1 adult and 3 juveniles) and 1 adult Lesser Black-backed Gull. Other birds seen were: Goldfinch, Bullfinch (heard), Robin, Dunnock, Chiffchaff, 1 Mistle Thrush, c.8 House Martins and c.20 Swallows.

The ringing session, held on 23rd, was the best one so far this year, with 80 birds ringed. Totals were (new/retrap): Chiffchaff (19/0 - all juveniles), Willow Warbler (5/0 - 4 juveniles), Blackcap (14/1 - the retrap being a juvenile first ringed here in July), Blackbird (1/0 - an adult), Blue Tit (20/1 - the retrap being a bird ringed in box c.26 on 18th May 2025), Great Tit (6/0 - all juveniles), Long-tailed Tit (1/1 - the retrap being a bird first ringed here in November 2024), Robin (2/0 - both juveniles), Wren (2/0 - 1 juvenile), Goldfinch (1/0 - 1 juvenile), Dunnock (1 juvenile) and Goldcrest (5/0 - 4 juveniles).

Other birds seen were: House Martin (c.17), Swallow (2 over) and Crossbill (10 over).

5 butterflies (3 Red Admirals, 1 Speckled Wood and 1 Painted Lady) were also seen.

RSPB Frampton Marsh - 22nd August 2025

 Every year, at about this time, Jayne and I drive over to RSPB Frampton Marsh to catch up with a few passage waders, that can be seen, at this time of the year. It also gives us a chance to catch up with a damselfly that I haven't yet manged to find in Derbyshire.

This year has been very dry all across the UK, so most of the usual pools at Frampton were dried out. This meant that the birds that were there, were concentrated onto the few, remaining wet areas. We visited one, by the side of the reedbed, where we spotted a very obliging Wood Sandpiper (193) and 2 less obliging Green Sandpiper (194), that flew straight off!! 

Wood Sandpiper

After lunch, we went across to the Reedbed Hide were we spotted c.100 Greylag Geese,  Black-tailed Godwits (c.30), Lapwing, 3 juvenile Shelduck, Ruff (6), Avocet (1), juvenile Little Ringed Plovers and 4 Little Stint (195).

Little Stint

Our final stop was the dragonfly/dipping pool, where we spotted a couple of mating Migrant Hawkers and a pair of Willow Emerald Damselflies (in tandem). Common and Ruddy Darters were also seen, as was a pair of Common Blue Butterflies and a single Small Copper.

Migrant Hawkers

Willow Emerald Damselflies

Rufford Gulls - 20th August 2025

 After a couple of weeks away, I had a 2 hour visit to Rufford yesterday afternoon. There were approximately 75 Black-headed Gulls present (c.20 juveniles) and 6 of "own" ringed gulls.

The Black-headed Gulls seen were: 283B (ringed in November 2022, as an adult, and last seen on 4th September 2024), 

283B

207C (3rd sighting this "autumn/winter"), 

207C

245C (ringed in October 2023, and the first sighting since January 2025), 

245C

258C (3rd sighting this "autumn/winter), 

258C

2V03 (ringed in January 2025, and the first sighting since March 2025) and 2V16 (ringed in February 2025, as an adult, and the first sighting since 8th February 2025).

2V03

2V16

Other birds seen were: c.100 Canada Geese, including 1 ringed bird; 5230434., 4 Greylag Geese and  2 adult, unringed Mute Swans. 

Maasai Mara - Part 2

On day 2 of our time in the Maasai Mara, we spent the entire day out on safari (7.30am - 5.00pm). We saw all the usual suspects (see previous post), and also added the following species: Coke's Hartbeest, Cheetah, Warthog, Nile Crocodile (on the Mara River) and Vervet Monkey. 

Cheetah

Nile Crocodile

Warthog

Vervet Monkey (taken at Lake Nakuru)

Maasai Mara - Part 1

Last year, Jayne and I had a fantastic two week holiday in Kenya and Zanzibar, to celebrate a special birthday. We visited Kenya for a week's safari and then had a week on Zanzibar. Whilst there, we spotted 134 species of bird (118 of which were lifers), 42 species of mammal/reptile and amphibian (all of which were lifers), 15 butterfly species (all lifers) and 3 species of Dragonfly 9 (all lifers).

Our trip started off in Nairobi, where we stopped for a night, before heading off to the Maasai Mara National Reserve. We spent two days here, staying at the Sopa Lodge, and travelling out onto the reserve.

On the first drive (4pm - 6.30pm), we spotted Impala, Topi, Eland, Plains Zebra, Cape Buffalo, Thompson's Gazelle, Wildebeest, Olive Baboon, Maasai Giraffe, Grant's Gazelle, African Elephant, Hippopotamus, Spotted Hyena, a Mongoose species, most likely Banded, Silver-striped Jackal and African Lion!

African Elephants

Cape Buffalo

Maasai Giraffe

Eland

218F Returns

 A quick post to update on a Black-headed Gull that was seen at Center Parcs last week (14th). 

The bird in question, ringed 218F, by me, as a 1st year bird in October 2024 was reported back in the country at Center Parcs again. Unfortunately, there were no sightings over the summer ( I last saw it, at Rufford, on 2nd March 2025), so we don't yet know where it breeds. Hopefully, it'll hang around for another winter.

218F

Oban - 9th - 16th August 2025

 After our week in Anstruther, Jayne and I drove across to Oban, to meet up with the rest of the family. Whilst there, in between the touristy bits, we managed to add 3 new bird species to the "Year List", a new butterfly for the year and add a new species of butterfly and mammal to the Life Lists.

The 3 new birds were: Greenshank (190), when 2 were spotted on the loch near our holiday home, Black Guillemot (191); 2 birds in and around Oban harbour and Manx Shearwater (192), with a flock of c20 seen from the ferry, whilst crossing over to Mull.

Black Guillemot (moulting into winter plumage)

The new species of butterfly was a Scotch Argus, that flew past us on the beach (!) and landed, very briefly, hence the awful photo, on Ganavan Sands, Oban.

Scotch Argus

The other butterfly species seen were: Red Admiral, Green-veined White and Grayling (seen on Isle of Luing).

Grayling

Other species seen, whilst up there were: Common Buzzard, Raven (3 over the Isle of Luing and over the holiday accommodation), Hooded Crow (no longer on the Year List since being  "lumped" back with Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Turnstone, Redshank, Oystercatcher, Gannet, Kittiwake, Herring, Common, Lesser Black-backed and Great Black-backed Gulls, Stonechat, Swallow, House Martin (nesting on our holiday home), Starling, a single Skua species (probably Arctic), seen harrying the terns (probably Arctic as well) on the ferry to Mull and some "pigeons" that could possibly be Rock Doves (seen on the Isle of Luing).

Hooded Crow

Mammal wise, we spent an enjoyable few hours out with the Heart of Argyl Wildlife Organisation in the Knapdale Forest on a "Beaver Walk", where we managed to watch an adult beaver swim the entire length of the Loch of Barnluasgan!!

European Beaver

Whilst on the ferry across to Mull, we saw a small pod of approximately 6 Common Dolphins (no photos unfortunately). The final animal of note, was a single Red Squirrel, seen disappearing into the bushes!

Anstruther Gulls and Shag

 This morning, I had half an hour checking the gulls in the harbour area around Anstruther. I spotted a new species for the trip, Mediterranean Gull. 

Black-headed and Mediterranean Gull

In the afternoon, Jayne and I checked the rocks below the golf clubhouse, and spotted 2 darvic-ringed Great Black-backed Gulls and a single darvic-ringed Shag. 

233:M

207:M

Shag - AXS?

Year List Update - 4th August 2025

 Jayne and I are up in Scotland for a couple of weeks. On the drive up, we stopped off at Musselburgh Lagoons, near Edinburgh, to look for some scoters. 

There were 4 species of scoter to find, but, as you can imagine, we only managed to find 2 of them, Velvet Scoter (185), Common Scoter (186). Annoyingly, the White-winged and Surf remained elusive!! Other species seen were: Eider Duck, Razorbill (187), Redshank, Gannet, Sandwich Tern, Herring Gull and Goosander.

Arriving in Anstruther, we spotted 6 species of gull, around the harbour area: Black-headed, Common, Herring, Great Black-backed, Lesser Black-backed and a single Kittiwake. 2 Kingfishers were also seen feeding in the rockpools, along with Redshank, Ringed Plover, Oystercatcher, Curlew and Turnstone. A single Shag (188) and a single Common Tern (189) were spotted on the nearby rocks.

A walk along the coastal path to Pittenweem added Linnet, Painted Lady and a single Hummingbird Hawkmoth.

Linnet

Another new species for Linacre!

 I've had a couple of 2-hour visits to Linacre this week and managed to record lots of insects, including a new species!

The first walk, on 28th, with 3 of the volunteer rangers, resulted in the new species, a queen Median Wasp, that was seen, basking on the bracken next to the middle reservoir.

Median Wasp

Other insects seen on this walk were: Common Blue Damselfly, Common Dater (1 - the first of the year), Brown Hawker (1), Migrant Hawker (1), Peacock (1), Gatekeeper (6), Green-veined White (3), Speckled Wood (1), Large White (2), Small Copper (2), Ringlet (1), Comma (1), Meadow Brown (a minimum of 10), Common Blue Butterfly (2 males, in the field beyond the top reservoir).

Common Blue Butterfly

The second walk, yesterday, didn't bring any new species, but it did give several interesting sightings, including a female Wall Brown, an egg-laying female Common Blue Butterfly (in the ringing site), a minimum of 10 Red Admirals and lots of 7-spot Ladybirds. Other sightings were: another Common Darter (down by the ringing site), 1 Migrant Hawker, 1 Brown Hawker, 9 Green-veined White, 1 Large White, 4 Meadow Browns, 4 Commas, 3 Speckled Woods and 1 Holly Blue.

Holly Blue and 7-spot Ladybird

Two species of hoverfly were also recorded: Volucella pellucens (2nd record of the year) and Volucella inanis (1st record of 2025).

Volucella inanis

Rufford Gulls - 29th July 2025

 I spent two hours at Rufford yesterday afternoon. There were about 65 Black-headed Gulls present, including 17 juveniles, and 4 darvic-ringed birds.

The darviced birds were 258A (first ringed in February 2020 and reported 42 times, mainly in Rufford. Today's sighting was the first since March 2025), 207C, 258C (both first seen back on 15th July) and 234F (ringed on 9th November 2024, as a 1st winter bird, seen 8 times last winter and last seen in February 2025).

258A

207C

258C

234F

Big Moor Dragons - 26th July 2025

Yesterday, Jayne and I had a walk up to Little Barbrook Reservoir on Big Moor. We went to look for dragonflies, and managed to see a couple of new species for the year.

The highlight, as always, was our first Golden-ringed Dragonflies of 2025. We saw two individuals, both males, including this one that had, unfortunately, damaged its body, presumably whilst emerging. Despite this, it appeared to be doing ok, and we got very lucky, when it perched by the main path eating a wasp!

Golden-ringed Dragonfly

Undamaged male!

Other odanata seen were: Emerald Damselfly (new for year), Black Darter (1) and Common Blue Damselfly (2 males).

A few butterflies were on the wing: Gatekeeper (8), Small Heath (1) and Red Admiral (1).

Birdwise, it was very quiet, but we did manage to see a couple of Reed Buntings, Meadow Pipits, a Common Buzzard, and a single, juvenile Stonechat.

Ring-necked Duck - again!!

Ring-necked Duck isn't a species I see that often, especially not in Derbyshire, so a report of an eclipse male at Ogston Reservoir this week had my "twitching" instincts up and running. As it turns out, this is my 3rd record this year, and my second in my home county!.

I popped down on Thursday morning (24th) and found the bird within 2 minutes, right out, on the water, in front of the public hide. The light was awful, but I got great 'scope views and managed a few half-decent photos.

Ring-necked Duck (front bird) with Tufted Duck

Ringed-necked Duck

Year List Update - 20th July 2025

As always, at this time of the year, the Year List slows down, as most of the easier-to-find species have been recorded. I have, however, managed to add a few new species.

The first is Long-eared Owl (179), that was seen in NE Derbyshire in June. Next up was Crossbill (180), that was recorded at Linacre on 5th July. Spotted Flycatcher (181) was seen on a walk in Tideswell Dale, also on 5th July. Green Woodpecker (182) was heard, but not seen, at Hardwick Hall last week, and the final bird, Yellow-legged Gull (183), was seen today, at Ogston Reservoir.

Yellow-legged Gull 

Update: Common Sandpiper (184) was seen at Ogston, on 28th July.

Back to Rufford

 An hour at Rufford on Tuesday (15th) produced 5 ringed Black-headed Gulls, including a new metal-ringed bird from Sweden. Overall gull numbers were up markedly on my first visit, with 94 birds seen, including the first juveniles (6).

The Swedish-ringed gull, 6434047, an adult, was found in the usual spot, by the pontoon. This bird was ringed, as a pullus, 12 years and 2 weeks ago, 1697km away! 

6434047

The other ringed gulls were all well known to me, having been ringed at Center Parcs over the last few winters. They were 273A (ringed on 17th November 2021, as a 1st winter bird, making it 4 years old), 293A (ringed on 15th December 2021, as an adult, so at least 6 years old), 207C (ringed on 22nd December 2022, as an adult, so at least 5 years old) and 258C (ringed on 1st December 2023, as a 1st winter bird, so just 2 years old). Good to see them all in their breeding plumage.

273A

293A

207C

258C