Thursday, 17 July 2025

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. Details of age and ringing date to follow.

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

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