Rufford Visit - 2nd September 2025

 Yesterday, I had my first visit to Rufford for a couple of weeks. It was bright sunshine (with a few rain showers) and 20 degrees, and there were about 70 Black-headed Gulls (c.40 juveniles). 7 darviced gulls were seen, and a new, metal-ringed bird was also spotted.

The darviced birds were: 258A (2nd sighting this autumn/winter), 207C (4th sighting since July), 258C (fourth sighting this autumn/winter), 221F (last seen in February 2025), 234F (second sighting this autumn/winter), 255F (first sighting since January 2025) and 2V03 (2nd sighting this autumn/winter).

221F

255F

The metal-ringed bird (EM21570) was a 3, i.e. born this year. It had been ringed, as a pullus, on 10th June, 158km away, at Marlingford Hall, Norfolk. This is, unsurprisingly, the first sighting since ringing. Hopefully, it'll hang around for the winter.

EM21570

In addition to the gulls, I also recorded 7 Mute Swans, including the 2 unringed birds seen last visit, along with 2 more adults (Broken Beak and his partner) and their 3 new cygnets, 2 Kingfishers, 1 House Martin, dozens of Canada and Greylag Geese, 1 Grey Wagtail, Mallards and an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull.

Broken Beak and family

Lesser Black-backed Gull

In addition to those sightings, I also saw a familiar Black-headed Gull in Bakewell on Monday. It was quite a brief sighting, but enough to get the metal ring EW97345. This is a bird I first saw, in Bakewell, back in September 2018. The bird had been ringed, as an adult (at least 2 years old), in Boston, Lincolnshire on 9th January 2010. Monday's sighting was my first since July 2021.

EW97345