Rufford - 29th October 2025

 On Wednesday 29th, I popped across to The Carrs, at Church Warsop, to see if there were any ringed gulls around. I saw 2 new birds. Afterwards, I went across to Rufford, and spotted another 20 (!) ringed gulls, including P519, the Lithuanian-ringed bird, that I first saw in January 2019.

The two birds seen at The Carrs were 277C (ringed in January 2024, as an age 5, born in 2023) and 201F  (ringed in February 2024, also as an age 5).

277C

Arriving at Rufford, there were about 250 Black-headed Gulls, including a lot of birds not seen before, or not seen this winter. The highlight for me was P519, back for, at least, its 8th winter.

P519

Other birds seen were: 285A, 295A (1st sighting this winter), 269B (1st Rufford sighting), 202C (1st sighting this winter), 207C, 258C, 270C (1st sighting this winter), 273C (1st sighting this winter), 214F, 221F, 223F (1st sighting this winter), 234F, 239F, 259F (a 1st winter bird, ringed on 18/10/25), 261F (1st sighting since December 2024), 262F, 287F (my first sighting), 2V05 (1st sighting since January 25), 2V10 and 2V16.

269B

259F

287F

Other birds seen were: Kingfisher (1), Common Gull (1), Lesser Black-backed Gull (2 adults), Mute Swan (4 unringed adults) and the first Goosander of the winter (10 birds; 8 redheads and 2 males).

Common Gull

Rufford - 12th October 2025

Last Sunday, I was down at Rufford for a couple of hours, and had the best session of the autumn so far with 18 ringed birds (16 of "ours", a metal-ringed bird and a brand new Dutch-ringed bird) spotted.

The 16 birds were: 2V10 (2nd sighting this autumn), 2V16 (2nd sighting this autumn), 258A (4th sighting this autumn), 273A (2nd sighting this autumn), 283B (2nd sighting this autumn), 207C (6th sighting this autumn), 245C (3rd sighting this autumn), 258C (7th sighting this autumn), 209F (1st sighting, since ringing, as a 1st winter bird, in October 2024), 214F (1st sighting this autumn), 215F (2nd sighting this autumn), 217F (2nd sighting this autumn), 221F (2nd sighting this autumn), 234F (4th sighting this autumn), 239F (2nd sighting this autumn) and 262F (1st sighting on the autumn. Last seen in December 2024). The metal ringed bird was EM21570 (2nd sighting this autumn). 

209F

214F

262F

The new, Dutch-ringed bird, was an adult, with a white darvic EV.V2. It was originally ringed, as an adult, on 7th June 2022 at Berkel en Rodenrijs, The Netherlands, by Benny Middendorp. It was reported here again on 9th June 2022, and again on 10th March 2024, before my sighting at Rufford.

EVV2

P519 is back!

 I had my first visit to Rufford for a few weeks yesterday, and, in a couple of hours, I'd spotted 22 ringed birds; 21 of "ours" and a familiar face, P519.

P519 is a Lithuanian-ringed bird (ringed, as an adult, on 1st April 2010, 1,456km away). I first spotted this bird in February 2019, although it had been seen here, by other observers, in January and November 2018. It has been seen every winter since then. Yesterday's sighting was the first of the winter.

P519

Other ringed gulls were: 255A, 258A, 259A, 277A, 293A, 295A, 242B (my first sighting), 202C, 207C, 245C, 246C (my 1st sighting), 258C, 264C, 270C, 273C, 207F, 214F, 217F, 219F, 220F, 223F and 225F (all the F birds are my 1st sightings).

Other birds seen were: Greylag Geese (c150, including  a ringed bird, 5230485, which had been ringed in April 2024), Canada Geese (c.100), 6 Mute Swans (Broken Beak, his partner and 3 cygnets, plus another adult female) and 1 adult Lesser Black-backed Gull.