Gulls, Parakeets and a Swan

 Yesterday, I had my first visit to Alvaston Park in Derby since January (see here), hoping to catch up with some returning Black-headed Gulls. Unfortunately, I was too early, as there were only about 30 birds present, none of which were ringed. Whilst there, I did record 20+ Mute Swans (non ringed), 30+ Canada Geese, Coots, Moorhens, a Stock Dove and 2 Ring-necked Parakeets.

Afterwards, I drove across to Rufford CP and, despite there only being about 30 Black-headed Gulls present, I did manage to find one ringed bird, 230A, a very well known bird (see here).

230A

Also present were a couple of Mute Swans, including a male bird with a metal ring, W17328. It's a bird I've seen here before (in September 2019), and it was ringed by the Birklands Ringing Group, 3km away at Pittance Pond in Edwinstowe on 5th October 2012, as a 3 (born that year). 

Mute Swan W17328

Rufford Gulls - 11th August 2020

 I spent a couple of hours at Rufford CP yesterday. There were about 100 Black-headed Gulls present, and, surprising, approximately 80 Lesser Black-backed Gulls! 

The temperature was a very warm 27 degrees, so most of the birds were sitting around on the water, and weren't particularly interested in coming into bread. Eventually, after about 2 hours I spotted 2 darviced gulls: 230A and 247A.

I've seen both of these birds before at Rufford. 230A is a regular bird (see labels 230A), whilst 247A was one that I've only seen on one occasion before (see here). I'm sure I'll see them both around over the following winter period.

230A

247A

As well as the gulls, I also saw a male Banded Demoiselle, which was my first record there.

Return of the Gulls!

After my visit to Frampton Marsh yesterday, I decided to stop off at Rufford CP on my way home. I was hoping to see if any of last winter's ringed gulls were back, and ...... I was very pleased to see 2 returning birds!

There were about 70 Black-headed Gulls present and the first ringed bird I saw was EUM3, a 3 year old, Dutch-ringed gull that I first saw here on 3rd February 2019 (see here), and on pretty much every visit last winter - a very site faithful bird!! As you can see, it still has a near full brown hood.

EUM3

The second ringed bird was 230A, a bird ringed, as an adult, at Center Parcs, approximately 2km away, in February 2019 by Birklands RG and Sorby Breck RG. My first sighting of this bird was in September 2019 (see here), and, again, Rufford appears to be a regular wintering site, with sightings through to March 2020. Unfortunately, there haven't been any records from its breeding grounds....yet.

230A

Out of the c.70 Black-headed Gulls present there were 10 juveniles, in varying degrees of moult. This bird was the least advanced, showing just a few adult feathers.

Black-headed Gull (juvenile)

As well as the Black-headed Gulls, there was also one Lesser Black-backed Gull present, which  I think is a 3rd winter bird (born in 2017?) - please let me know if it's not!

Lesser Black-backed Gull

New Year Gulls - Part 1

In the first few days of 2020 I've had a couple of trips to Rufford CP to get my first sightings of darvic ringed Black-headed Gulls for the year. All the darvic-ringed birds were familiar birds, but I did also manage to find, and read, a metal ringed Swedish bird (details sent off), along with some darviced Mute Swans.

I visited Rufford on Thursday 2nd, and spotted 217A, 237A, 247A (all ringed at Center Parcs, 2km away). 247A was ringed just a few weeks ago on 21st Dec 2020 and this was my first sighting at Rufford. Also seen were: V77K (a Danish bird ringed, as a pullus, in June 2015), EUM3 (a Dutch bird ringed, as a pullus, in May 2017) and P519 (a Lithuanian bird ringed, as an adult, in April 2010), along with a new Swedish bird with metal ring number 6456037, and a British metal ringed bird with the number EL87245 (a bird I'd previously seen here in November 2019).

247A

Whilst at Rufford, I also saw 2 darviced Mute Swans, 108Y and 439Y, both birds that I'm sure were ringed by Sorby Breck Ringing Group. This is my first sighting of these birds here. I'll update the blog when I have the ringing details.

108Y and 439Y

My second visit, on 3rd January, had the same gulls as the day before, and a new one, 230A, which is a bird that was ringed at Center Parcs, on 2nd February 2019, as an adult bird, and one that I'd seen a couple of times in September 2019.

230A

UPDATE: The Swedish gull was ringed, as a pullus, 950km away in southern Sweden on 1st June 2019.

Black-headed Gull 230A

I was at Rufford Country Park on Sunday to check on the Black-headed Gulls. Two familiar rings were read, 206A (British-ringed) and EUM3 (Dutch-ringed), along with a new bird, 230A.

230A

Regular readers of this blog will recognise the ring colour and sequence as being one used by Sorby Breck Ringing Group (the group I ring with) and Birklands Ringing Group. I contacted the lead ringer of this scheme and he confirmed that 230A had been ringed at the nearby Center Parcs site on 2nd February 2019. My siting was the first since then. Hopefully, it'll hang around for the winter, and get spotted back on its breeding grounds next Spring.