Welcome to my blog all about my birdwatching, wild bird ringing activities and moth recording at Linacre Reservoirs, Derbyshire; in Great Britain and abroad.
Last weekend (20th), I went across to Rufford for a couple of hours. In total, I recorded 16 green-ringed Black-headed Gulls, and metal-ringed EL87245.
Birds seen were: 246A, 258A, 273A, 293A, 295A, 297A, 254B, 272B, 280B, 202C, 207C, 245C, 258C, 264C, 273C and 275C.
My latest visit to Rufford, was my best of the winter so far, with 12 of "our" green-ringed birds seen, along with Lithuanian-ringed P519 (ringed in April 2010, as an adult) and a well known EL87245 (ringed at Center Parcs in January 2013.
Most of the ringed birds had been seen before, but three; 245C ( aged 3, born this year), 262C (also born in 2023) and 264C (an adult bird), were my first sightings since being ringed, at Center Parcs, earlier this winter.
In addition, 215C (ringed, as an adult in January 2023), was my first sighting since March 12th 2023. Welcome back for another winter.
I had an hour at Rufford yesterday. It was 12 degrees and overcast and there were c.200 gulls present.
In the hour, I saw 14 of "our" green-ringed gulls, including 254B, which I ringed, at Center Parcs, on 22nd October 2022, as an adult bird. My sighting was the first since then.
Other gulls seen were: 246A, 258A, 281A, 293A, 295A, 296A, 249B, 255B, 276B, 280B, 293B, 202C and 215C.
In addition Danish-ringed V77K, Norwegian-ringed Common Gull JN075 and metal-ringed Black-headed Gull, EL87245 were also seen.
Several of the gulls were starting to get their breeding plumage, including 293B.
Following on from the walk around Linacre, I had my first visit of the year to Rufford Country Park on Sunday. The number of Black-headed Gulls had increased to c.200 and, during the couple of hours there I spotted 10 green darvic-ringed Gulls (206A -my first sighting since December 2021), 246A - the first gull I ringed, back in December 2019, 295A - my first sighting since February 2022, 249B - last seen in November 2022, 255B - last seen on 10th December 2022, 276B - 5th sighting since being ringed in November 2022), 283B -1st sighting, ringed on 19th November 2022, 293B -1st sighting , ringed on 10th December 2022, 202C - 1st sighting, ringed on 22nd December 2022 and 207C - second sighting, ringed on 22nd December.
33) Sparrowhawk 34) Kestrel 35) Canada Goose 36) Greylag Goose 37) Common Gull 38) Herring Gull 39) Mute Swan
Last Sunday, 4th December, I had a quick, 1 hour, visit to Rufford. In the short time I was there, I spotted EL87245, EUM3, 271A, V77K (my first sighting this winter of this Danish-ringed bird) and a new Finnish metal-ringed bird, ST315.116 (ringing details to follow). Two other Finnish metal-ringed birds were also seen, but I couldn't get the full sequences.
After the last few days' icy weather, I arrived at Rufford for today's visit (12.40pm - 15.10pm) to find the main lake with 95% ice cover. This meant that the gulls' legs were on show, as they perched on the ice. In total, there were approximately 2-300 Black-headed Gulls, 70(!) Common Gulls and 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls present, all bathing in the small piece of open water.
Ringed birds seen were: 246A, 284A, 293A, 294A, 297A, 255B, 272B (my first sighting since being ringed on 12th November 2022 at Center Parcs), 276B, 278B (also my first sighting since ringing on 12th November 2022 at Center Parcs), V77K, EUM3, P519, EL87245 and last week's Finnish bird ST315.116.
After a morning session of gull ringing at Center Parcs on Saturday (6 new Black-headed Gulls ringed, numbers 280B - 285B), I was back down at Rufford on Sunday for a couple of hours to see who I could see.
In the two hours, I saw a total of 13 ringed birds (from c.300 Black-headed and 4 Common Gulls), 9 darviced Black-headed Gulls (246A, 293A, 296A, 249B, 255B, 271B - new for me, 276B - new for me, EUM3and P519), 1 darviced Common Gull (JN075 - first seen in January 2022) and 3 metal-ringed Black-headed Gulls.( EL87245 (regular wintering bird, EY30536 - a bird first ringed in March 2013, just 21km away at Daneshill Landfill Site, and my second sighting, after one in Clumber in December 2020; and a new one with a ring above the "knee" on the right leg. Unfortunately, I could only get a few digits 3.876, so no chance of finding out where it was ringed - yet!).
Gull numbers had increased since my last to Rufford a couple of weeks ago, and there were approximately 100 Black-headed Gulls and 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull present.
4 ringed birds were seen: 246A, 258A, 281A and 293A. All birds had been seen at Rufford in previous winters (click on the labels for details).
After yesterday's trip to see the Greater Sand Plover, I popped into Rufford CP to see which Black-headed Gulls were around. I was there for just over an hour and saw c.50 Black-headed Gulls, including 4 green-ringed gulls: 246A, 258A, 293A and 297A. I was particularly pleased to see 246A, as this was the first ever Black-headed Gull that I ringed, back in December 2019 (see here). It was aged as a 3, meaning it was born in 2019, so it's now into its 3rd year. It was reported at Rufford, and nearby Center Parcs, throughout the winters of 2020 and 2021. This sighting is the first of this winter. There haven't been any reports of it during the summer months, so we don't know, yet, where it breeds.
I've recently had a couple of trips across to Rufford Country Park to check on the wintering Black-headed Gulls.
During last week's trip, on the 30th October, there were c.200 Black-headed Gulls, 6 Common Gulls and 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, along with six darvic-ringed gulls present, namely 206A, 217A, 246A, 255A, 258A, EUM3 (Dutch bird) and P519 (Lithuanian bird - first sighting this winter). Click on the labels to see details of the birds' histories.
In addition there were 6 Mute Swans, including W17328, a bird ringed just 2km away on 5th October 2012, as a 3, born that year. I also had a new Canada Goose, 5270929, which had originally been ringed at Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire on 12th May 2016, as an adult. A distance of 21km and 1997 days since ringing. This was the first record since then!
It was much quieter on today's visit, with c.100 Black-headed Gulls , 1 Common Gull and 1 Lesser Black-backed Gulls present. Ringed gulls seen were: 258A, EUM3 and JO116. The last bird was a returning bird, first seen here in October 2021 as a 1st winter bird (see here), that had been ringed, as a pullus, in Norway in 2020.
Despite the rain and strong winds, I popped across to Rufford on Saturday, and I'm very glad I did! Not only did I spot 8 darvic ringed gulls (my highest ever in one session), but, more importantly, I managed to read the metal ring of the new gull, JO116, and confirm that it is a Norwegian-ringed bird. It's a first winter bird, so will have been ringed as a pullus this summer. Exact details will be added as and when I get them back.
Following on from yesterday's "Gull Tour" around Derbyshire, today I did the same around Rufford CP and Clumber Park in Nottinghamshire.
My first stop was Rufford, where, despite horizontal rain (!) and a chilly wind, I managed to see 5 darviced Black-headed Gulls, including two which were new to me. The familiar birds were 217A, 246A and P519 (click on the bird's labels for details of these birds).
The 2 new birds were 258A and a 1st winter bird (born this year) with the ring number JO116. 258A is one of "our" birds, ringed by Sorby Breck and Birklands Ringing Group, at the start of 2020 (full details to come), but I couldn't find the project for JO116, on the colour ringing website. I'm pretty sure it is a Norwegian bird. Details have been sent off, so I'll update as soon as I hear back.
It's been a couple of weeks since I was last down at Rufford, so I popped across this morning for a couple of hours. It was still quite quiet, with about 50 Black-headed Gulls present, along with a single juvenile/1st winter Lesser Black-backed Gull, and 6 Mute Swans.
As before, the the majority of gulls were young, unringed birds, but I did spot one wearing a ring, 246A. This is a bird that I ringed (my first ever), on 21st December 2019, at Center Parcs, about 2km away ( click on the label 246A for details). It was a 1st winter bird when ringed. I saw this bird twice last winter, once at Rufford on 19th February 2020, and then again at Clumber Park on 22nd February.
