Welcome to my blog all about my birdwatching, wild bird ringing activities and moth recording at Linacre Reservoirs, Derbyshire; in Great Britain and abroad.
My latest visit to Rufford was on 2nd March, when I had an hour, and spotted 14 Black-headed Gulls, including new birds; 2V03 (ringed on 18th January, as a 5, born last year), 218F (ringed by me, as a 1st winter bird, on 12th October 2024) and J3018 ( a new Norwegian-ringed bird, that was ringed, as a free-flying juvenile, in Oslo, on 5th August 2024).
It's getting towards the end of the winter season now, and the Black-headed Gulls that over winter here will soon be setting off back to their breeding grounds. With this in mind, I had a visit to Rufford to see if I could record some rings, before they leave.
I was there for just over an hour, and, although there were only about 70 gulls left, I managed to record 9 green-ringed birds: 258A (31st sighting), 295A (15th sighting), 251B (ringed by me in October 2022, my 3rd sighting, and my first since November 2023), 254B (also ringed by me, in October 2022, and my 6th sighting), 215C (9th sighting), 258C (7th sighting), 267C (1st re-sighting since being ringed on 31st December 2023), 270C (3rd sighting) and 273C (5th re-sighting).
Last Sunday, I was across at Rufford for a couple of hours, in 12 degree heat! There were still good numbers of gulls around, including c.250 Black-headed Gulls, 17 Lesser Black-backed Gulls and 20 Common Gulls.
As always, the gulls were hungry, which allowed me to read 15 green rings (206A, 258A, 259A, 295A, 254B, 202C, 207C, 245C, 258C, 264C, 270C, 273C, 288C, 290C and 200F), and the Lithuanian-ringed bird, P519.
Most of these gulls are regulars, but there were a few more noteworthy ones. 206A, for example, was ringed in December 2018, as an adult. Last week's sighting was my first since March 2023.
Likewise, 254B was one of the first gulls I ringed, as an adult, in October 2022, and this is just my fifth re-sighting since. Four other gulls were seen for their first time since ringing:270C, 288C, 290C and 200F.
Other birds seen included 21 Goosander (13 females and 8 males), 19 Canada Geese, 6 Greylag Geese and 2 Mute Swans (Broken Beak and an unringed female).
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.
I had my first visit of 2024 to Rufford on Sunday. There weren't a lot of Black-headed Gulls around (c.150), but I did see 13 of "our" green-ringed birds along with the Lithuanian-ringed bird, P519 and the British metal-ringed bird, EL87245.
Birds seen were: 258A, 273A, 295A, 254B (ringed by me on 22nd October 2022 and my first sighting since October 2023), 272B, 280B (ringed by me on 19th November 2022, and my 4th sighting this winter), 202C, 207C, 215C, 258C, 264C, 268C (ringed by me, as a 3, born in 2023, on 31st December 2023, as an adult, age 4) and 273C (ringed on 6th January 2024).
268C and 273C were the first sightings since being ringed.
As well as the gulls, I also spotted a very impressive 43 Goosander (27 female and 16 males).
In a couple of hours at Rufford this afternoon ( in 21 degree heat!!) I had my highest number of Black-headed Gulls this season - with 62 present.
2 ringed birds were present: 293A and 254B. Today's sighting of 293A was my 22nd at Rufford, and it looks like it's settled in 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.
