Clumber and Rufford - 12th March 2023

 On Sunday, I spent an hour at Clumber and an hour at Rufford, checking the Black-headed Gulls.

Although there were several hundreds gulls at Clumber (mostly Black-headed, but also Common and Herring) I only managed to spot one ringed bird, 208B. As it turned out, this bird was a new one for me, and this sighting was the first since being ringed, at Center Parcs, on 15th January 2022, as an adult bird. As you can see, it's in full breeding plumage, and looking very smart!

208B

Rufford was quieter, with just 100ish Black-headed Gulls around, but I did manage to see 12 green-ringed birds; 206A, 279A, 284A, 295A, 202B, 255B, 276B, 293B, 202C, 207C, 209C, 214C and 215C and a familiar metal-ringed bird EL87245. 

In addition to 208B, I also had 2 other new birds: 209C and 214C. 209C had been ringed at Center Parcs on 22nd December 2022, as a 3, born in 2022.

209C

214C, also a 1st winter bird, born in 2022, had also been ringed at Center Parcs, on 28th December 2022. 

214C

Rufford Gulls 4th and 10th December 2022

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.

Welcome back V77K

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.

272B

278B

Welcome back EUM3 and P519

I had a couple of hours at Rufford yesterday (11.30 - 13.30) and was very pleased to welcome back two well-known Black-headed Gulls, EUM3 (Dutch bird) and P519 (Lithuanian bird). I was particularly pleased to see EUM3, as this bird is normally seen from August onwards, and I was beginning to worry that it had become a victim of this summer's avian flu epidemic. Thankfully, I was wrong!

EUM3

P519

In addition to these birds, I also spotted 273A (3rd sighting), 284A (4th sighting), 296A (my first sighting at Rufford, since ringing last winter at Center Parcs), 249B (the first sighting since being ringed at Center Parcs on 10th October 2022), S20B (a Croatian bird, first seen in December 2021) and ST301.091 (a Finnish bird - my first record at Rufford).

249B

S20B

ST301.091

UPDATE: The Finnish gull, ST301.091, was ringed, as a chick, on 16th June 2016, 1590km away!

Rufford Gulls

 I've had a couple of visits to Rufford recently, on the 12th March and today.

The visit on 12th had just 50 Black-headed Gulls, but did include several colour-ringed birds, namely 258A, 277A, 284A, 294A and 202B.

Today's visit was much quieter with just 20 Black-headed Gulls present and just JO116 ( a Norwegian-ringed bird) seen.

Rufford Gulls - 12th and 23rd December 2021

Here are the details of my last two visits to Rufford CP, including some old favourites, and a brand new Black-headed Gull.

First up, the visit on the 12th that included the following gull: 206A, 217A, 258A, 273A, 282A, 293A, EL87245, P519, EUM3 and V77K. All known birds, except 282A and 293A, which had been ringed at Center Parcs the week before.

Yesterday's visit, on the 23rd, saw the following birds reported: 217A, 258A, 281A, 284A, 293A, 299A, V77K, EUM3, P519, JO116, EL87245 and S20B. Again, many familiar birds, with the exception of 281A, 284A and 299A (all ringed this winter at Center Parcs), and S20B. Looking on the internet, this bird appears to have been ringed in Zagreb, Croatia, on 2nd February 2012. If confirmed, this will be my first record of a bird from this country, and only the second record of this bird since ringing! The only other record was in Austria in February 2012, shortly after having been ringed.

S20B