Soggy Rufford!!

 I didn't go to Rufford last weekend, because of the heavy rain, so I really wanted to get back across today. I went, and ironically, it was pouring with rain!! There were only 40 Black-headed Gulls today (presumably the others were still out on the fields enjoying the rain!), but I did manage to see 5 darviced birds.

The darviced birds were: 206A, 258A, 297A, 207C and 245C. The first birds are regulars, but for 245C, it was the first sighting since 4th February 2024, and only my 5th re-sighting since it was ringed in October 2023. See here for a picture of the same bird, back in December 2023.

245C

206A and 245C

Broken Beak (a male Mute Swan) was still present today, along with his mate and 3 cygnets, as were 25 Canada Geese, 1 Greylag Goose, 1 Grey Wagtail, c20 Mallards and a singing Chiffchaff.

Broken Beak and family

Rufford Gulls - 3rd September 2024

 Last Tuesday was the last day of the summer holidays, so I popped to Rufford to get my first September visit to the Black-headed Gulls. I recorded 7 of "our" gulls and a new Lithuanian-ringed bird, a juvenile.

Our gulls were: 258A (my 35th sighting), 293A (my 31st sighting), 297A (my 11th sighting), 283B (my 4th sighting),  205C (my 2nd sighting), 207C (my 18th sighting) and 258C (my 11th sighting).

The Lithuanian-ringed gull, a juvenile with the metal ring HA60.507, was hanging around with the other gulls. I sent off the record, but, unfortunately, it hasn't been registered with the Lithuanian Ringing Scheme yet, so I'll have to wait a bit longer to find out where and when it was ringed! Until then, here is a photo.

HA60.507

Other birds seen were: 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull (1st summer/2nd year?), c30 Canada Geese, 4 Greylag Geese, Mallard, Tufted Duck, a Kingfisher (my first record here) and a very interesting-looking hybrid goose.

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Hybrid goose

UPDATE: The Lithuanian gull was ringed, as a pullus, 1,766km away (in Lithuania!) on 13th June 2024, 82 days before being spotted at Rufford.

Juvenile Mediterranean Gull at Rufford!

 Last Friday (9th), I drove across to Rufford to see how many Black-headed Gulls had arrived back from their breeding grounds for the winter. I was very pleasantly surprised to find c150 birds, including 20/30 juveniles, and, best of all a juvenile Mediterranean Gull!!!! This is my first ever Med Gull, at Rufford, so I was very, very happy to pick it up, amongst the other gulls.

Mediterranean Gull

In amongst the other Black-headed Gulls, I was able to locate 8 of "our" ringed gulls: 206A, 258A, 273A, 293A, 297A, 283B, 207C and 258C. A great start to the new season!

Rufford Gulls - 20th January 2024

 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.

273A and 280B

275C

Rufford - 2nd December 2023

 After my walk around Linacre last week, I had a quick (1 hour) visit to Rufford to see which gulls I could pick up. I only lasted one hour as it was 2 degrees, and half the lake was frozen over.

As I arrived I could see there were approximately 200 Black-headed Gulls present, along with 5 Common Gulls, 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull and 1 Herring Gull. Other birds seen were 2 Mute Swans (Broken Beak and a female), Tufted Duck, Mallards, and, most amazingly a fly-over Great White Egret - a new species for me at this site!

The ringed gulls seen were: 258A (3rd sighting this winter), 293A (8th sighting this winter), 295A (1st sighting since 12th March 2023), 297A (2nd sighting this winter), 280B (2nd sighting this winter) and 258C (my first sighting, since it was ringed, as a 1st winter bird - born this year - at Center Parcs on 1st December 2023).

295A

285C

Rufford Gulls - 29th August 2023

 I popped over to Rufford for an hour this afternoon. There were about 50 Black-headed Gulls (10 juveniles), 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls (3 juveniles), c70 Canada Geese and 4 Greylag Geese.

Four of the Black-headed Gulls were "our" green darviced birds: 258A, 293A, 297A and 207C. All are known birds. Click on the labels for details of ringing.

258A

293A

297A

207C

There was just one metal-ringed Canada Goose: 5230424. Again, this is a known bird, having been ringed at nearby Center Parcs (3km away), as a 3 (a bird born in that year), in 2013. I've reported it twice before, in November and December 2020, both times at Rufford.

Canada Goose 5230424

Rufford Gulls - 7th January 2023

 Yesterday saw my second visit of the year to Rufford CP to check on the overwintering Black-headed Gulls. It was 12 degrees and still, with just 70ish gulls present. No other species of gull were present, but I did spot 14 Goosander ( 10 males and 4 females).

Gulls seen were: EUM3, V77K, P519, 293A, 294A, 295A, 297A, 249B, 272B, 276B, 280B, 293B, 205C, 207C and 215C. (Click on the labels to see details of these birds).

Of the 15 ringed birds seen, three were new for me: 280B, an adult bird ringed on 19th November 2022 at Center Parcs, 205C, a first winter bird (born in 2022) and ringed on 22nd December 2022 at Center Parcs, and 215C, an adult bird, first ringed, at Center Parcs, on 5th January 2023.

280B

205C

215C

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

Rufford Gulls - 30th August 2022

 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.

246A

The other gulls seen were also ringed at Center Parcs (approximately 2km away) and have been reported regularly there and at Rufford during the following winters. Again, no summer records....yet!

258A

293A

297A

Clumber and Rufford - 24th February 2022

On Thursday, in between the wind and snow showers (!), I had a walk around Clumber and Rufford looking for Black-headed Gulls.

Clumber had approximately 400 gulls, but, unfortunately, only about 50 or so were interested in my food offerings. Of these bird, only one had a darvic ring, number 295A. This is one of the Center Parcs birds, and this sighting was my first away from Rufford. There were two metal-ringed birds, but I only managed to get one number, VAO171, a Danish bird, that I've seen several times before. It was originally ringed  in June 2015. 

The Mute Swans at Clumber were very friendly, and I managed to read a few rings; Y204, Y677, Y358, 929Y and W47133. Y204 was ringed in Pontefract Park in August 2019 and was first seen at Clumber in November 2020. Y677 was ringed on 14th October 2020, as a 3, a bird born in that year. Y358 had been ringed on 6th September 2019, just 13km away, and had been seen at Clumber since August 2021. 929Y was ringed in August 2018, and had been seen at Clumber in August 2021. W47133 had also been ringed in August 2018, as a 5, born in 2017. I recorded this bird at Clumber in August 2021.

When I arrived at Rufford, one of the first gulls I saw was.... 295A!! Other ringed birds seen were: 258A, 293A, 294A, 295A, 297A, JO116 and V77K.

Rufford - 21st February 2022

 After the wet and very windy weekend I went down to Rufford yesterday afternoon. There were about 100 Black-headed Gulls (and 1 Common Gull).

Ringed birds seen were: 281A, 289A, 293A, 294A, 295A, 297A, 207B and JO116 (Norwegian bird). In addition, there were 12 Mute Swans (9 adults, including W17328, and 3 juveniles - born last year). 

289A and 207B were new birds. 289A was originally ringed on 8th December 2021, at Center Parcs, 2km away, whilst 207B was ringed at the same site on 8th January 2022. Both birds had been born in 2021, and yesterday's sightings were the first since ringing.

289A

207B

In addition to these sightings, news came through last week of Black-headed Gull 237A. This bird was ringed at Center Parcs on 20th November 2019, as a 1st winter bird, born in 2019. It was a regularly seen bird during the winters of 2019 and 2020, with the last UK sighting in January 2021. Last week's news was a report from may 2021, when it was seen, over 2000km away, in Novgorod, Russia!

Rufford Gulls - 6th January 2022

After a short visit to Rufford on Wednesday, I decided to go back again yesterday. It had been very cold overnight, and more than half of the lake was covered in ice - always a good sign when checking gulls' legs!!

As soon as I got there, I could see that there were 400+ gulls out on the ice! The vast majority were Black-headed Gulls, with a minimum of 10 Common Gulls, 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls and 1 Herring Gull. Over the course of 3 hours, I managed to spot 12 darvic-ringed Black-headed Gulls (217A, 258A, 273A, 279A, 281A, 293A, 295A, 297A, J0116, EUM3, P519 and V77K), 1 metal ringed Black-headed Gull (EL87245- a well known bird) and a new darvic ringed Common Gull (JN075 - an adult bird, ringed on 12th August 2020, near Oslo, Norway).

JN075

Of the 12 darviced birds, just 3 were new ones, I'd not seen before (279A, 295A and 297A). All are birds ringed at Center Parcs this winter.

279A

295A

297A

In addition, there were 13 Mute Swans ( 9 adults and 4 juveniles, born last year), including a 1 metal ringed bird (W17357 - a bird that had been ringed on 10th February 2016, as a 5 i.e. born in 2015) and a darvic-ringed bird (CPF3/W48296 - another new bird, originally ringed as a 3 male, i.e. born that year, in Cheshire, on 16th November 2019).

CPF3