Rufford - 3rd January 2026

Back at the start of the year, when we'd had a couple of days of very cold weather, I went across to Rufford, for my first visit of the year. I love going when there is a lot of ice (c.80%), as this means many of the ringed gulls are sat on the ice, and therefore, their rings can be more easily read. as a result, on my first visit of the year, I saw 28 ringed birds!

The birds seen were: 206A (3rd sighting this winter), 258A (7th sighting this winter) , 273A (4th sighting this winter), 284A (2nd sighting this winter ), 208B (3rd sighting this winter), 272B (3rd sighting this winter), 274B (my 1st sighting since ringing in November 2022), 280B (3rd sighting this winter ), 293B (1st sighting since November 2024), 202C (5th sighting this winter), 207C (12th sighting this winter), 209C (1st sighting since March 2023), 215C (2nd sighting this winter), 258C (9th sighting this winter ), 273C (4th sighting this winter), 298C (5th sighting this winter), 207F (1st sighting this winter), 221F (7th sighting this winter), 222F (1st sighting since ringing on 2nd November 2024), 230F (1st sighting since March 2025), 2V05 (2nd sighting this winter), 2V16 (5th sighting this winter), 200H (3rd sighting this winter), 208H (2nd sighting this winter ), 209H (1st sighting this winter), 225H (3rd sighting this winter), 230H (1st sighting since ringing in Dec 2025) and 233H (1st sighting since ringing in Dec 2025).

274B

293B

209C

In addition to these birds, I also spotted a Swedish metal-ringed bird. Annoyingly, I only managed to see six of the seven numbers (_449368!!!)

Rufford - 29th October 2025

 On Wednesday 29th, I popped across to The Carrs, at Church Warsop, to see if there were any ringed gulls around. I saw 2 new birds. Afterwards, I went across to Rufford, and spotted another 20 (!) ringed gulls, including P519, the Lithuanian-ringed bird, that I first saw in January 2019.

The two birds seen at The Carrs were 277C (ringed in January 2024, as an age 5, born in 2023) and 201F  (ringed in February 2024, also as an age 5).

277C

Arriving at Rufford, there were about 250 Black-headed Gulls, including a lot of birds not seen before, or not seen this winter. The highlight for me was P519, back for, at least, its 8th winter.

P519

Other birds seen were: 285A, 295A (1st sighting this winter), 269B (1st Rufford sighting), 202C (1st sighting this winter), 207C, 258C, 270C (1st sighting this winter), 273C (1st sighting this winter), 214F, 221F, 223F (1st sighting this winter), 234F, 239F, 259F (a 1st winter bird, ringed on 18/10/25), 261F (1st sighting since December 2024), 262F, 287F (my first sighting), 2V05 (1st sighting since January 25), 2V10 and 2V16.

269B

259F

287F

Other birds seen were: Kingfisher (1), Common Gull (1), Lesser Black-backed Gull (2 adults), Mute Swan (4 unringed adults) and the first Goosander of the winter (10 birds; 8 redheads and 2 males).

Common Gull

Rufford - 18th January 2025

 Yesterday morning, I had a couple of hours at Rufford, before grandparenting duties took over. Whilst there, I managed to add 3 new Year Ticks, as well as spending some time checking the gulls.

I arrived on site at 8am, and parked up in the main car park. Within about 10 minutes, 4 Hawfinch (112) flew into the trees and posed beautifully. Unfortunately, the light was terrible, but I still managed a decent enough record shot.

Hawfinch

I then set off around the lake, where I added Stock Dove (113) and Marsh Tit (114) to this year's list. The Marsh Tit (s) were seen around the feeding station, and I managed to get a shot, showing the distinctive  white spot, on the lower mandible.

Marsh Tit

Carrying on to my usual spot, by the main lake, I was surprised to see c.100 Black-headed Gulls hanging around, waiting for breakfast, along with 6 Lesser Black-backs and a couple of Common Gulls. The Group ran out of green darvic rings a few weeks ago, so yellow ones have been used. Two of these birds were spotted: 2V00 and 2V05.

2V00

2V05

Other ringed birds were: 293A, 280B, 207C, 258C, 264C, 273C, 207F, 219F, 221F, 234F and 276F.

3 Mute Swans (Broken Beak, his partner and 1 juvenile), Kingfisher (heard), Siskins and 10 Goosander (7 males and 3 females), were also  recorded.