Rufford Gulls - 12th August 2026

 Yesterday, on the way back from Blacktoft Sands, Jayne and I had a quick, half an hour stop, at Rufford. It was very sunny and 32 degrees, so we didn't hang around too long. There were c.70 gulls present, and we managed to see 6 "darviced" Black-headed Gulls, 3 of which were new for the season.

The three "new" gulls were: 273C,(last seen on 17th February 2026), 225H (last seen on 8th March 2026) and 2V16 (last seen on 17th January 2026).

273C (born in 2023)

225H (ringed in December 2025, as an adult)

2V16 (ringed in February 2025, as an adult)

The other gulls seen were: 258A, 273A and 255F. These sightings were the second of the season. 

Other birds recorded were: Kingfisher (1 heard), Mute Swan (5 birds) and Greylag and Canada Geese.

Rufford - 18th July 2026

 I had a few hours free this afternoon, so I had my second visit of the "autumn" to Rufford CP. The number of Black-headed Gulls had increased to c.25, and I managed to see 3 ringed gulls.

The 3 birds seen were: 200H (2nd sighting this winter), 206A (1st sighting since 3rd January 2026) and 207C (1st sighting since 17th February). 

200H (losing the brown hood)

206A (full hood)

207C (fullish hood)

Other birds seen were: c45 Greylag Geese, c20 Canada Geese, Kingfisher (1 heard), 4 House Martins and 7 Mute Swans ( all un ringed, and looked like last year's birds).

It was quite overcast, so only managed to see 1 male Blue-tailed Damselfly (my first here) and 1 Red Admiral.

And they're back..!!

 I was down at Linacre this morning to carry out the first nestbox check of 2026. It was a mixed bag, as always, with 7 nests with eggs in them, many empty nestboxes, and a few "dead" boxes. Some of the empty boxes had the beginnings of nests, so there should be more to come over the next few weeks. The results, as always, will be sent off the BTO's Nest Record Scheme. Whilst there, I also had the first records for 3 new species of summer migrant.

In total, four nests were either Blue or Great Tits, and the other three were Mandarin Duck nests. None of the tit nests had a full clutch, and none were incubating yet. The Mandarin nests ranged from 4 eggs to 16+!!

As well as the birds, we also found a couple of wasps, and, a first for the site, two Wood Mice, together in one box!

Wood Mice

Other birds also recorded were: Chiffchaff (7), Willow Warbler (3), Blackcap (3), Swallow (20+), House Martin (1 with the Swallows, Year Tick 128), Sand Martin (also 1 with the Swallows - the first site record since 2024), Raven (1 over), Greylag Goose (2  flying along the valley), Canada Goose (heard, first thing), 1 Pied Wagtail, 2 Cormorant and 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls. Siskins were also heard, but not seen.

Rufford Gulls - 20th August 2025

 After a couple of weeks away, I had a 2 hour visit to Rufford yesterday afternoon. There were approximately 75 Black-headed Gulls present (c.20 juveniles) and 6 of "own" ringed gulls.

The Black-headed Gulls seen were: 283B (ringed in November 2022, as an adult, and last seen on 4th September 2024), 

283B

207C (3rd sighting this "autumn/winter"), 

207C

245C (ringed in October 2023, and the first sighting since January 2025), 

245C

258C (3rd sighting this "autumn/winter), 

258C

2V03 (ringed in January 2025, and the first sighting since March 2025) and 2V16 (ringed in February 2025, as an adult, and the first sighting since 8th February 2025).

2V03

2V16

Other birds seen were: c.100 Canada Geese, including 1 ringed bird; 5230434., 4 Greylag Geese and  2 adult, unringed Mute Swans. 

Year List Update

 Yesterday, I added a few more birds to the Year List. The first four were all at Rufford CP, yesterday, and included my first site record of Raven. The final addition, Greenfinch, was seen in the garden today.

The additions are: Canada Goose (92), Lesser Black-backed Gull (93), Raven (94), Goosander (95) and Greenfinch (96). 

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

Cumbrian Gulls (and Geese) - 23rd and 24th August 2023

 Jayne and I had a few days up in the Lake District last week. We stayed in Keswick and visited Derwent Water and Bowness-on-Windermere.

The first darvic-ringed Canada Geese we saw were 3 on Derwent Water (FAPF, FAPZ and FAPK) We also had 1 darvic-ringed Greylag Goose (ZD4) here and 2 darvic-ringed Black-headed Gulls (2X88 and 2B35).

Greylag Goose

2X88

We visited Bowness-on-Windermere, where we spotted a further 5 Canada Geese (FATA, FATB, FANP, FAHZ and AAZZ) and 4 darvic-ringed Black-headed Gulls (212H, 2L78, 2N42 and 2Y90). 

All the Canada Geese and Black-headed Gulls had been ringed in the area by the Waterbird Colour Marking Group and had been recorded locally. 2Y90, however, was particularly interesting, as it had originally been ringed, as a pullus, in Klaipeda, Lithuania on 22nd June 2019, and the darvic had been added, in Bowness, on 2nd January 2021, presumably as a winter visitor. Interestingly, Klaipeda is the site where a Rufford regular, P519, was also ringed.

2Y90

Attenborough Nature Reserve - 4th January 2022

On Tuesday, my nephew and I went down to Attenborough Nature Reserve. We had a walk around the reserve and added a few more species to the Year List.

The main species we were after was Caspian Gull, and we managed to spot an adult bird from Tower Hide. We also had a darvic- ringed Lesser Black-backed Gull, ND30. I'll add the details when I hear back from the scheme. Other new birds seen were numbers 68 - 82. Numbers 63 - 66 were seen in Alnmouth on 3rd, excluding the Red Kite, that was seen over the M1 around Leeds on the journey home.

After Attenborough, we drove across to Clifton Pastures, where Luke saw a Hen Harrier (I didn't!). We also added numbers 83 and 84 there. 

Our final stop was Alvaston Park, where we had a quick, half an hour, check of the gulls. We spotted Danish ringed Black-headed Gull, VA4073, Canada Goose U48 and a Mute Swan with ring number 862Y. This swan was ringed at Cusworth Hall, Doncaster, on 10th August 2018 as a bird born that year (3). Luke saw her at Attenborough NR on 25th January 2020, and a friend of his saw her at Alvaston Park on 7th November 2020. Our final "tick" of the day was number 85, Ring-necked Parakeet, with 3 birds seen.

U48

862Y (Attenborough, January 2020)

Year List update:

63 - Wren

64 - Jay

65 - Coot

66 - Red Kite

67 - Greenfinch

68 - Canada Goose

69 - Greylag Goose

70 - Egyptian Goose

71 - Goosander

72 - Gadwall

73 - Tufted Duck

74 - Cetti's Warbler

75 - Caspian Gull

76 - Lesser Black-backed Gull

77 - Reed Bunting

78 - Song Thrush

79 - Fieldfare

80 - Water Rail (heard)

81 - Moorhen

82 - Long-tailed Tit

83 - Linnet

84 - Kestrel

85 - Ring-necked Parakeet

Linacre Ringing and Nest Recording

 This weekend I've had two visits to Linacre, once for the first ringing session there since September 2020, and once for the first nest box check of the year (not including the owl boxes - see here).

The ringing session, with 4 members of Sorby Breck Ringing Group, and one of the Linacre volunteer rangers, took place yesterday, from 06.15 - 09.30. In total we ringed 21 birds of 9 species. Totals were (new/retrap): Blue Tit 3/2, Great Tit 4/1, Coal Tit 2/0, Robin 3/0, Chiffchaff 1/0, Blackcap 0/1, Dunnock 1/1, Chaffinch 1/0 and Goldcrest 1/0. All the retraps were Linacre-ringed birds. The 2 Blue Tits had been ringed in June 2019 and March 2020 (just before lockdown). The Great Tit was ringed in July 2018, the Dunnock in December 2018, but, best of all, was the male Blackcap, originally ringed as an adult, in July 2016! I also found out yesterday, that a Blue Tit we originally ringed at Linacre on 16th July 2016 had been found dead (killed by a cat), 7km away, on 28th April 2020. This is the longest recovery (distance) we've had, so far.

This morning's visit was to check the nest boxes. In total there were 30 boxes in use, ranging from N1 (a nest just being started) through to sitting birds. All the boxes appeared to be tit nests, except for one Wren nest. The highlight, however, of the morning was the discovery of the year's first singing Pied Flycatcher. It was in the vicinity of a nest box, so I'm keeping everything crossed for another successful breeding season (1 successful box last year, fledged 7 young). It's still quite early in the season too, so hopefully, there could be some more birds to arrive. A female Mallard was also disturbed from a nest, 1m away from a nest box, revealing a nest with 6 eggs. As always, the results of the nests will be recorded for the BTO's Nest Record Scheme. 

Mallard nest

Whilst on site this morning, I also recorded Green Woodpecker (heard), a Mallard with 13 ducklings (the first 2021 record), Willow Warbler (1 heard by the top reservoir), Reed Bunting (one male heard singing in willows by the boardwalk), Skylark (1 singing over fields by the top reservoir), Curlew (1 heard, but not seen, from the top reservoir - my first record here since 2018) and Canada Goose (6 - my highest count of the year). The Moorhen nest on the top reservoir was empty, but no young were seen.

Sunshine and (Snow) Showers

Today was this month's WeBS walk at Linacre. I had a wander round and recorded the following birds: Mallard (45), Mandarin (24), Coot (5), Moorhen (8), Great-crested Grebe (2), Tufted Duck (69),  Canada Goose (1), Lesser Black-backed Gull (2 adults), Goosander (1 female), Pied Wagtail (1) and Grey Wagtail (5). The Grey Wagtails were singing and displaying, and I managed to get this interesting photo.

Grey Wagtails

In addition to these species there were also c.30 Swallows, 2 House Martins and 1 Sand Martin (feeding together over the top reservoir in a snow/hail shower!!) and 4 Buzzards. The best birds, however, were 3 Reed Buntings (2 males and 1 female) that I found feeding in and around the willows by the boardwalk on the top reservoir. This is only my third record of this species at Linacre (1 male ringed in 2013 and 1 male singing in the ringing site in 2019), so you can imagine how pleased I was to see them! Unfortunately, they didn't want their photos taking, and this awful picture, is the best I got!!

Reed Bunting (male)

The last bird of note was seen on Friday 9th, and was the first Common Sandpiper of the year. I usually only get 1 sighting of this species each year, as they pass through to their breeding grounds, so I was very pleased to catch up with this bird. It fed on the wall of the middle dam, and again, this is my best photo.

Common Sandpiper

Linacre Reservoir - 27th February 2021

 It was a bright, sunny and calm morning this morning, with a temperature of just 1 degree at 7am, as I arrived at Linacre. I spent 2 hours walking around all three reservoirs, by which time the temperature had risen to 5 degrees.

The first birds seen were a flock of at least 30 Redwing (first Linacre record of 2021) feeding in the fields by the main entrance. The woods were alive with bird song, including 2 Mistle Thrushes, 1 Song Thrush, Nuthatch, Green Woodpecker and 2 drumming Great-spotted Woodpecker. No Lesser-spotted Woodpecker or Chiffchaff, despite much searching and listening!

Out on the water, waterfowl numbers were still pretty good, with 111 Tufted Duck, 106 Mallard, 79 Mandarin Duck, 4 Canada Geese, 4 Great-crested Grebe, 4 Little Grebe, 3 Goosander (1m and 2fm), 32 Black-headed Gull, 14 Coots (excellent count!) and 5 Moorhens.

I did a nestbox check on 17th February. I only checked the tit boxes, as I didn't have the ladders for the owl boxes. Most were okay, after the winter, and 1 contained a Shrew species, most likely a Common Shrew.

Common Shrew?

Rufford and Clumber - 21st December 2020

 On Monday I had a few hours at Rufford and Clumber Park, looking for ringed Black-headed Gulls. In total, I saw 5 known birds and 2 new ones. I also saw a new Canada Goose.

At Rufford, the gulls seen were 217A, 237A, 255A, EUM3 and V77K. 225A, the first new bird, had been ringed at Center Parcs on 25th January 2020. It was seen there again on 26th November 2020, but Monday's sighting was my first and the first record for Rufford.

255A, Rufford CP

The new Canada Goose was ring number 5215987. It had been ringed on 1st January 2003, making it at least 18 years old (born in 2002), but I'll update when I get the age and place of ringing back.

When I arrived at Clumber Park there were about 100 Black-headed Gulls out on the grassed area by the Chapel. Unfortunately, there weren't any darvic rings to be seen, but I did spot a new British-ringed bird, EY30536, which had been ringed 4th March 2013 (location yet to be confirmed), and a Danish-ringed bird, VAO171, which I first saw here on 18th November 2018. It had been ringed 911km away on Hirsholm, on 26th May 2015. 

EY30536

VAO171

The darvic-ringed Mute Swan, Y204, that Jayne and I saw back in November, was also present.

New Black-headed Gull - VA5573

There were about 200 Black-headed Gulls at Rufford CP yesterday, including three well known birds, 217A, 237A and V77K (see labels for details of these birds). The sighting of 237A was the first since March 2020 (see here). In addition, a new, 1st winter bird (born this year) bearing a Danish metal ring, VA5573 was seen. 

Danish-ringed Black-headed Gull VA5573

VA5573

Details received from the Danish Ringing Scheme show that the bird was ringed, as a pullus, 877km away, on Hirsholm, Denmark on 25th May 2020.

In addition to the gulls there were also two metal-ringed Mute Swans, W17370 and W17357. The former bird was also present on my last visit, and had been ringed by Birklands RG, 3km away in September 2014. W17357 had also been ringed by Birklands RG, 3km away. It was ringed, as a age 5 bird (born in 2015), on 10th February 2016.

W17357

The final rings read were 2 Canada Geese (5230424 and 5215963) and 1 Greylag Goose (5230471). All 3 birds had been sighted previously, and had been ringed just 3km away (click on the labels to see ringing details).

Rufford Gulls, Swans and Geese - 28th November 2020

Normally when I go to Rufford CP, it's to catch up with the Black-headed Gulls that over winter there. Yesterday's trip there was for exactly that reason , but I must admit my head was turned a little when I spotted two ringed Egyptian Geese! Not only was this my first record of this species here, but they were also very confiding allowing me to get their metal ring numbers: 1312215 and 1312233. 15 was first seen on 1st January 2004, making it at least 16 years old! 33 was ringed, as a juvenile bird (age 3), in December 2011, making it 9 years old.

Egyptian Goose 1312233

Whilst there, I also manged to spot two metal-ringed Canada Geese (5215963, 5230424). 23 had been ringed in September 2006 as an adult, so is 14+ years old, whilst 24 had been ringed, as a 3, in August 2013, making it 7 years old. 

Canada Goose - 5215963

I also spotted 2 Greylag Geese wearing metal rings: 5230419 and 5230471. 19 was an 8 year old bird, having been ringed in June 2012, as a 3. 71 was ringed in December 2014, as an adult, so is 6+ years old.

The last species wearing a metal ring was a single Mute Swan. This bird had the ring number W17370, and had been ringed 7th September 2014, as a 3, so was 6 years old.

Mute Swan W17370

All of the above birds were ringed by Birklands Ringing Group, either at Pittance Park (part of the Center Parcs complex) or at Rufford itself.

After all the excitement with the geese and swans, I eventually looked at the gulls (!) and spotted 7 darvic-ringed birds: 217A, 240A, 243A, 258A, P519, EUM3 and V77K. These are all well known birds (click on labels for full details), but 243A was the "best" as yesterday's sighting was only the third since being ringed at Center Parcs, 2km away, on 11th December 2019, and the first of the winter.

Black-headed Gull 243A

New Year Gulls - Part 2

As well as visiting Rufford Park last week (see here), I also had a quick visit to Alvaston Park in Derby.

The trip was quite frustrating as, although there were 200+ Black-headed Gulls in and around the lake, I couldn't find any darvic ringed birds in the hour and a half I was there! Thankfully, a well known metal ringed bird, VA4073 ( a Danish-ringed bird, born in May 2018, and seen here in November 2018 and November 2019), came to the rescue.

VA4073

Whilst there, I also saw a couple of darvic ringed Canada Geese. Again, these birds were well known, having been recorded here in February 2019 (see here). The birds had originally been ringed at the University of Nottingham in 2016 and 2017.

U48

2N5

New Year Gulls - Part 1

In the first few days of 2020 I've had a couple of trips to Rufford CP to get my first sightings of darvic ringed Black-headed Gulls for the year. All the darvic-ringed birds were familiar birds, but I did also manage to find, and read, a metal ringed Swedish bird (details sent off), along with some darviced Mute Swans.

I visited Rufford on Thursday 2nd, and spotted 217A, 237A, 247A (all ringed at Center Parcs, 2km away). 247A was ringed just a few weeks ago on 21st Dec 2020 and this was my first sighting at Rufford. Also seen were: V77K (a Danish bird ringed, as a pullus, in June 2015), EUM3 (a Dutch bird ringed, as a pullus, in May 2017) and P519 (a Lithuanian bird ringed, as an adult, in April 2010), along with a new Swedish bird with metal ring number 6456037, and a British metal ringed bird with the number EL87245 (a bird I'd previously seen here in November 2019).

247A

Whilst at Rufford, I also saw 2 darviced Mute Swans, 108Y and 439Y, both birds that I'm sure were ringed by Sorby Breck Ringing Group. This is my first sighting of these birds here. I'll update the blog when I have the ringing details.

108Y and 439Y

My second visit, on 3rd January, had the same gulls as the day before, and a new one, 230A, which is a bird that was ringed at Center Parcs, on 2nd February 2019, as an adult bird, and one that I'd seen a couple of times in September 2019.

230A

UPDATE: The Swedish gull was ringed, as a pullus, 950km away in southern Sweden on 1st June 2019.

Black-headed Gull EA32375 in Bakewell

Yesterday, Luke and I went across to Bakewell to see if we could find any ringed Black-headed Gulls. There were only about 20 gulls there, but we soon spotted one wearing a metal ring. We began to feed it with some bread, and within 20 minutes or so we'd managed to photograph and read the ring number, EA32375. We also spotted London on the ring, showing it was a British-ringed bird. Details were sent off to the BTO, and I'll update the blog when I hear back.

EA32375

Whilst there, we also spotted the colour-ringed Canada Goose AAAH, a female bird, first seen here on 10th February 2018, and again on 15th July 2019, after being ringed in Bowness on Windermere in 2nd July 2013.

AAH

UPDATE: Details from the BTO show that EA32375 was ringed, as a chick, by Merseyside Ringing Group at Shotton, Flintshire on 26th June 2019, a distance of 91km away. Our sighting was the first since ringing.

Black-headed Gulls - Winter begins!!

I went to Bakewell on Saturday to see if there were any Black-headed Gulls back from their breeding grounds. There were about 20 birds present including 3 juvenile birds (born this year) in amongst the returning adults.

Black-headed Gull (juvenile)

One of the adult birds present was wearing a metal BTO ring, and I managed to get a few photos. Unfortunately, I only got 5 of the 7 letters and digits, EW97 _ _ 5 but, on checking my records, I noticed that on 1st September 2018, an adult gull with ring number EW97345 was seen by my nephew, Luke. This bird had been ringed in Boston, Lincolnshire on 9th January 2010. When I checked the photos of this bird I noticed that the ring was on "upside down", as was the bird I saw on Saturday, so I'd say, in all probability, it's the same bird. Of course, the only way to prove this is to get across and see it again. This time with the full number!

EW79 _ _ 5

Whilst there, I also spotted a Canada Goose wearing the darvic ring AAAH. This is also a known bird, having been first seen here on 10th February 2018 (see here). She had been ringed in Bowness on Windermere 2nd July 2013 and has been in Derbyshire since at least  September 2014. When I saw her on Saturday, she was with a partner and several goslings.

Canada Goose AAAH

Linacre Nestboxes - Update 28th April 2019

It's now been 2 weeks since my last check of the nestboxes at Linacre, so I went down this morning with 2 other members of Sorby Breck Ringing Group (thanks Sarah and Robin), to see how things had progressed. We found a total of 25 active nests (24 with eggs, and 1 with the first chicks of 2019; 8 Great Tits). Unfortunately, they weren't quite big enough to ring. The other nests were a mixture of Blue and Great Tits and contained between 5 and an impressive 14 eggs. A minimum of 2, possibly 3 Pied Flycatchers were also present and singing. The Mallard nest I found on a wall at the start of the month had, unfortunately, but not surprisingly, been predated. A Nuthatch was seen taking food into a natural cavity, possibly feeding a sitting bird? The results of today's visit will be entered into the BTO's Nest Record Scheme.

Nest with 14 eggs

Whilst on site, we also recorded a couple of Canada Geese (still quite uncommon for Linacre), a pair of Raven flying over, Siskin (heard in the conifer woodlands by the top reservoir), 2 Buzzards and a new micro moth species Adela reaumurella.

Adela reaumurella