Rufford Visit - 2nd September 2025

 Yesterday, I had my first visit to Rufford for a couple of weeks. It was bright sunshine (with a few rain showers) and 20 degrees, and there were about 70 Black-headed Gulls (c.40 juveniles). 7 darviced gulls were seen, and a new, metal-ringed bird was also spotted.

The darviced birds were: 258A (2nd sighting this autumn/winter), 207C (4th sighting since July), 258C (fourth sighting this autumn/winter), 221F (last seen in February 2025), 234F (second sighting this autumn/winter), 255F (first sighting since January 2025) and 2V03 (2nd sighting this autumn/winter).

221F

255F

The metal-ringed bird (EM21570) was a 3, i.e. born this year. It had been ringed, as a pullus, on 10th June, 158km away, at Marlingford Hall, Norfolk. This is, unsurprisingly, the first sighting since ringing. Hopefully, it'll hang around for the winter.

EM21570

In addition to the gulls, I also recorded 7 Mute Swans, including the 2 unringed birds seen last visit, along with 2 more adults (Broken Beak and his partner) and their 3 new cygnets, 2 Kingfishers, 1 House Martin, dozens of Canada and Greylag Geese, 1 Grey Wagtail, Mallards and an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull.

Broken Beak and family

Lesser Black-backed Gull

In addition to those sightings, I also saw a familiar Black-headed Gull in Bakewell on Monday. It was quite a brief sighting, but enough to get the metal ring EW97345. This is a bird I first saw, in Bakewell, back in September 2018. The bird had been ringed, as an adult (at least 2 years old), in Boston, Lincolnshire on 9th January 2010. Monday's sighting was my first since July 2021.

EW97345

Bakewell Gulls

 I had my first trip to Bakewell today to see if there were any returning Black-headed Gulls. There were!

In total, there were about 30/40 birds, including a good number of juveniles. There were also lots of people (!), so it took me over two hours before I found my first ringed bird, a metal-ringed adult bird from Finland. Unfortunately, I only managed to get 4 digits of its ring, T321, so I won't be able to find out where or when it was ringed.

_ T321 _ _?

The second bird I saw was a British-ringed bird, EW97345, a familiar face! It had been ringed in Boston, Lincolnshire, on 9th January 2010, and was first seen in Bakewell, by me, on 1st September 2018. It was then seen here in July and September 2019 and August 2020.

EW97345

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