Black-headed Gulls EUJ6 and HA51792

 Regular readers of this blog (!) may well remember a Black-headed Gull, EUM3, that was one of the first darviced birds I saw at Rufford CP, way back in November 2018. I saw this bird regularly up until January 2023, after which the bird disappeared, presumed dead. 

Today, I was at Holmebrook Valley Country Park, in Chesterfield, when I spotted a white darvic-ringed Black-headed Gull, roosting on the ice. I managed to get a few photos, and saw that the ring was EUJ6. Checking the European Colour-ringing Website, I saw that this bird had been ringed in exactly the same spot as EUM3 (Zoetermeer in The Netherlands), on exactly the same date, 27th May 2017, also as a pullus, by the same ringer, Benny Middendorf!! I don't know what the chances of this happening are, but, I'm pretty sure they are very low.

EUJ6

Just as exciting, is that my sighting is the only the second since ringing. The only other sighting was on Shibdon Pond LNR, in Gateshead, on 7th September 2021.

Whilst there, I also spotted a metal-ringed Black-headed Gull, HA51792, which is a Lithuanian-ringed bird I saw there in November 2024. Unfortunately, I don't yet have the ringing details back.

HA51792

Lithuanian Black-headed Gull - Holmebrook Valley CP

 This afternoon, I popped down to Holmebrook Valley CP to have a look at the Black-headed Gulls down there. There were about 60 on the water, including a new Lithuanian-ringed bird HA51.792.

HA51.972

I'll update the blog, when I received ringing details.

Year List Update - 2nd February 2019

It's been a while since I updated the 2019 Year List, and, as you can see, there are a few new additions.

The Song Thrush was heard singing at Linacre on 26th whilst the Water Rail was heard down at Holmebrook Valley Park.

The Raven and Dipper were both seen today, whilst walking through Monsal Dale, and the last four species, 108 - 111, were all seen on the feeders at Shilito Woods.

Year List update:
104 – Song Thrush
105 - Water Rail
106 – Raven
107 – Dipper
108 – Lesser Redpoll
109 – Brambling
110 – Reed Bunting
111 – Yellowhammer

Darviced Black-headed Gull at Holmebrook Valley CP

Last Sunday, my nephew, Luke was at his local patch, Holmebrook Valley CP, in Chesterfield, to carry out his monthly WeBS count. He always has a fair few Black-headed Gulls (100+ on a good day), along with the odd Common, Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gull.

He has also recorded several metal-ringed Black-headed Gulls over the last few years, but they have always stayed out on the middle of the lake, too far away for the rings to be read. Sunday, however, was different, and he managed to see and photograph a darvic ringed Black-headed Gull.

Black-headed Gull

As you can see in the photograph, the bird in question was a 1st winter/2nd calendar year bird (born in 2018), with a blue darvic ring. Unfortunately, the number is very difficult to read, but it looks very similar to another ring that Luke and I saw on a bird in Bakewell in August 2018 (see here). That bird had been ringed at Rutland Water in June 2018. We're still awaiting details, but it would be great if we'd found a second Rutland bird here in Derbyshire!

Linacre - 3rd February 2018

Luke and I had a couple of hours out at Holmebrook Valley CP and Linacre this morning. Despite persistent drizzle, and a little bit of sleety snow, we had a good walk.

First up Holmebrook Valley. We arrived at just after 7:30am and saw: Mallard, Coot, Moorhen, Grey Heron, Mute Swan and Kingfisher.

Linacre records were: Mallard (60), Mandarin Duck (17), Tufted Duck (15), Coot (8), Moorhen (10), Great-crested Grebe (2), Little Grebe (1) and Black-headed Gull (29). Great-spotted Woodpecker was heard, as were Song Thrush (singing), Bullfinch and Green Woodpecker (calling).

Black-headed Gulls 

In the afternoon Jayne and I drove across to Sheffield to see 3 Waxwings. we got brief views through the rain!!

Waxwings

Year List update:
72 – Marsh Tit
73 – Goldeneye
74 – Song Thrush
75 – Green Woodpecker
76 – Waxwing

Year List 2018

Last Monday I was out for my first birding trip of 2018. I just had a few hours around home and managed to see 45 species..

I started the morning at St Helen's Church in Darley Dale where a group of approximately 20 25 Hawfinches had been reported. I managed to pick up about 15 feeding in the Yew trees- a great start to a new year! Numbers 1 - 26 were seen driving then and back.

Hawfinch

Afterwards I drove on to Holmebrook Valley Park and Linacre, where I had a walk around all 3 reservoirs, adding numbers 27 - 44. House Sparrow was added at home, and Peregrine Falcon was seen today flying over Dronfield.

Year List:
1 – Blackbird
2 – Carrion Crow
3 – Dunnock
4 – Feral Pigeon
5 – Magpie
6 – Woodpigeon
7 – Jackdaw
8 – Rook
9 – Collared Dove
10 – Kestrel
11 – Greenfinch
12 – Jay
13 – Blue Tit
14 – Herring Gull
15 – Black-headed Gull
16 – Wren
17 – Nuthatch
18 – Pied Wagtail
19 – Hawfinch
20 – Goldfinch
21 – Chaffinch
22 – Coal Tit
23 – Robin
24 – Common Buzzard

25 – Redwing

26 – Lesser Black-backed Gull
27 – Starling
28 – Great Tit
29 – Mute Swan
30 – Mallard
31 – Coot
32 – Moorhen
33 – Greylag Goose
34 – Grey Heron
35 – Bullfinch
36 – Long-tailed Tit
37 – Tufted Duck
38 – Cormorant
39 – Little Grebe
40 – Goosander
41 – Great-spotted Woodpecker
42 – Mandarin Duck
43 – Great-crested Grebe
44 – Raven
45 – House Sparrow

46 – Peregrine Falcon

Mute Swan 089 and Family

Back in February I blogged about a darvic ringed Mute Swan (ringed by Sorby Breck Ringing Group) that had taken up residence at Holmebrook Valley CP in Chesterfield (see post here). At the time I mentioned that he had set up a territory with a female bird. Well, as the title suggests, the pair have been successful, and last week I went down to see the birds with their 3 cygnets.

089

089's partner and cygnets

As well as the swans there was also a pair of Greylag Geese with 4 goslings.

Greylag Geese

Two species of damselfly were also seen, namely: Blue-tailed and Common Blue Damselflies.

Year List update

I was looking through the blog yesterday, when I realised I'd not updated the Year List since the start of May. Since then, I've added another 8 species to the list, including one (Lesser Whitethroat) that I've not had a for a few years. This species was seen (briefly), and heard singing at Holmebrook Valley Country Park in Chesterfield on 7th May. After seeing this bird I picked Luke up, and travelled to Barlow where we had great views of a Little Owl.

Little Owl

We then drove up to Padley Gorge where we recorded Pied Flycatcher (2 singing males), Redstart (1 singing male), Cuckoo (1 calling male) and Tree Pipit (2 singing males at nearby Barbrook Plantation).

The final "tick" came at the weekend, when a male Whitethroat was recorded singing in the ringing area of Linacre. Hopefully, we'll be able to confirm breeding of this species here again this year.

Year List update:

146 – Swift (first seen in Chesterfield on 5th May)

147 – Lesser Whitethroat

148 – Little Owl

149 – Pied Flycatcher

150 – Redstart

151 – Cuckoo

152 – Tree Pipit

153 - Whitethroat

Linacre Nestboxes - 1st May 2017

Luke and I spent 2 and a half hours walking around Linacre this morning checking on the 80+ tit boxes. 39 were occupied, 21 of which either contained eggs, but no adults, or nests, but no eggs. The nests that contained eggs, but no adults, should hopefully, go on to produce chicks later in the season. The remaining 18 nests had 12 Blue Tits and 6 Great Tits, that were sitting tight when we checked, indicating a clutch of eggs underneath. All the results of today's search will be forwarded to the BTO's Nest Record Scheme.

Blue Tit incubating

We also managed to record 2 other nests today, namely a Coot on the top reservoir, and a Moorhen that had built in a very precarious site on the overflow on the middle reservoir. Unfortunately, we weren't able to see the contents for a nest record.

Moorhen nest

A pair of Mallards were seen with a group of 7 very small  ducklings on the top reservoir. 2 Mistle Thrushes were collecting food for an unseen nest by the bottom car park.

Whilst walking around, we spoke to a couple who we seen regularly walking their dog around the reservoirs. They mentioned seeing a herd of 24 swans in late March. The timing of the sighting, the number of birds involved, and the fact that they were described as "noisy" makes me pretty sure they were Whooper Swans. Unfortunately, the couple couldn't remember exactly when they'd seen them. Perhaps they were present on 12th March when Luke and I had 2 Whoopers at Holmebrook Valley CP (see here)?

Other birds seen today included 3 Mandarin Ducks, an immature Cormorant, a dead Canada Goose (on the top reservoir- no obvious signs of death), a couple of Great-crested Grebes and a singing Willow Warbler.

Whooper Swans at Holmebrook Valley CP

After walking around Linacre yesterday morning I decided to pop down the road to Holmebrook Valley CP in Chesterfield to check on the ringed Mute Swan and his partner that Luke and I recorded a few weeks ago (see blog post here). The Mute Swans were still there, but what was more of a surprise was the 2 Whooper Swans that were also present!

089, the ringed male Mute Swan, was acting very aggressively towards both birds, driving both of them out of the water, as can seen in this photo. He was particularly aggressive towards one bird, grabbing it by the neck on many occasions.

Whooper Swan and 089

I left at about 9:30am and the birds were reported on another 2 occasions, but they had gone this morning, allowing 089 and his partner time to calm down. Hopefully, the 2 Whoopers  are now well on their way to Iceland.

Whooper Swan

Mute Swan - 089

I don't often blog about other people's sightings, but when I got news from my nephew, Luke, about a Mute Swan he'd seen on Tuesday at Holmebrook Valley Country Park in Chesterfield, I thought the news was worth a post.

The bird in question was wearing a yellow darvic ring, number 089.

Mute Swan 089

I did a quick internet search, and guess what? It turns out the bird was ringed our very own Sorby Breck Ringing Group, at Treeton Dyke, South Yorkshire, on 10th September 2013, as a 3, i.e. a bird born in that year. I contacted David, our data manager who provided me with the following details. Since it was ringed, it has only been reported on 2 other occasions, both at Rother Valley Country Park, South Yorkshire, on 12th April 2015 and on 25th August 2015. Luke's sighting was the first since then. Who knows where it's been in the meantime? Luke thought that it was setting up a territory with another Mute Swan, so hopefully, if it does, we'll be able to keep tabs on it throughout the summer.

Whilst there, he also recorded a pair of Gadwall (his first record at this site), 2 Kingfishers, 2 Pied Wagtails, a single Lesser Black-backed Gull, Black-headed Gulls, and, best of all, a Water Rail!!!!

Water Rail

Update on 17th Feb: Luke and I've just been down to Holmebrook Valley CP again, and the swan is still there, with the female bird.