Welcome to my blog all about my birdwatching, wild bird ringing activities and moth recording at Linacre Reservoirs, Derbyshire; in Great Britain and abroad.
This morning, I had half an hour checking the gulls in the harbour area around Anstruther. I spotted a new species for the trip, Mediterranean Gull.
In the afternoon, Jayne and I checked the rocks below the golf clubhouse, and spotted 2 darvic-ringed Great Black-backed Gulls and a single darvic-ringed Shag.
It was Jayne and my last day in Norfolk today, so we made the most of it, and added another 18 species to the Year List.
The first new bird of the day was Egyptian Goose (65), when 2 birds were spotted in a field whilst driving to RSPB Titchwell. Another species, Cattle Egret (66) was also seen, in a field by the A149, as we drove along. I was very pleased to spot this one, as it was, I think, my first self-found, in Britain. It posed beautifully, with the Highland Cattle!
Jayne and I arrived in Cornwall on Saturday, and, after some lovely food in the Birdies Bistro, headed straight to the RSPB's Hayle Estuary and Ryan's Field.
Walking into the hide, we were greeted by approximately 10 Redshank, a single Black-headed Gull and a Danish-ringed Spoonbill, that was feeding on the reserve.
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.
Jayne and I had a couple of hours at RSPB St Aidan's. near Leeds, on Monday. We had a walked around the reedbed trail, and added three new species to the "Year List": Cetti's Warbler (139), Black-necked Grebe (140) and booming Bitterns (141).
Yesterday, we had a lovely family day in Scarborough. It was just 7 degree, but really sunny, and the birds put on a good show too.
The first birds seen, Fulmar (125), were up on the cliffs by Marine Drive. From here, we also saw a couple of Red-throated Diver (126), a single winter-plumaged Guillemot (127) and about half a dozen Harbour Porpoise.
On Wednesday, Jayne and I had 3 hours at RSPB Minsmere. We got there just after 6am, and walked around the main scrape area, before finishing off back at the café with a delicious vegan sausage cob!
It was quite quiet as we set off, but the first sighting, of a Common Lizard, warming up on a post was a great start. As the weather warmed up, we began to spot several Stonechats, Linnets, Reed Bunting, Common Terns, the first Common and Ruddy Darters, along with a couple of Migrant Hawkers and dozens of Gatekeepers.
Arriving at the East Hide, we began to spot a few more birds, with the following waders seen: Green Sandpiper (3), Common Sandpiper (1), Ruff (3), Avocet (c50), Black-tailed Godwit (c.60), Redshank (2), Dunlin (6), Lapwing and Spotted Redshank (5). Gulls were far and few between, but we did spot a few Black-headed Gulls, a single, juvenile Mediterranean Gull, 1 adult Kittiwake and, best of all, 26 Little Gulls, including a few in breeding plumage. 5 Spoonbills were asleep, and there were also several Shelducks (juveniles), Teal, Mallard, Greylag, Canada and at least one family party of Barnacle Geese.
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We carried on around The Scrape, spotting another Migrant Hawker, a male Black-tailed Skimmer, more Common and Ruddy Darter and dozens of Red Admirals and Peacock butterflies, feeding on Hemp Agrimony.
Our final stop was the Bittern Hide. Here we spotted Bearded Tit (heard only), a Muntjac Deer, a Kestrel, a distant Marsh Harrier and a fly-by Bittern.
Back at the Visitors' Centre, we had a few minutes watching the butterflies on the Buddleia bushes. Red Admirals and Peacocks were in good numbers again, along with a single Brimstone (1 male), 1 Comma, Gatekeeper (c.5) and at least a couple of Grayling. 3 Hornets were also seen buzzing around the bushes.
Year List update: Little Gull (179)
Most years at around this time, Jayne and I pop across to Scarborough for a day to spot a few birds, including one of my favourite birds, the Mediterranean Gull. This year, we saw four individual birds, an adult, a 3rd calendar year (dark primaries, born in 2021) and two first winters (2nd calendar years, born in 2022).
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I was very lucky to start this year's birding with a few hours on Holy Island, Northumberland. My first species seen was Blackbird, followed closely by Robin, Curlew and Grey Heron. Whilst there, I managed a total of 35 species, including Pale-bellied Brent Goose, Red-throated Diver and Red-breasted Merganser.
After Holy Island, I drove to Budle Bay, where I added several new species to the list (numbers 36 - 42). The last two places visited were Warkworth Beach and Amble Harbour, where species 43 - 55 were seen.
On Monday I drove up to RSPB Bempton Cliffs to see the long-staying Black-browed Albatross "Albert"!
I arrived on site at 5.50am, and saw the bird straight away, perched on the cliffs below Staple Newark, with the Gannets. It was well tucked in, but did keep stretching, and had a brief fly around, before disappearing into the heavy sea fret! A fantastic sighting, and a "lifer" to boot.
Afterwards, I drove further up the coast to Newbiggin-by-the-Sea, a regular spot for Mediterranean Gulls. I saw a minimum of 9 on the beach, along with Black-headed Gulls, a fishing Shag and Arctic and Sandwich Terns.
My final stop of the day was St Mary's Island, where another 20+ Sandwich Terns were roosting. In amongst them were 3 darviced birds, UBB, UVN and KAL. UBB was originally ringed on Coquet Island, on 5th May 2015. It was seen here again in 2018. My sighting is the first since then, and the first away from the island. UVN was also ringed in 2015, on Inner Farne. It has nested on Coquet Island since, but has also been reported in Namibia, in October 2018. I haven't heard back from KAL yet.
This Bank Holiday weekend I was up in Northumberland with Jayne. We had visits to St Mary's Island (Whitley Bay), Amble and Bamburgh, and recorded some nice birds, including six "year ticks".
We started at St Mary's Island on Saturday in 40 mph winds and driving rain!! Despite the weather conditions we saw many wader species including Dunlin, Sanderling, Turnstone, Ringed Plover, Golden Plover, Curlew, Redshank and Oystercatcher. Other birds seen here were: Herring, Black-headed and Lesser Black-backed and Great Black-backed Gulls; Sandwich and Arctic Terns, Eider Ducks and 5 fly-by Pale-bellied Brent Geese.
On Sunday we had a walk around the harbour at Amble, where we added Mediterranean Gull (1 adult) and Shag to the weekend's bird list. The Shag, a first year bird, was ringed with a darvic XUN, and had been ringed on 20th June 2020, as a chick, on the Isle of May.
After a quick walk around Warkworth, we headed up to Bamburgh, where we had a walk around "Stag Rocks", adding Purple Sandpiper (1 bird) to the Year List.
Year List update:
158 – Pale-bellied Brent Goose
159 – Eider Duck
160 – Arctic Tern
161 – Golden Plover
162 – Sanderling
163 – Purple Sandpiper
