Ring-necked Duck!

 In my last post, I mentioned a male Ring-necked Duck (77), I went to see last weekend. Unfortunately, the bird had left Shipley before I could get, but, luckily, it was re found a few miles away at another site, Straw's Bridge LNR. I popped down yesterday, and managed to get some nice photos, as it fed about 4m away!!

As you can see, it's a male, and other people's photos show a few brown feathers still, so it's been aged as a 1st winter (2nd second year) bird. It would be nice to think that it was the same birds seen in July last year, as Ogston Reservoir (see here).

Comparison shot, with a male Tufted Duck.

Most of the main lake was covered with ice (85%), and it was minus 1 when I arrived, so all the other birds (Mute Swan, Canada and Greylag Geese, Mallards, Shovelers, Pochard, Moorhen, Coots, Black-headed, Herring and Common Gulls) were also feeding close in.

Straw's Bridge

Ring-necked Duck - again!!

Ring-necked Duck isn't a species I see that often, especially not in Derbyshire, so a report of an eclipse male at Ogston Reservoir this week had my "twitching" instincts up and running. As it turns out, this is my 3rd record this year, and my second in my home county!.

I popped down on Thursday morning (24th) and found the bird within 2 minutes, right out, on the water, in front of the public hide. The light was awful, but I got great 'scope views and managed a few half-decent photos.

Ring-necked Duck (front bird) with Tufted Duck

Ringed-necked Duck

Year List Update and a Lifer (nearly!)

 I last updated the Year List at the end of January, and, since then, I've added 6 new species, including a "near lifer"!

First up, the easy ones: Peregrine Falcon (119) and Little Owl (120), both familiar birds, seen in Chesterfield and Holmesfield respectively.

The next two, Great Northern (121) and Red-throated Diver (122), were seen at Carsington Water on Monday 17th (along with a female Ring-necked Duck, my second of the year!) Next up, was the Ring-necked Parakeet (123), 10s of which were seen in and around London (Hampstead Heath and St James' Park).

The latest new bird of the year, a 1st winter, female Lesser Scaup (124, and the first Derbyshire record) was also seen at Carsington Water on Saturday 22nd (after dipping on 17th!!). This bird is my "near lifer", as I did, allegedly, see a 1st winter male at Chasewater, Staffordshire, in 1987 (the first British record), whilst on a bird trip with Derbyshire Ornithological Society. I can't really remember this bird at all (!), so I'm happy to say this was a "lifer" for me. Views weren't great, but I did manage to get a few "record shots".

Lesser Scaup (left) and Tufted Duck

Lesser Scaup

Lesser Scaup (middle bird), with a pair of Tufties

White-billed Diver!!!!

 A juvenile White-billed Diver (98),was found, at Cresswell Pond in Northumberland, earlier this week. It only stayed briefly, but then in turned up again, on Ladyburn Lake, at Druridge Bay CP, later that day. Today, Jayne and I had a drive up there, and managed amazing views, as it swam close in to the shore. Lifer number 1 of the year.

White-billed Diver

Whilst there, we also spotted a few other "Year Ticks": Pochard (97), Water Rail (99), Ring-necked Duck (100, a female, too distant for a photo, unfortunately), and Scaup (101 - an immature male, I think).

RSPB Bempton Cliffs and RSPB Old Moor - 22nd April 2023

 Jayne and I had a trip over to RSPB Bempton Cliffs to catch up with a few "year ticks" today. First up was Tree Sparrow (133), with several birds around the main centre, busy setting up their territories.

Tree Sparrow

After a quick walk down to the cliffs we soon added the other new birds: Puffin (134) (thanks for the spot, Jayne!), Guillemot (135), Razorbill (136), Kittiwake (137) and Gannet (138).

Puffin and Guillemot

Razorbill

When we had finished at Bempton, we checked Bird Guides, and noticed that the male Ring-necked Duck (139) had been reported at RSPB Old Moor. We popped in on the way back, and got great, but distant, views from Wath Ings Hide. 

Ring-necked Duck

Other birds seen were: Shelduck (140), Gadwall, Mallard, Canada Goose, Black-headed Gull, Herring Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Starling, Green Woodpecker and Cetti's Warbler.

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

RSPB Frampton Marsh - 1st May 2021

 Jayne and I had our near annual trip to RSPB Frampton Marsh today. Because of lockdown, there are quite a few common species missing from my "year list", so today's trip added a whopping 24 species!!

The day started well, with our first Swift of the year, followed closely by Reed, Sedge and Garden Warbler. As always, this site held lots of waders, the best of which was a male Dotterel. Unfortunately, it was slightly too distant for a photo, unlikely a very "showy" Jack Snipe and Wood Sandpiper.

Jack Snipe

Wood Sandpiper

The total number of "new" species seen were:

114 - Reed Warbler

115 - Sedge Warbler

116 - Garden Warbler

117 - Greenshank

118 - Yellow Wagtail

119 - Shelduck

120 - Shoveler

121 - Swift

122 - Wigeon

123 - Teal

124 - Brent Goose (Dark-bellied)

125 - Wood Sandpiper

126 - Dunlin

127 - Ringed Plover

128 - Dotterel

129 - Black-tailed Godwit

130 - Bar-tailed Godwit

131 - Whimbrel

132 - Goldeneye

133 - Common Tern (4)

134 - Little Egret

135 - Avocet

136 - Golden Plover

137 - Jack Snipe

138 - Ruff

In addition, there was a male Ring-necked Duck on the reserve. We managed to see it, asleep(!), but later reports suggested that it was a Tufted x Ring-necked Duck hybrid, so it won't go down on the list.