Year List 2022

 Over the last few days I've added the (most likely) last two species to my Year List for 2022, Smew and Scaup.

The Smew, a redhead, was seen at Attenborough Gravel Pits on Wednesday. The Scaup, a male, was seen today at Thrybergh Country Park. These last two species take me to 163 for the year. Whilst in California, Jayne and I also recorded 101 species of bird, 70 of which were lifers!! In total the, my Year List for 2022 stands at 264 species.

Scaup

Whilst at Thrybergh, I had a look at the Mute Swans, and recorded 6 darvic rings (Y835, Y636, Y674, 061Y, 251Y and 252Y). There were 13 Mute Swans present, but the others had their legs covered up!

061Y and Y636

After Thrybergh, I drove across to Rother Valley to see if the Norwegian-ringed Black-headed Gull, JMT9, was still about - it was!!

JMT9

Also present were two darviced Mute Swans, Y178 and 439Y. Interestingly, 439Y had been seen at Rufford CP, in January 2020!

More Gull News

 On 16th August, I went to Rufford CP to renew my annual parking permit. Whilst there, I spotted two of "our" Black-headed Gulls: 258A and 293A (click on the labels for further details).

On the 19th August, I was out swan ringing at Rother Valley CP, when I spotted a white darvic-ringed Black-headed Gull. Annoyingly, I didn't have my camera with me, but I did have my binoculars and managed to read the ring, JMT9. I recognised it as a Norwegian-ringed bird, and sent off the details. Sure enough, the details came back as having been ringed in Oslo on 1st April 2020 and aged and sexed as an adult male bird. It had been recorded at Rother Valley before (on 31st January 2022), so we can presumably be pretty sure that this site is its favoured wintering site. I went back today, this time with my camera (!), and found it in exactly the same spot. 

JMT9

This year, it was reported back in Oslo on 16th March, so I'll pop back again throughout the winter and see how long it hangs around for, and try to get some photos of it as it regains its full brown hood.

Rother Valley Smew

On Thursday 3rd I popped across to Rother Valley CP to see if I could catch up with a female Smew that had been reported on the Nature Reserve Lake. I got lucky and managed to see it straight away. As you can see from the "year list" below, there were several other species present in the area.

The Pheasant and Treecreeper were recorded layer in the day on the Monsal Trail.

Year List update:
47 – Smew
48 – Pochard
49 – Gadwall
50 – Goldeneye
51 – Little Egret
52 – Mute Swan
53 – Canada Goose
54 – Wigeon
55 – Grey Heron
56 – Pheasant
57 - Treecreeper

White-winged Black Tern

News broke on Birdguides that an adult White-winged Black Tern (year tick) had been spotted at several sites in and around South Yorkshire on Thursday. It eventually decided to go to Rother Valley Country Park, which is a short drive from where I live, so last night, I had a drive over to see it.

I pulled in to the Nature Reserve car park, and immediately spotted the bird, flying around, picking insects off the surface of the water, about 100m away. Every now and then the bird would settle on a small rock on the water, before being put up by a pair of Common Terns (year tick) and a couple of Black-headed Gulls. Here's a heavily cropped shot of the bird as it took off. The white wings and white tail and rump are very noticeable. I also managed to get some video of the bird flying, see here.

White-winged Black Tern

As always, there are some much better shots here, on the Birdguides website, or here, on the Sheffield Bird Study Group website. 

This bird, and the accompanying Common Terns, were both "year ticks".

Year List update:

155 - White-winged Black tern

156 - Common Tern