Sad news - V77K

 I received some sad news about Black-headed Gull V77K today. 

Unfortunately, a dead gull was reported at Center Parcs this week. When its body was recovered it was found to be this Danish-ringed bird. The finder, Mike, said that it was mainly bones and just a few feathers, so the chances are it died earlier in the year. 

The bird had originally been ringed in June 2015, 911km away on the island of Hirsholm, Denmark. My first sighting was at Rufford Park on 19th February 2019 and I saw it every winter since. The last sighting was at Center Parcs was on 7th March 2023. I last saw it, at Rufford, on 19th February 2023.

Rufford Gulls - 18th February 2023

 I had an hour at Rufford yesterday. It was 12 degrees and overcast and there were c.200 gulls present.

In the hour, I saw 14 of "our" green-ringed gulls, including 254B, which I ringed, at Center Parcs, on 22nd October 2022, as an adult bird. My sighting was the first since then.

254B

Other gulls seen were: 246A, 258A, 281A, 293A, 295A, 296A, 249B, 255B, 276B, 280B, 293B, 202C and 215C. 

In addition Danish-ringed V77K, Norwegian-ringed Common Gull JN075 and metal-ringed Black-headed Gull, EL87245 were also seen.

Several of the gulls were starting to get their breeding plumage, including 293B.

293B

Rufford Gulls - 7th January 2023

 Yesterday saw my second visit of the year to Rufford CP to check on the overwintering Black-headed Gulls. It was 12 degrees and still, with just 70ish gulls present. No other species of gull were present, but I did spot 14 Goosander ( 10 males and 4 females).

Gulls seen were: EUM3, V77K, P519, 293A, 294A, 295A, 297A, 249B, 272B, 276B, 280B, 293B, 205C, 207C and 215C. (Click on the labels to see details of these birds).

Of the 15 ringed birds seen, three were new for me: 280B, an adult bird ringed on 19th November 2022 at Center Parcs, 205C, a first winter bird (born in 2022) and ringed on 22nd December 2022 at Center Parcs, and 215C, an adult bird, first ringed, at Center Parcs, on 5th January 2023.

280B

205C

215C

Rufford Country Park - 1st January 2023

Following on from the walk around Linacre, I had my first visit of the year to Rufford Country Park on Sunday. The number of Black-headed Gulls had increased to c.200 and, during the couple of hours there I spotted 10 green darvic-ringed Gulls (206A -my first sighting since December 2021), 246A - the first gull I ringed, back in December 2019, 295A - my first sighting since February 2022, 249B - last seen in November 2022, 255B - last seen on 10th December 2022, 276B - 5th sighting since being ringed in November 2022), 283B -1st sighting, ringed on 19th November 2022, 293B -1st sighting , ringed on 10th December 2022, 202C - 1st sighting, ringed on 22nd December 2022 and 207C - second sighting, ringed on 22nd December. 

293B

202C

In addition, I also spotted EUM3 (Dutch bird), V77K (Danish bird), P519 (Lithuanian ringed), Norwegian Common Gull, JN075 and a new Dutch metal-ringed Black-headed Gull, 3.832.176 (ringing details to follow). 

UPDATE: 3.832.176 was ringed, as a chick, 369km and 558 days ago, in Serooskerke Schouwen, Zeeland, The Netherlands. My sighting was the first since ringing.

Year List update:

33) Sparrowhawk 34) Kestrel 35) Canada Goose 36) Greylag Goose 37) Common Gull 38) Herring Gull 39) Mute Swan

Rufford Gulls - 23rd December 2022

 It was raining very hard this afternoon, so today's visit to Rufford lasted just 1 hour. There were only 45 Black-headed Gulls present, but I did manage to see 5 colour-ringed birds: P519, 271B, 276B, V77K and a new one, 207C.

207C

207C was ringed just yesterday (22nd December), at Center Parcs, and, unsurprisingly, is the first re-sighting.

Other birds seen were: Mute Swan (2), Gadwall (1m and 1fm), 1 Herring Gull and 4 Goosander (3m and 1fm).

Rufford Gulls 4th and 10th December 2022

Last Sunday, 4th December, I had a quick, 1 hour, visit to Rufford. In the short time I was there, I spotted EL87245, EUM3, 271A, V77K (my first sighting this winter of this Danish-ringed bird) and a new Finnish metal-ringed bird, ST315.116 (ringing details to follow). Two other Finnish metal-ringed birds were also seen, but I couldn't get the full sequences.

Welcome back V77K

After the last few days' icy weather, I arrived at Rufford for today's visit (12.40pm - 15.10pm) to find the main lake with 95% ice cover. This meant that the gulls' legs were on show, as they perched on the ice. In total, there were approximately 2-300 Black-headed Gulls, 70(!) Common Gulls and 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls present, all bathing in the small piece of open water. 

Ringed birds seen were: 246A, 284A, 293A, 294A, 297A, 255B, 272B (my first sighting since being ringed on 12th November 2022 at Center Parcs), 276B, 278B (also my first sighting since ringing on 12th November 2022 at Center Parcs), V77K, EUM3, P519, EL87245 and last week's Finnish bird ST315.116.

272B

278B

Clumber and Rufford - 24th February 2022

On Thursday, in between the wind and snow showers (!), I had a walk around Clumber and Rufford looking for Black-headed Gulls.

Clumber had approximately 400 gulls, but, unfortunately, only about 50 or so were interested in my food offerings. Of these bird, only one had a darvic ring, number 295A. This is one of the Center Parcs birds, and this sighting was my first away from Rufford. There were two metal-ringed birds, but I only managed to get one number, VAO171, a Danish bird, that I've seen several times before. It was originally ringed  in June 2015. 

The Mute Swans at Clumber were very friendly, and I managed to read a few rings; Y204, Y677, Y358, 929Y and W47133. Y204 was ringed in Pontefract Park in August 2019 and was first seen at Clumber in November 2020. Y677 was ringed on 14th October 2020, as a 3, a bird born in that year. Y358 had been ringed on 6th September 2019, just 13km away, and had been seen at Clumber since August 2021. 929Y was ringed in August 2018, and had been seen at Clumber in August 2021. W47133 had also been ringed in August 2018, as a 5, born in 2017. I recorded this bird at Clumber in August 2021.

When I arrived at Rufford, one of the first gulls I saw was.... 295A!! Other ringed birds seen were: 258A, 293A, 294A, 295A, 297A, JO116 and V77K.

Rufford Gulls - 6th January 2022

After a short visit to Rufford on Wednesday, I decided to go back again yesterday. It had been very cold overnight, and more than half of the lake was covered in ice - always a good sign when checking gulls' legs!!

As soon as I got there, I could see that there were 400+ gulls out on the ice! The vast majority were Black-headed Gulls, with a minimum of 10 Common Gulls, 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls and 1 Herring Gull. Over the course of 3 hours, I managed to spot 12 darvic-ringed Black-headed Gulls (217A, 258A, 273A, 279A, 281A, 293A, 295A, 297A, J0116, EUM3, P519 and V77K), 1 metal ringed Black-headed Gull (EL87245- a well known bird) and a new darvic ringed Common Gull (JN075 - an adult bird, ringed on 12th August 2020, near Oslo, Norway).

JN075

Of the 12 darviced birds, just 3 were new ones, I'd not seen before (279A, 295A and 297A). All are birds ringed at Center Parcs this winter.

279A

295A

297A

In addition, there were 13 Mute Swans ( 9 adults and 4 juveniles, born last year), including a 1 metal ringed bird (W17357 - a bird that had been ringed on 10th February 2016, as a 5 i.e. born in 2015) and a darvic-ringed bird (CPF3/W48296 - another new bird, originally ringed as a 3 male, i.e. born that year, in Cheshire, on 16th November 2019).

CPF3

Gulls - 5th January 2022

 Yesterday (5th) I spent the day at Center Parcs, near Rufford, trying to catch some new Black-headed Gulls for the darvic-ringing scheme being run by Sorby Breck Ringing Group. Unfortunately, the gulls weren't "playing ball", so none were ringed. I did, however, manage to read a Mute Swan ring, W17370, a bird, I'd previously seen at Rufford on 13th December 2020. I also added a few more "year ticks": Siskin, Coal Tit and Great-spotted Woodpecker. 

W17370

Afterwards, I went across to Rufford CP for half an hour, and managed to spot a few ringed birds, including a new (for me), Norwegian- ringed bird, JZ48. 

JZ48

Although a new bird for me (and Rufford), it had been reported a few times at Center Parcs (December 2020, November and December 2021), after being ringed, as an adult, in Norway, on 11th May 2016. Other birds seen were: EUM3, V77K and EL87245.

86 - Siskin

87 - Coal Tit

88 - Great-spotted Woodpecker

Rufford Gulls - 12th and 23rd December 2021

Here are the details of my last two visits to Rufford CP, including some old favourites, and a brand new Black-headed Gull.

First up, the visit on the 12th that included the following gull: 206A, 217A, 258A, 273A, 282A, 293A, EL87245, P519, EUM3 and V77K. All known birds, except 282A and 293A, which had been ringed at Center Parcs the week before.

Yesterday's visit, on the 23rd, saw the following birds reported: 217A, 258A, 281A, 284A, 293A, 299A, V77K, EUM3, P519, JO116, EL87245 and S20B. Again, many familiar birds, with the exception of 281A, 284A and 299A (all ringed this winter at Center Parcs), and S20B. Looking on the internet, this bird appears to have been ringed in Zagreb, Croatia, on 2nd February 2012. If confirmed, this will be my first record of a bird from this country, and only the second record of this bird since ringing! The only other record was in Austria in February 2012, shortly after having been ringed.

S20B

Rufford and Clumber - 21st December 2020

 On Monday I had a few hours at Rufford and Clumber Park, looking for ringed Black-headed Gulls. In total, I saw 5 known birds and 2 new ones. I also saw a new Canada Goose.

At Rufford, the gulls seen were 217A, 237A, 255A, EUM3 and V77K. 225A, the first new bird, had been ringed at Center Parcs on 25th January 2020. It was seen there again on 26th November 2020, but Monday's sighting was my first and the first record for Rufford.

255A, Rufford CP

The new Canada Goose was ring number 5215987. It had been ringed on 1st January 2003, making it at least 18 years old (born in 2002), but I'll update when I get the age and place of ringing back.

When I arrived at Clumber Park there were about 100 Black-headed Gulls out on the grassed area by the Chapel. Unfortunately, there weren't any darvic rings to be seen, but I did spot a new British-ringed bird, EY30536, which had been ringed 4th March 2013 (location yet to be confirmed), and a Danish-ringed bird, VAO171, which I first saw here on 18th November 2018. It had been ringed 911km away on Hirsholm, on 26th May 2015. 

EY30536

VAO171

The darvic-ringed Mute Swan, Y204, that Jayne and I saw back in November, was also present.

New Black-headed Gull - VA5573

There were about 200 Black-headed Gulls at Rufford CP yesterday, including three well known birds, 217A, 237A and V77K (see labels for details of these birds). The sighting of 237A was the first since March 2020 (see here). In addition, a new, 1st winter bird (born this year) bearing a Danish metal ring, VA5573 was seen. 

Danish-ringed Black-headed Gull VA5573

VA5573

Details received from the Danish Ringing Scheme show that the bird was ringed, as a pullus, 877km away, on Hirsholm, Denmark on 25th May 2020.

In addition to the gulls there were also two metal-ringed Mute Swans, W17370 and W17357. The former bird was also present on my last visit, and had been ringed by Birklands RG, 3km away in September 2014. W17357 had also been ringed by Birklands RG, 3km away. It was ringed, as a age 5 bird (born in 2015), on 10th February 2016.

W17357

The final rings read were 2 Canada Geese (5230424 and 5215963) and 1 Greylag Goose (5230471). All 3 birds had been sighted previously, and had been ringed just 3km away (click on the labels to see ringing details).

Rufford Gulls, Swans and Geese - 28th November 2020

Normally when I go to Rufford CP, it's to catch up with the Black-headed Gulls that over winter there. Yesterday's trip there was for exactly that reason , but I must admit my head was turned a little when I spotted two ringed Egyptian Geese! Not only was this my first record of this species here, but they were also very confiding allowing me to get their metal ring numbers: 1312215 and 1312233. 15 was first seen on 1st January 2004, making it at least 16 years old! 33 was ringed, as a juvenile bird (age 3), in December 2011, making it 9 years old.

Egyptian Goose 1312233

Whilst there, I also manged to spot two metal-ringed Canada Geese (5215963, 5230424). 23 had been ringed in September 2006 as an adult, so is 14+ years old, whilst 24 had been ringed, as a 3, in August 2013, making it 7 years old. 

Canada Goose - 5215963

I also spotted 2 Greylag Geese wearing metal rings: 5230419 and 5230471. 19 was an 8 year old bird, having been ringed in June 2012, as a 3. 71 was ringed in December 2014, as an adult, so is 6+ years old.

The last species wearing a metal ring was a single Mute Swan. This bird had the ring number W17370, and had been ringed 7th September 2014, as a 3, so was 6 years old.

Mute Swan W17370

All of the above birds were ringed by Birklands Ringing Group, either at Pittance Park (part of the Center Parcs complex) or at Rufford itself.

After all the excitement with the geese and swans, I eventually looked at the gulls (!) and spotted 7 darvic-ringed birds: 217A, 240A, 243A, 258A, P519, EUM3 and V77K. These are all well known birds (click on labels for full details), but 243A was the "best" as yesterday's sighting was only the third since being ringed at Center Parcs, 2km away, on 11th December 2019, and the first of the winter.

Black-headed Gull 243A

Rufford Gulls - 21st November 2020

 Yesterday's visit to Rufford Country Park resulted in  5 darvic-ringed Black-headed Gulls (in amongst approximately 2-300 gulls), made up of four birds I've had before and one new bird, along with 2 metal-ringed birds, 1 I've seen before and a new, Swedish-ringed bird.

The darvic-ringed birds were 206A, 217A, V77K, EUM3 and the new bird 210A. 206A and 217A are well known birds, as is EUM3 (see labels for details). V77K is also a familiar bird, originally ringed in Denmark in 2015 (as a pullus) and first seen by me in February 2019. Yesterday's sighting was my first of the winter. Hopefully, it'll hang around again until the new year.

V77K

The new darvic-ringed bird was 210A, a bird originally ringed at Center Parcs (2km away), on 2nd January 2019. My sighting was the first since ringing.

210A

The two metal-ringed birds were numbers EL87245 and 6422284. EL87245 is a British-ringed bird that I first saw in November 2019, and again in January, February and March 2020. It was originally ringed just 3km away on 2nd January 2013, making it my oldest known bird. 6422284, also an adult bird, was a new bird for me. I managed to spot the words Riksmuseum Stokholm on it's ring, showing it was ringed in Sweden. Details have been sent off, and the ringing date and time will be added as soon as I hear back.

EL87245

6422284

UPDATE: The Swedish Black-headed Gull was ringed, as a pullus, 1355km away in Vastmanland, Sweden on 11th June 2019.

Nottinghamshire Gulls

This week I had a couple of visits looking for wintering Black-headed Gulls.

The first trip was to Rufford Country Park on Wednesday, where there were approximately 100  gulls including several familiar birds: V77K, a Danish -ringed bird born in 2015, British-ringed EL87245, 243A (ringed at Sherwood Center Parcs, in December 2019), 246A, ringed by me at Center Parcs on 21st December 2019 (see here), and my first sighting since and 259A, also ringed at Center Parcs, this time on 1st February 2020, and also the first sighting away from that site.

246A at Rufford CP

My second trip was around Clumber Park on Saturday, where there were 300+ gulls around the main lake. The majority were Black-headed, but there were also a dozen or so Common Gulls. Whilst there I managed to see 5 darvic-ringed Black-headed Gulls: 217A, 237A, 246A (again!) and 2 new ones for me, 257A (ringed at Center Parcs on 1st February 2020) and 2ASN, a second winter bird, that had been ringed, as a chick, at Rutland Water in June 2019.

257A

2ASN

Gulls Again!

I had a short visit to Rufford CP this afternoon and saw 3 darviced Black-headed Gulls and 1 metal ringed bird.

The 3 darvic ringed birds were 237A (ringed as a 1st winter bird, at Center Parcs on 20th November 2019), V77K ( the 5 year old, Danish ringed bird) and 252A ( a 1st winter/2nd calendar year bird, ringed at Center Parcs on 18th January 2020.

237A

V77K

252A

The metal ringed bird, 6456073,was the Swedish ringed bird I first saw at Rufford on 2nd January 2020. It was ringed, as a pullus, on 1st June 2019, 950km away in southern Sweden.

6456073

New Year Gulls - Part 1

In the first few days of 2020 I've had a couple of trips to Rufford CP to get my first sightings of darvic ringed Black-headed Gulls for the year. All the darvic-ringed birds were familiar birds, but I did also manage to find, and read, a metal ringed Swedish bird (details sent off), along with some darviced Mute Swans.

I visited Rufford on Thursday 2nd, and spotted 217A, 237A, 247A (all ringed at Center Parcs, 2km away). 247A was ringed just a few weeks ago on 21st Dec 2020 and this was my first sighting at Rufford. Also seen were: V77K (a Danish bird ringed, as a pullus, in June 2015), EUM3 (a Dutch bird ringed, as a pullus, in May 2017) and P519 (a Lithuanian bird ringed, as an adult, in April 2010), along with a new Swedish bird with metal ring number 6456037, and a British metal ringed bird with the number EL87245 (a bird I'd previously seen here in November 2019).

247A

Whilst at Rufford, I also saw 2 darviced Mute Swans, 108Y and 439Y, both birds that I'm sure were ringed by Sorby Breck Ringing Group. This is my first sighting of these birds here. I'll update the blog when I have the ringing details.

108Y and 439Y

My second visit, on 3rd January, had the same gulls as the day before, and a new one, 230A, which is a bird that was ringed at Center Parcs, on 2nd February 2019, as an adult bird, and one that I'd seen a couple of times in September 2019.

230A

UPDATE: The Swedish gull was ringed, as a pullus, 950km away in southern Sweden on 1st June 2019.

Gulls, Gulls, Gulls!!!

I spent just over an hour in Rufford Country Park this afternoon and saw 6 colour ringed Black-headed Gulls and 1 metal ringed bird!

Three of the colour ringed birds, 217A, 227A and 232A, were British ringed and had been ringed by ringers from Sorby Breck and Birklands Ringing Groups. I have recorded 217A here before, on 3rd February 2019 (see here), whereas 227A and 232A were new birds for me.

217A

I don't yet know where and when 227A was ringed, but 232A was ringed just a couple of kilometres away, as a first winter bird, at Center Parcs on 30/10/19.

227A

232A

The metal ringed bird, EL87245, was also British-ringed, so I'll send off details and update the blog when I hear back.

The other 3 darviced gulls were all known birds, namely EUM3 (Dutch ringed and seen on every visit since August), P519 (Lithuanian ringed see here and here) and V77K (Danish ringed bird, first seen here in February 2019 see here and my first sighting of the winter.)

V77K

UPDATE: The metal-ringed gull EL87245 was ringed on 02/01/13, by Birklands Ringing Group, 3km away.

Old Friends and New

I had a bit of a "gull tour" today, visiting a couple of well known sites to see if I could catch up with some ringed Black-headed Gulls that I recorded earlier in the year (see here). As the title of this post hints, I managed to find some, but also added some new "friends" to expanding list.

First stop this morning was Rufford Country Park, in Nottinghamshire. Two of the five gulls I found two weeks ago were still around; namely EUM3, a Dutch-ringed bird and V77K, a Danish-ringed bird. Both birds were still on the lake coming to bread.

The next stop was Alvaston Park in Derby, where Jayne and I had 4 ringed gulls in November 2018 (see here). Although I only found one of these, VA4073, a Danish-ringed bird, I did find a new adult bird with the metal ring number S_ _ _ _ 70. As you can see, I only managed to get 3 of the 7 digits, so I can't say where this one came from...yet!

Whilst at Alvaston I did, however, find 2 new darvic-ringed Canada Geese - U48 (5280238) and 2N5 (5262968). Both birds had been ringed 17km away at the University of Nottingham's lake. U48 was ringed on 23/06/17, and has only been reported once, at the place of ringing, before my report. 2N5 was ringed on 09/07/16, and was recaptured on 23/06/17, at the same site, before being reported by me today (the first record away from Nottingham).

U48

2N5

Other birds seen at Alvaston were Ring-necked Parakeet (heard), Shoveler and Common Gull (c.5 adults and first winter/2nd calendar year birds).