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

Derbyshire Gulls - 26th October 2020

 I had a little "Gull Tour" yesterday, visiting two of my favourite places in search of over-wintering Black-headed Gulls. Both sites delivered!

The first site, Alvaston Park in Derby, had about 150 Black-headed Gulls (and 1 Common Gull), including 2 well known birds. The first one I saw was a Polish-ringed bird, TLPN, first seen last year (see here for details of ringing), back for its second winter.

TLPN

The second bird at Alvaston was also a returning bird, Danish-ringed VA4073, first seen in November 2018 (see here for ringing details).

VA4073

In the afternoon I drove across to Bakewell, and spotted 2 more ringed Black-headed Gulls. The first one seen here was a new bird, 2T51. This bird, an adult, had been ringed in Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria, on 19th September 2020, and my sighting was the first recorded.

2T51

The last bird see was metal-ringed EY19562, another returning bird, first seen here in November 2018 (see here). It was ringed, as a chick, at Westport Lake, Staffordshire, on 10th December 2014, so is now 6 years old.

EY19562

New Year Gulls - Part 2

As well as visiting Rufford Park last week (see here), I also had a quick visit to Alvaston Park in Derby.

The trip was quite frustrating as, although there were 200+ Black-headed Gulls in and around the lake, I couldn't find any darvic ringed birds in the hour and a half I was there! Thankfully, a well known metal ringed bird, VA4073 ( a Danish-ringed bird, born in May 2018, and seen here in November 2018 and November 2019), came to the rescue.

VA4073

Whilst there, I also saw a couple of darvic ringed Canada Geese. Again, these birds were well known, having been recorded here in February 2019 (see here). The birds had originally been ringed at the University of Nottingham in 2016 and 2017.

U48

2N5

Alvaston Park - 16th November 2019

A couple of weeks ago I was in Alvaston Park, and spotted the Danish ringed Black-headed Gull VA4073, (see here). I was back there again today, and saw it again.

VA4073

Whilst there I also spotted a new-for-me Polish ringed bird, TLPN. This bird, originally ringed in Poland on 8th June 2019, as a pullus, was first seen here on 12th October 2019. It was very confiding, and I managed to get some lovely pictures.

TLPN

One metal ringed bird was also seen. Unfotunately, this bird, also a first winter bird (born this year), was only seen briefly, and I was only able to read the first digit of its ring, 2 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ before it flew off.  Another time perhaps!

2 _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Other birds seen were: 8 Ring-necked Parakeets, 1 Stock Dove, 20+ Canada Geese, Tufted Ducks, Coot, Moorhen, Mute Swan (8) and Common Gull (at least 3).

Common Gulls

Danish Gull VA4073 Returns

A quick trip to Alvaston Park in Derby today looking for gulls produced a Danish-ringed bird, VA4073, a bird that I first saw here in November 2018 (see here), and again in February 2019 (see here). The bird was born and ringed on the island on Hirsholm, Denmark on 26th May 2018 (911km away). When I first saw it, it was in 1st winter plumage, with a few juvenile feathers remaining, and looked like this.

VA4073 in November 2018

It looked very similar in February 2019.

VA4073 in February 2019

Today, after having undergone a full moult, the juvenile feathers were gone, and it looked like this.

VA4073 today

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).

Derby Black-headed Gulls

Back on 11th November, Jayne and I drove down to Alvaston Park in Derby to look for some Ring-necked Parakeets that had been reported there. We found 2 feeding high in the trees on the island in the middle of the lake.

Whilst there we were also very lucky to catch up with 4 ringed Black-headed Gulls. 3 of the gulls were metal ringed and had been ringed in Denmark, Sweden and Finland! The fourth bird had both a metal ring, and a darvic ring, and had originally been ringed in Poland.

Danish bird

The Danish bird was ringed, as a chick, on the island of Hirsholm in northern Denmark, on 26th May 2018, 917km away. 

Swedish bird 022

Unfortunately, I could only get 3 digits from the Swedish ring, so I won't be able to get any more details of this bird.

Finnish bird ST3164 _

I managed to get most of the digits from the Finnish bird's ring, just missing the last one! I've sent off the details that I could see, so hopefully, I'll be able to get some details later.

Polish bird T6TP

The Polish bird had a darvic ring, T6TP. It was ringed as "at least 2 years old" in a wetland area near the Vistula River, Plock on 21st May 2018, 1395km away.

Year List update:

201 - Ring-necked Parakeet