Iceland Gull

 Hot on the heels of yesterday's trip to Scarborough, Jayne and I were out again today, adding another 3 species to the Year List.

The first species was Grey Partridge (96), with a small covey of 5 seen in fields by Apperknowle. After this we headed up to Roundhay Park, Leeds to see if we could catch up with a juvenile Iceland Gull (97), that had been present for a week or two. The bird was found quite easily, perched up by the café (!), and allowed some great views.

Iceland Gull (with rower!)

Iceland Gull (showing white primaries)

Whilst there, we also added Ring-necked Parakeet (98), with two seen. I also spotted some ringed Black-headed Gulls. Not ones ringed by us, but birds that had all been ringed there, on 23rd January 2022, as adults, by the Waterbird Colour Marking Group. The birds seen were: 2E85 (25th sighting here), 2E88 (7th sighting here) and 2E93 (17th sighting here). None of the birds had been reported away from Roundhay Park...yet!

2E85

2E88

2E93

Pennington Flash - 12th January 2025

 Jayne had an appointment in Stockport on Sunday, so, after dropping her off, I drove across to Pennington Flash. The main lake was 95% frozen over, with 100s of birds close to the car park. With so much ice, I was able to find darvic-ringed Mute Swans, Coot, Black-headed and a Lesser Black-backed Gull, as well as 4 " Year Ticks".

The first ringed birds I saw, were all Black-headed Gulls. In total, I saw 9 different birds; 7 British-ringed birds (2T90, 2S94, 213A, 234B, 268C, 269C and 284C), and 2 Norwegian-ringed birds (J2714, ringed near Oslo, as an adult, in May 2024 and J3260, ringed, as a pullus, near Oslo, in June 2023). 

J2714

J3260

The British birds had all been ringed at Pennington, between 2019 and 2022. None had been sighted abroad, except 213A, which was seen in The Netherlands in April 2024 (a possible breeding site?).

The Lesser Black-backed Gull, A70:W, was also seen on the ice. A record have been sent off, and I'll update, when I get the ringing details back.

Lesser Black-backed Gull A70:W

The 9 Mute Swans were all out on the side of the lake, enjoying the food being given out. The ringed birds were: CPT2 (green/W48751, 40ST (blue)/XY46_ _ _, 4FAU (blue), BY6 (blue)/ZY6998, 4BYN (blue)/XY2448, XY5830 (no darvic), XY4465 (no darvic), 4HFI (blue, age 5)/W43982 and 4HDN (blue, age 5).

The final bird, a Coot, with darvic ring J7F, was also out, feeding on the side of the lake. This bird was ringed, as an adult, at Pennington, in December 2020. My sighting was just the 4th since ringing.

Coot

All the Black-headed Gulls and the Coot had been ringed by the Waterbird Colour Marking Group.

After recording all the ringed birds, I had a walk around the reserve. It was very cold, and all the water was frozen. Despite this, I managed to find the following year ticks: Great White Egret (108), Bullfinch (109), Willow Tit (110) and Coal Tit (111).

Great White (and Little) Egret

Cumbrian Gulls (and Geese) - 23rd and 24th August 2023

 Jayne and I had a few days up in the Lake District last week. We stayed in Keswick and visited Derwent Water and Bowness-on-Windermere.

The first darvic-ringed Canada Geese we saw were 3 on Derwent Water (FAPF, FAPZ and FAPK) We also had 1 darvic-ringed Greylag Goose (ZD4) here and 2 darvic-ringed Black-headed Gulls (2X88 and 2B35).

Greylag Goose

2X88

We visited Bowness-on-Windermere, where we spotted a further 5 Canada Geese (FATA, FATB, FANP, FAHZ and AAZZ) and 4 darvic-ringed Black-headed Gulls (212H, 2L78, 2N42 and 2Y90). 

All the Canada Geese and Black-headed Gulls had been ringed in the area by the Waterbird Colour Marking Group and had been recorded locally. 2Y90, however, was particularly interesting, as it had originally been ringed, as a pullus, in Klaipeda, Lithuania on 22nd June 2019, and the darvic had been added, in Bowness, on 2nd January 2021, presumably as a winter visitor. Interestingly, Klaipeda is the site where a Rufford regular, P519, was also ringed.

2Y90

Greylag Goose 4UT

 Jayne and I were in York yesterday. Whilst sat by the river I noticed a Greylag Goose with a darvic ring, 4UT. A quick search revealed that the bird in question had been ringed on 19th June 2017 at Wheldrake Ings Nature Reserve, by Waterbird Colour Marking Group.

4UT

Our sighting was the ninth since ringing, and it had spent time at Wheldrake, Rodley Nature Reserve in Leeds before setting in York city centre from July 2021.