Darviced Lesser Black-backed Gull

I was down in Worcester for a few days earlier this week, and whilst there I managed to see a Lesser Black-backed Gull with a darvic ring on its leg, swimming around on the River Severn. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to get a photo of the bird out of the water, but I did manage to get a photo of it on the river.

AUJ

As you can (just about) see from the above photo, the bird in question had the darvic ring AUJ. After a quick internet search I found out who had ringed it, and sent off an email. The reply came within 24 hours, and the bird was originally ringed at a Gloucestershire landfill site back in April 2007, 9 years and 39 days ago! The ringer informed me that the bird had been born in 2006, making it 10 years old this year. Since ringing, the bird has been reported on 18 occasions at a couple of landfill sites in Gloucestershire and then on Roath Park Lake in Cardiff. Interestingly, the gull was last recorded, before my sighting, at this park in Cardiff back in January 2011. Where's it been since then? The ringer believes this bird could now be part of the increasing breeding population found in Worcester, so who knows, perhaps I'll find it again on my next visit. I'll definitely have my camera ready!

AUJ

Whilst waiting to get a better shot of the gull I also spent time photographing the numerous darviced Mute Swans that live on the river in the centre of Worcester. In total I photographed 12 different swans, all with darvic rings on their legs. Here's a photo of one.

83L

I saw and photographed one back in January (see here), and found out that it had been ringed just 1km away. All the new birds had the same orange rings, so I'll email the details of yesterday's birds and update the blog with the details.

Interesting Mute Swans

I like Mute Swans, but they aren't usually a bird that I would describe as interesting. They tend to stay in one place, and, compared to their rarer and more mobile cousins (Whooper and Bewick Swans), don't really do anything! Anyway, as you can see from the title of this post, I've got some interesting news about a couple of Mute Swans I've seen recently.

Firstly, is a colour-ringed bird that I saw at the start of January on the flooded river Severn in Worcester.

Mute Swan

This bird, was, as I said, part of a large flock of Mute Swans (100+), that can be found year round on the River Severn in the centre of Worcester. A good number of these birds are colour ringed, and this one, 95G, was seen on Sunday 3rd January 2016. I reported the bird to the BTO (link here), and heard back that it had originally been ringed, as a cygnet, in July 2013, about 1 km away from where I saw it! It was first reported in the "Worcester flock" on 16th March 2014, and hasn't been reported anywhere else.....yet.

The second interesting Mute Swan, is one that I saw last Sunday, whilst walking around Clumber Park with Jayne. At the time I didn't think much about it, just that it was sitting on the tree trunk and looked quite photogenic! I took a picture, and posted it here, and on Twitter. I received a reply to my tweet, saying that it was a "polish" Mute Swan! I didn't think much about this again, until I read an interesting article in the BTO's Bird News tonight, asking for sightings of "polish" Mute Swans! 

Mute Swan

Apparently, this is the name given to a leucistic version of Mute Swan, which is caused by a recessive gene. The birds are white as cygnets, and, when adults, have greyish-pink legs, instead of the usual black ones. Most birds have been recorded in the south of England, mainly in Kent, Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk, so, if this is such a bird, it might be quite a good record. Anyway, I've sent the details off, and will update when I hear back.

Perhaps Mute Swans are interesting after all!!