Rufford and Clumber - 27th November 2021

 I had a couple of hours at Rufford and Clumber this afternoon. It was cold (3 degrees and very windy) with a few snow flurries. Despite this, there were only about 100 Black-headed Gulls at Rufford and a similar number at Clumber.

Ringed birds seen at Rufford were 217A and 258A, both familiar birds. There were also a couple of Common Gulls present.

217A

258A

Clumber was also very cold and windy, and I only managed to find 1 metal-ringed Black-headed Gull, a Danish ringed individual, VAO171. I first saw this bird here in November 2018 and again in December 2020. It had originally been ringed, 872km away, on the Danish island of Hirsholm on 12th June 2015.

VAO171

Also present today, was Mute Swan Y358. Again, a familiar bird, ringed on  6th September 2019, and first seen by me at Clumber on 31st August 2021.

Y358

Also present were 1 adult Lesser Black-backed Gull and an immature/1st winter Common Gull.

Common Gull

Linacre WeBS and Ringing - November 2021

November's WeBS walk took place on 7th. Birds seen were: Mallard (95), Mandarin (23), Coot (9), Moorhen (15; 10 adults and 5 juveniles), Tufted Duck (43), Little Grebe (3), Goosander (3, 2 females and 1 male), Grey Wagtail (1) and Cormorant (2). 3 Pied Wagtails were seen on the fields by the main entrance, along with c.30 Starlings.

Our last ringing session took place on 14th November. A total of 45 birds were ringed as follows (new/retrap): Blackbird 2/0, Redwing 3/0, Blue Tit 15/4, Great Tit 4/0, Long-tailed Tit 5/0, Coal Tit 3/1, Goldcrest 2/1, Robin 1/1, Nuthatch 0/1 and Great-spotted Woodpecker 1/0.

Rufford Gulls - 30th October and 6th November 2021

 I've recently had a couple of trips across to Rufford Country Park to check on the wintering Black-headed Gulls. 

During last week's trip, on the 30th October, there were c.200 Black-headed Gulls, 6 Common Gulls and 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, along with six darvic-ringed gulls present, namely 206A, 217A, 246A, 255A, 258A, EUM3 (Dutch bird) and P519 (Lithuanian bird - first sighting this winter). Click on the labels to see details of the birds' histories. 

P519

In addition there were 6 Mute Swans, including W17328, a bird ringed just 2km away on 5th October 2012, as a 3, born that year. I also had a new Canada Goose, 5270929, which had originally been ringed at Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire on 12th May 2016, as an adult. A distance of 21km and 1997 days since ringing. This was the first record since then!

It was much quieter on today's visit, with  c.100 Black-headed Gulls , 1 Common Gull and 1 Lesser Black-backed Gulls present. Ringed gulls seen were: 258A, EUM3 and JO116. The last bird was a returning bird, first seen here in October 2021 as a 1st winter bird (see here), that had been ringed, as a pullus, in Norway in 2020.

JO116

Common Gull

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Scotland - October 2021

 Jayne and I were in Scotland last week, where we added a few birds to the "year list" and had another couple of possibles.

We were based in North Berwick, where we added the first new bird, Eider Duck. Several birds were seen on a daily basis in and around the harbour and beaches. Other birds seen here were: Black-headed, Great Black-backed and Herring Gulls, Pink-footed Goose (flying over), Pied Wagtail, Rock Pipit, Starling, Nuthatch, Redshank, Turnstone, Curlew, Oystercatcher, Red-throated Diver, Shag, Cormorant and Purple Sandpiper.

Roosting Redshank, Turnstone and Oystercatcher

Whilst there, we also had a trip to Aberlady Bay and Gullane Bents where we added Wigeon, Teal, Little Egret, Common Scoter, Grey Plover and Black-tailed Godwit.

A trip to Musselburgh Lagoons gave us Velvet Scoter, hundreds of Curlew and Oystercatcher, Bar-tailed Godwit, Knot, Lapwing, Redshank and Dunlin. In addition we had a possible American Wigeon (or hybrid) and a probable fly-by male Surf Scoter (all black body, with white on the head).

American Wigeon

Year List update:

175 - Eider Duck

176 - Grey Plover 

177 - Velvet Scoter 

178 - Knot 

179 - Common Scoter

Derbyshire Snow Bunting - 9th October 2021

 Last Saturday, Jayne and I popped across to Carsington Water to see if we could see the Snow Bunting that had been reported. We found it, feeding on the weeds on the dam wall and performed beautifully for us. A great "Derbyshire tick".

Snow Bunting

Whilst there, we also had two flocks of Pink-footed Geese fly overhead (13 and a group of c40), which, amazingly, were a "Year tick".

Year List update:

173 - Pink-footed Goose

174 - Snow Bunting

Linacre WeBS - 9th October 2021

 Last week was the WeBS count at Linacre. I was on site for two hours, in grey, overcast conditions with frequent drizzle - lovely!! 

The first hour and a half was pretty slow with the following recorded: Mallard (92), Moorhen (8, 5 adults and 3 juveniles), Coot (6), Grey Wagtail (5), Great-crested Grebe (6, 2 adults and 4 juveniles), Mandarin (9!!!!!- very low for this time of the year, where are they all???), Black-headed Gull (7) and Tufted Duck (24).

Just as I was heading back to the car, I took another look over the middle reservoir and spotted..... 6 Shoveler (1male and 5 females - my first Linacre record, the first since 2015, and only the second record that I'm aware of!!), 1 male Wigeon (2nd record of the year) and 1 female-type Teal (the first record since 2018). Presumably, they were flying over and got brought down by the rain and drizzle. What a way to end a WeBS count!!

Shoveler (1male and 1female)

Scarborough, Saltburn and Whitby

 This weekend, Jayne and I had a couple of days on the East Coast. We stayed in Scarborough, and saw Herring, Black-headed and Great Black-backed Gulls. There were also several Terns around, including this one (below), which I presume is either Common or Arctic.

"Commic" Tern

There were also many Razorbills and Guillemots very close in, including 18 in Scarborough Harbour this morning. An adult Kittiwake was also seen, as were 5 Red-throated Divers (3 from Saltburn Pier and 2 in Scarborough South Bay.

Razorbill

Guillemot

Waders seen were: Redshank, Oystercatcher, Turnstone and Curlew.

Year List update:

171 - Hobby (seen at school!! on 6th September)

172 - Red-throated Diver