Rufford Gulls - Two Visits

 So far this month, I've had a couple of visits to Rufford, to look at the gulls (1st and 17th).

My visit on the 1st was quite quiet, with c.70 Black-headed Gulls present. Ringed birds were: 280B, 202C, 270C, 298C, 208H and 225H. 13 Goosanders (10 males and 3 females), 1 Grey Wagtail and 1 male Pochard were also seen.

280B

Yesterday's visit was also quite quiet, with c.50 Black-headed Gulls, 1 Herring Gull and 1 Common Gull seen. Ringed birds were: 295A, 280B, 207C, 255C, 258C, 273C, 298C, 200H, 208H, a new bird 224H and 225H.

224H

As you can see, this photo of 224H is quite different from my "normal" ones. It was a rushed shot, that I got just before the bird flew off, but I've kept it, as it looks quite atmospheric! 224H is obviously a 1st winter/2nd calendar year bird (born in 2025), and this is my first sighting since it was ringed at the end of last year. Here's a more "traditional" shot of the same bird.

224H again

Rufford - Site Tick!

Yesterday (17th), I went across to Rufford for an early start. I arrived at 8am (not that early!) and spent some time at the Abbey end of the park, before heading over to the mill for a look at the gulls.

I was there early on to look for Hawfinch. Whilst waiting, I picked up two "year ticks", Great-spotted Woodpecker (99) and Treecreeper (100).  Shortly after, one Hawfinch (101) flew in and posed beautifully, against the beautiful blue sky, for a minute or two.

Hawfinch (female?)

After enjoying the Hawfinch, I headed across the park to the Mill end to look at the gulls. I'll blog about that later. As it was still quite early, there weren't many people about, so I managed to see a species that I've never seen there before, a Great White Egret (102)! The bird flew the length of the lake, before landing and fishing just by the path. I walked across, and managed to get this back-lit image. A lovely addition to the site's birds.

Great White Egret

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

Scarborough - 14th February 2026

 Yesterday, Jayne and I had a sunny day in Scarborough and RSPB Bempton Cliffs, adding 7 new birds to this year's Year List.

We started off in Scarborough, where we saw a juvenile Great Northern Diver (89), in the harbour. Apart from that, it was very quiet, with no waders seen! 

Great Northern Diver

After a spot of lunch (it was Valentine's Day after all!), we headed up to Holbeck Car Park, for Mediterranean Gull (90). Three individuals were seen, including 1 adult and 2 2nd winter birds.

Mediterranean Gull

Our final stop of the day was RSPB Bempton Cliffs, where we had amazing views of hunting Barn Owl (3, maybe 4 birds seen), and also added Gannet (91), Fulmar (92), Linnet (93), Meadow Pipit (94), and Short-eared Owl (95), to the Year List.

Linacre - 8th February 2026

 Last weekend (8th), I went down to Linacre and walked around all three reservoirs. All was as normal, but I did manage to get my highest count of Mandarin Duck for some time, and added Kingfisher (88th bird of the year) to the Year List, when 1 was seen flying along the middle reservoir.

Birds seen/heard were: Mallard (49), Tufted Duck (69), Mandarin Duck (68), Coot (5), Moorhen (6), Great-crested Grebe (3; 1 winter plumaged and 2 breeding plumaged birds on the middle reservoir), Little Grebe (1 breeding plumaged bird on the bottom reservoir), Cormorant (1 on top reservoir), Goosander (1 female), Grey Heron (1 flying over) and Grey Wagtail (1). 

Year List Update

 As January comes to an end, I felt it was time to update the Year List. There have been 5 new species since my last post.

The first addition was Brambling (83), that Jayne and I saw last weekend, at the National Trust Longshaw Estate. In total, there were 200+ birds in a mixed finch flock, including Brambling, Goldfinch and Chaffinch.

Brambling

The next 3 species were all seen this morning, during a ringing session in Shirebrook, Sheffield. Birds seen were: Goldcrest (84), Skylark (85 - flying over) and Bullfinch (86 - 1 male heard and seen).

The final bird was Red-crested Pochard (87). I saw this bird this afternoon, on Wingerworth Lido, Chesterfield, and it was most likely the same bird I had on a nearby pond last year. It was hanging around with the Mallards, and appeared to be interested in one of the female birds. Other species seen here were: Tufted Duck, Goosander (4; 2 males and 2 females), Mute Swan ( 2 birds), Moorhen, Coot and Black-headed Gulls (c.30).

Red-crested Pochard

Linacre WeBS - 24th January 2026

 I hadn't been able to get down to Linacre until today (!), so this month's WeBS count took place today. The highlight was, undoubtable, the 12 Goosanders (6 male and 6 female) that were on the middle reservoir. Other good sightings included, 2 Little Grebes ( on the bottom reservoir), an adult Herring Gull, (first January record, I think), 1 Great-crested Grebe and 5 Cormorants.

Cormorant

The other main species were: Mallard (56), Tufted Duck (58), Mandarin Duck (29), Coot (5), Moorhen (4) and Grey Wagtail (1). 1 Raven flying over was also good to see.

Two new species were added to this year's Year List: Crossbill (81) and Jay (82).