Welcome to my blog all about my birdwatching, wild bird ringing activities and moth recording at Linacre Reservoirs, Derbyshire; in Great Britain and abroad.
Following on from the Wryneck visit yesterday, I travelled over to RSPB Frampton Marsh to pick up another two "year ticks": Temminck's Stint (190) and Curlew Sandpiper (191). Luckily, both species were seen, feeding on the Marsh Farm Reservoir, and I spotted them, just before they were flushed by something, most likely an unseen raptor!
I haven't seen a Wryneck (189) for very many years, and I've never managed to photograph one, so I drove over the RSPB Freiston Shore, in Lincolnshire on 2/9, to see if I could catch up with the bird that has been there since the Bank Holiday weekend. I think the pictures show I was successful! What a bird!
Before I write this blog, I need to clarify something about the title. I was at Linacre this morning, and saw MY first ever Green Sandpiper. It may not be the first ever record, as I was contacted last week by someone, who said they'd seen two there last week. Also, one of the volunteers (Pete) said he, and another volunteer (Antony) had, also seen a "sandpiper" on the top reservoir last week. Despite this, I was very pleased to get my first record.
I know that the title of this post wouldn't come as a surprise to regular readers, as I often blog about ringed gulls here. The reason I've used it though, is because the three ringed Black-headed Gulls are all juvenile/1st winter birds, that have been ringed in three different countries!
The first gull, TCEP (FS70675) is a bird that was ringed in western Poland, right on the border with Germany, as a pullus, on 26th June 2026. This is the first sighting since ringing, and is 1027km from its place of birth.
Hot on the heels of the terrible "record shot" of the Black-winged Kite, here are another awful, distant, heavily cropped photos of a juvenile Red-necked Phalarope (188) that I saw, on Saturday morning, on the top reservoir of Redmires Reservoirs, just over the border in South Yorkshire. It was first reported, whilst I was away in Suffolk, so I was very pleased that it kindly hung around, until we got back. I think it is my first British record!
On 7th September 2025, a Black-winged Kite (Elanus caeruleus), appeared in Hickling Broad, Norfolk. It then toured around other Norfolk sites, before relocating to Hempstead Marshes, Sea Palling on 7th May 2026, and has been reported pretty much every day since! It is just the 3rd British record in the UK, but this species is moving north, through mainland Europe, breeding in France, The Netherlands and Hungary recently, and has also attempted to breed in Denmark (see here). Surely, it won't be long before we get the first British breeding attempt?
Whilst driving back from our holiday in Suffolk, Jayne and I did a detour, and got some excellent (if somewhat distant!) views, as the bird flew around the fields and perched up in the bushes. This bird is my 187th species of the year, my 6th "lifer" of the year, my 309th British bird and my 525th World tick! Here's a very distant record shot!
Amazingly, on the drive across, we also spotted a Hooded Crow, feeding by the side of the road, just outside Great Yarmouth. Unfortunately, it is no longer deemed a separate species from Carrion Crow, so can't be officially added to the "Year List".
Yesterday (27th) was our last full day in Suffolk, so we had a walk down to Southwold Harbour. Whilst there, I spotted a ringed Lesser Black-backed Gull; HE21J.
Checking on the European Colour Ringing website it appears that the bird, a juvenile, was ringed in Northern Germany this summer.
UPDATE: I've just heard back, and this bird was ringed in Schleswig Holstein, Germany, as a pullus, on 9th June 2026. My sighting was the third at Southwold already! It was first seen on 11th August 2026.
