Two Gulls!

 Over the last couple of weekends I've managed to see a few more of our ringed Black-headed Gulls, at Rufford, and at King's Mill Reservoir.

Last weekend (1st), I had a visit to King's Mill Reservoir, in search of a Scaup (no luck!). Whilst there, I did, however, see Black-headed Gull 234H, a new one for me! It had been ringed, at Center Parcs, as a 3 (born in 2025), in December 2025. This was the first record since ringing.

234H (age 5, born in 2025)

Afterwards, I drove across to Rufford, and spotted 298C, 209H and 225H.

209H

 

Yesterday, I was back at King's Mill Reservoir (still no Scaup!!). This time, I spotted 270C. This was my 7th sighting this winter, but my first away from Rufford. Here's a photo showing a new full, brown hood.

270C

Common Scoter!

 I've only managed 3 visits to Linacre this year (!), so I was very keen to get down this morning. Honestly, I was hoping for some Whooper Swans, as March is usually the best month to get them here, as they drop in, on their journey back north. I didn't get them, but, I did get my first Chiffchaffs, 2 singing and at least 1 seen in the willows by the top reservoir, (111) of the year, and a drake Common Scoter (112) on the top reservoir, my first sighting here since 2017!

Common Scoter

The Scoter was obviously the highlight of today's visit, but I did also have a lot of singing species, and other early signs of breeding from the resident birds. Singing birds were: Song Thrush (3), Blackbird, Dunnock, Wren, Robin, Goldcrest, Chaffinch, Stock Dove, Woodpigeon, Great Tit, Great-spotted Woodpecker (3 drumming), Skylark (1st of the year) and Nuthatch. Other birds seen were: Blue, Coal and Long-tailed Tit, Siskin, Pheasant, Carrion Crow, Raven (1 heard) and Jackdaw. 

Waterbirds seen were: Mallard (55), Tufted Duck (55), Coot (5), Moorhen (7), Grey Wagtail (1 heard), Canada Goose (2), Great-crested Grebe (5 birds: a pair each on the top and middle reservoirs, a and a single bird on the bottom reservoir, Little Grebe (1 on the bottom reservoir), Cormorant (2) and Mandarin Duck (52, the highest count for quite some time, including many birds paired up, flying around the woods and courting the females!.

Mandarin pair

Mandarin Duck

Other birds added to the Year List are: Woodcock (109) - 1 flew over our heads whilst ringing at Linacre on 1st March (!) and Yellowhammer (110) - a single male seen in Apperknowle on 3rd March.

Year List Update

 In the last two weeks, I've added a couple of new species to this year's Year List.

The first new species, Stock Dove (108) was added last week at The Avenue Washlands. The next species, Alexandrine Parakeet, was seen today in Graves Park, Sheffield. Obviously, this species is still not on the British List, so it won't count towards this year's total, but it's still nice to see!

Alexandrine Parakeet

Also seen here were: Mistle Thrush, Great-spotted Woodpecker , Woodpigeon, Stock Dove and, of course, the Ring-necked Parakeets.

Ring-necked Parakeet

Wild Goose Chase!

 Jayne and I drove across to RSPB Frampton Marsh on the search for a few year ticks. As the title of this post implies, it didn't quite go to plan!

We arrived at Frampton hoping to see both Russian/European White-fronted Geese (Anser albifrons albifrons) and Tundra Bean Goose. We got lucky with the White-fronted Geese (104), but, despite 3 attempts throughout the day, we couldn't find the (3 or 4) Bean Geese in amongst the 200+ Pink-footed Geese.

Russian White-fronted Geese (pink beak)

Pink-footed Geese

Other birds seen were: Mute Swan, Canada and Greylag Geese, Black-headed Gull, Mallard, Wigeon, Teal, Pintail (105), Goldeneye (106), Lapwing, Golden Plover, Redshank, Black-tailed Godwit (107), Sparrowhawk and Peregrine Falcon.

Earlier in the week (18th), I also added Whooper Swan (103), to the Year List, when 4 flew over our house, an amazing "garden tick" as well!!! The following day (19th), we also added Red Kite to the garden list!!

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