Nottinghamshire Gulls

This week I had a couple of visits looking for wintering Black-headed Gulls.

The first trip was to Rufford Country Park on Wednesday, where there were approximately 100  gulls including several familiar birds: V77K, a Danish -ringed bird born in 2015, British-ringed EL87245, 243A (ringed at Sherwood Center Parcs, in December 2019), 246A, ringed by me at Center Parcs on 21st December 2019 (see here), and my first sighting since and 259A, also ringed at Center Parcs, this time on 1st February 2020, and also the first sighting away from that site.

246A at Rufford CP

My second trip was around Clumber Park on Saturday, where there were 300+ gulls around the main lake. The majority were Black-headed, but there were also a dozen or so Common Gulls. Whilst there I managed to see 5 darvic-ringed Black-headed Gulls: 217A, 237A, 246A (again!) and 2 new ones for me, 257A (ringed at Center Parcs on 1st February 2020) and 2ASN, a second winter bird, that had been ringed, as a chick, at Rutland Water in June 2019.

257A

2ASN

Year List Update

It's been quite a while since I last updated the blog, so here's a post about the bird species I've seen since then.

The first new species for the year are Red-legged and Grey Partridges, which were seen near Rufford and at Apperknowle.

The next bird, a Black-throated Thrush, was a 1st winter bird that has been present in Grimsby for several weeks, and is the second time I've seen since this species in Britain, the first being way back in 1997! Here's a heavily cropped record shot.

Black-throated Thrush

The two owl species, Little and Tawny, were both added within 24 hours of each other! The Little Owl was seen perched in a tree in Apperknowle, whilst the Tawny Owl was heard calling (male and female) from the bedroom.

The last three species were added today in Keithley, West Yorkshire. The Waxwings (15 in total) were seen feeding on a Rowan tree, whilst the Iceland Gull, a juvenile/1st winter bird, and the Oystercatchers (2), were on Redcar Tarn, on the outskirts of Keighley.

Waxwings

Iceland Gull

Year List update:
84 – Red-legged Partridge
85 – Grey Partridge
86 – Black-throated Thrush
87 – Little Owl
88 – Tawny Owl
89 – Waxwing
90 – Iceland Gull
91 – Oystercatcher

2N78 again

Last April I saw an adult Black-headed Gull in Bakewell with the darvic ring 2N78 (see here). I didn't see it again last year, but yesterday, whilst in Bakewell, it reappeared in almost exactly the same spot!.

2N78

As you can see, it's just beginning to develop its black hood, ready for the breeding season. As far as I know, it hasn't been reported anywhere else since ringing in December 2018, but it does seem that Bakewell is a regular wintering spot.