Gulls, Parakeets and a Swan

 Yesterday, I had my first visit to Alvaston Park in Derby since January (see here), hoping to catch up with some returning Black-headed Gulls. Unfortunately, I was too early, as there were only about 30 birds present, none of which were ringed. Whilst there, I did record 20+ Mute Swans (non ringed), 30+ Canada Geese, Coots, Moorhens, a Stock Dove and 2 Ring-necked Parakeets.

Afterwards, I drove across to Rufford CP and, despite there only being about 30 Black-headed Gulls present, I did manage to find one ringed bird, 230A, a very well known bird (see here).

230A

Also present were a couple of Mute Swans, including a male bird with a metal ring, W17328. It's a bird I've seen here before (in September 2019), and it was ringed by the Birklands Ringing Group, 3km away at Pittance Pond in Edwinstowe on 5th October 2012, as a 3 (born that year). 

Mute Swan W17328

Small Red-eyed Damselfly

 I spent a couple of hours at Pleasley Pit Nature Reserve yesterday afternoon, after seeing reports on social media, of both Small Red-eyed Damselfly and Brown Hairstreak (butterfly) there.

When I arrived I went straight to the "dragonfly ponds", where I met (by accident) the person who had posted details of both species the day before. He gave me directions of where to find the damselfly, and I managed to get excellent views (about 2m away) of at least 4 males. This is only my fourth siting of this species (see here), and my first in Derbyshire. I managed to get lots of photos, but this one is my favourite as it shows the diagnostic features, separating it from the much commoner Red-eyed Damselfly.

Small Red-eyed Damselfly

The key identification features include a smaller size, the blue sections on top of segments nine and ten (last two segments at the end), and on the sides of segments eight (third from the end), one and two, of the abdomen, paler red eyes and a black "X"-shaped marking on the top of segment ten. One other feature, shown nicely in this photo, is the way the abdomen is held slightly up turned (Red-eyed Damselflies hold it straight when at rest).

Whilst on site, I also managed to spot several other species, including Emperor (female ovipositing), Migrant and Southern Hawker, Emerald Damselfly, Common and Ruddy Dater.

Ruddy Darter (obelisquing to keep cool)

The other reason for my visit was to hopefully see Brown Hairstreak butterflies. Despite a couple of "possibles" I didn't confirm a siting (this time!) as the rain started. I did, however, see 3 Small Tortoiseshell, 1 Brimstone and 1 Meadow Brown.

Linacre - 12th August 2020

 The temperature was a cracking 27 degrees again today, so I decided to have a couple of hours down at Linacre to see which insects I could see. I started off in the ringing site and saw 4 Gatekeepers, 1 Comma, 2 Peacock, 2 Small Coppers, 1 Red Admiral, 2 Silver Y moths, and 3 Shaded Broad Bars. 

Silver Y

Small Copper

Walking around the reservoirs, I added Common Blue Damselflies (including pairs ovipositing), 4 Brown Hawkers (my first Linacre record of 2020), a couple of male Blue-tailed Damselflies, and, very nicely, a male Banded Demoiselle flying over the top reservoir (my first Linacre record since 2015, and only my second ever record here). Another hawker, possibly Southern, was seen hunting along one of the paths by the middle reservoir. 

There were plenty of hoverflies around the site, including 1 Volucella pellucens a.k.a. Great Pied Hoverfly, and a single Myathropa florea a.k.a. "Batman hoverfly".

Myathropa florea

Birdwise, it was quite quiet, as is to expected, but I did have 2 Black-headed Gulls on the bottom reservoir (a very unusual August record), 11 Great-crested Grebes (2 family parties with 4 and 3 chicks, and 4 adults) and 2 Kingfishers on the bottom reservoir.

Rufford Gulls - 11th August 2020

 I spent a couple of hours at Rufford CP yesterday. There were about 100 Black-headed Gulls present, and, surprising, approximately 80 Lesser Black-backed Gulls! 

The temperature was a very warm 27 degrees, so most of the birds were sitting around on the water, and weren't particularly interested in coming into bread. Eventually, after about 2 hours I spotted 2 darviced gulls: 230A and 247A.

I've seen both of these birds before at Rufford. 230A is a regular bird (see labels 230A), whilst 247A was one that I've only seen on one occasion before (see here). I'm sure I'll see them both around over the following winter period.

230A

247A

As well as the gulls, I also saw a male Banded Demoiselle, which was my first record there.

Wales 2020

 Jayne and I have just a couple of weeks in Wales, staying in Tenby. It was a family holiday, but we also saw a few nice bits of wildlife, including 5 "year ticks": Rock Pipit, Shag, Sandwich Tern, Manx Shearwater and Chough.

The Rock Pipits and Sandwich Terns (14), were seen in and around Tenby, whilst the Chough (4 birds) were seen about 2 miles out of the town on a headland opposite Caldy Island and the Shag and Manx Shearwaters (100s!!) were seen on a boat trip out of St David's. 

I also had my first Beautiful Demoiselle of the year on the river by St David's cathedral.

As expected, there were lots of Herring Gulls in and around the town, including a metal ringed bird, GC60771, that had been ringed on Caldy Island, 6km away, as a nestling, on 1st June 2010.

Herring Gull, GC6077

Year List update:

153 – Rock Pipit

154 – Sandwich Tern

155 – Chough

156 - Shag

157 – Manx Shearwater