Nottinghamshire Gulls - 27th October 2020

 Following on from yesterday's "Gull Tour" around Derbyshire, today I did the same around Rufford CP and Clumber Park in Nottinghamshire.

My first stop was Rufford, where, despite horizontal rain (!) and a chilly wind, I managed to see 5 darviced Black-headed Gulls, including two which were new to me. The familiar birds were 217A, 246A and P519 (click on the bird's labels for details of these birds). 

217A

246A

P519

The 2 new birds were 258A and a 1st winter bird (born this year) with the ring number JO116. 258A is one of "our" birds, ringed by Sorby Breck and Birklands Ringing Group, at the start of 2020 (full details to come), but I couldn't find the project for JO116, on the colour ringing website. I'm pretty sure it is a Norwegian bird. Details have been sent off, so I'll update as soon as I hear back.

258A

JO116

After Rufford, I drove across to Clumber Park. There were about 50 birds present (plus 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls), but unfortunately no darvics.

Derbyshire Gulls - 26th October 2020

 I had a little "Gull Tour" yesterday, visiting two of my favourite places in search of over-wintering Black-headed Gulls. Both sites delivered!

The first site, Alvaston Park in Derby, had about 150 Black-headed Gulls (and 1 Common Gull), including 2 well known birds. The first one I saw was a Polish-ringed bird, TLPN, first seen last year (see here for details of ringing), back for its second winter.

TLPN

The second bird at Alvaston was also a returning bird, Danish-ringed VA4073, first seen in November 2018 (see here for ringing details).

VA4073

In the afternoon I drove across to Bakewell, and spotted 2 more ringed Black-headed Gulls. The first one seen here was a new bird, 2T51. This bird, an adult, had been ringed in Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria, on 19th September 2020, and my sighting was the first recorded.

2T51

The last bird see was metal-ringed EY19562, another returning bird, first seen here in November 2018 (see here). It was ringed, as a chick, at Westport Lake, Staffordshire, on 10th December 2014, so is now 6 years old.

EY19562

Year List Update - 26th October 2020

 I last updated the Year List at the beginning of September. Since then, I've had several trips out and about, and have added 11 new specie, including a "British tick".

The first trip, to RSPB Frampton Marsh on 19th September, added 3 species, numbers 164 - 166. The next bird, my "British tick" was on 4th October, when Jayne and I saw a very confiding Hoopoe, feeding on a cricket pitch on the edge of Leeds!

Hoopoe

Numbers 168 - 171, were recorded at WWT Slimbridge on Saturday, whilst the Great White Egret, was seen at Blenheim Palace lake yesterday.

Whilst eating dinner at Blenheim I saw that a Grey Phalarope had been found on the River Wye at Bakewell. Thankfully, it stayed all day, and I managed to catch up with it just before dark (which was good, because it had gone this morning!)

Grey Phalarope

The final addition was today, with 2 Cattle Egrets that I travelled to see at Cranfield Farm, Long Eaton.

Cattle Egret

Year List update:

164 – Curlew Sandpiper
165 – Little Stint
166 – Pintail
167 – Hoopoe
168 – Marsh Harrier
169 – Russian White-fronted Goose
170 – Bittern
171 – Cetti’s Warbler
172 – Great White Egret
173 – Grey Phalarope
174 – Cattle Egret

Black-headed Gulls 214A and P519

 The draw of gulls saw me back at Rufford CP again yesterday afternoon. There had been a big increase in gull numbers, with c200 Black-headed Gulls present.

Whilst there, I managed to find a new (for me) green-ringed bird, 214A. This bird had been ringed at Center Parcs, as an adult, 2km away, on 17th January 2019. My sighting was only the second sighting since then. The first, on 26th November 2019, was at Center Parcs. I managed to get a few photos, of a very dirty ring!!

214A (honestly!!)

214's legs and rings

The only other darviced bird seen was the Lithuanian-ringed bird, P519.

P519

Yesterday's visit saw my first Common Gulls of the winter, with 2 1st winter birds in amongst the Black-headed Gulls. Unfortunately, neither gull was ringed, so I don't know how far they've travelled, unlike the darvic-ringed bird that I found at Clumber Park last winter (see here).

Common Gull

Common Gull

Linacre WeBS - 17th October 2020

Yesterday I had a couple of hours at Linacre to carry out this month's WeBS walk. There had been a notable increase in duck numbers, and I recorded the highest count for Mandarin Duck for the year.

Numbers were: 140 Mallard, 105 Mandarin Duck, 43 Tufted Duck, 12 Moorhen, 4 Coot, 4 Grey Wagtail, 1 Grey Heron, 16 Black-headed Gull and 5 Lesser Black-backed Gull.

Grey Heron

Other birds reported around the reservoirs were: Blackbird, Wren, Starling (c.25 over), Treecreeper (2), Jay, Crow, Blue, Great, Coal and Long-tailed Tit, Nuthatch, Great-spotted and Green Woodpecker and  Tawny Owl (heard).

Later in the day, I saw a report of c140 Pink-footed Geese that had been reported flying over Linacre later in the morning. This was the first report of the year.

Linacre Ringing - 11th October 2020

 Last Sunday, 4 members of Sorby Breck Ringing Group were down at Linacre for a ringing session. It was quite quiet, with just 19 birds of  8 species ringed, but 2 Lesser Redpolls were very nice.

Bird numbers were (new/retrap): Blue Tit 3/0, Robin 1/0, Dunnock 4/0, Goldcrest 2/1, Blackbird 2/0, Treecreeper 2/0, Chaffinch 2/0 and Lesser Redpoll 2/0. 

The retrap Goldcrest, was one that we had ringed in September 2020.

Rufford Gulls - 11th October 2020

 I drove across to Rufford CP for a couple of hours yesterday, and saw 3 darvic ringed Black-headed Gulls.

The first gull I saw was the Lithuanian-ringed bird, P519, first seen at Rufford in January 2018. It was seen again in November 2018, and I  first saw this bird in February 2019. The bird was then seen throughout the winter 2019 - 2020. Yesterday's sighting was the first for this winter period. It is at least 10 years old, having been ringed as an adult bird in April 2010, 1456km away.

P519

The other two gulls seen (206A and 240A) were both green-ringed birds, first ringed at the nearby Center Parcs. 206A had been ringed in Dec 2018, as an adult bird. I saw this bird 4 times, all at Rufford, last  August and September. Yesterday's sighting was the first since then.

206A

240A was a new bird for me (at Rufford). This bird is a regular at Center Parcs, especially around the feeders of the Wildlife Centre. I only got a brief view and one quick photo.

240A