Welcome to my blog all about my birdwatching, wild bird ringing activities and moth recording at Linacre Reservoirs, Derbyshire; in Great Britain and abroad.
So, it's the final day of 2021 and another year of "year listing" has come to an end. I ended the year on 181 species, including 5 "lifers": Long-tailed Skua, Black-browed Albatross, Elegant Tern, Pacific Golden Plover and White-tailed Lapwing.
The last two species to add to the blog are: Sanderling (seen in Alnmouth on 29th) and a red head Smew (see yesterday at Widdrington Moor Lake, Northumberland).
Year List update:
180: Sanderling
181 - Smew
Here are the details of my last two visits to Rufford CP, including some old favourites, and a brand new Black-headed Gull.
First up, the visit on the 12th that included the following gull: 206A, 217A, 258A, 273A, 282A, 293A, EL87245, P519, EUM3 and V77K. All known birds, except 282A and 293A, which had been ringed at Center Parcs the week before.
Yesterday's visit, on the 23rd, saw the following birds reported: 217A, 258A, 281A, 284A, 293A, 299A, V77K, EUM3, P519, JO116, EL87245 and S20B. Again, many familiar birds, with the exception of 281A, 284A and 299A (all ringed this winter at Center Parcs), and S20B. Looking on the internet, this bird appears to have been ringed in Zagreb, Croatia, on 2nd February 2012. If confirmed, this will be my first record of a bird from this country, and only the second record of this bird since ringing! The only other record was in Austria in February 2012, shortly after having been ringed.
I had a couple of hours at Rufford and Clumber this afternoon. It was cold (3 degrees and very windy) with a few snow flurries. Despite this, there were only about 100 Black-headed Gulls at Rufford and a similar number at Clumber.
Ringed birds seen at Rufford were 217A and 258A, both familiar birds. There were also a couple of Common Gulls present.
November's WeBS walk took place on 7th. Birds seen were: Mallard (95), Mandarin (23), Coot (9), Moorhen (15; 10 adults and 5 juveniles), Tufted Duck (43), Little Grebe (3), Goosander (3, 2 females and 1 male), Grey Wagtail (1) and Cormorant (2). 3 Pied Wagtails were seen on the fields by the main entrance, along with c.30 Starlings.
Our last ringing session took place on 14th November. A total of 45 birds were ringed as follows (new/retrap): Blackbird 2/0, Redwing 3/0, Blue Tit 15/4, Great Tit 4/0, Long-tailed Tit 5/0, Coal Tit 3/1, Goldcrest 2/1, Robin 1/1, Nuthatch 0/1 and Great-spotted Woodpecker 1/0.
I've recently had a couple of trips across to Rufford Country Park to check on the wintering Black-headed Gulls.
During last week's trip, on the 30th October, there were c.200 Black-headed Gulls, 6 Common Gulls and 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, along with six darvic-ringed gulls present, namely 206A, 217A, 246A, 255A, 258A, EUM3 (Dutch bird) and P519 (Lithuanian bird - first sighting this winter). Click on the labels to see details of the birds' histories.
In addition there were 6 Mute Swans, including W17328, a bird ringed just 2km away on 5th October 2012, as a 3, born that year. I also had a new Canada Goose, 5270929, which had originally been ringed at Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire on 12th May 2016, as an adult. A distance of 21km and 1997 days since ringing. This was the first record since then!
It was much quieter on today's visit, with c.100 Black-headed Gulls , 1 Common Gull and 1 Lesser Black-backed Gulls present. Ringed gulls seen were: 258A, EUM3 and JO116. The last bird was a returning bird, first seen here in October 2021 as a 1st winter bird (see here), that had been ringed, as a pullus, in Norway in 2020.
Jayne and I were in Scotland last week, where we added a few birds to the "year list" and had another couple of possibles.
We were based in North Berwick, where we added the first new bird, Eider Duck. Several birds were seen on a daily basis in and around the harbour and beaches. Other birds seen here were: Black-headed, Great Black-backed and Herring Gulls, Pink-footed Goose (flying over), Pied Wagtail, Rock Pipit, Starling, Nuthatch, Redshank, Turnstone, Curlew, Oystercatcher, Red-throated Diver, Shag, Cormorant and Purple Sandpiper.
Whilst there, we also had a trip to Aberlady Bay and Gullane Bents where we added Wigeon, Teal, Little Egret, Common Scoter, Grey Plover and Black-tailed Godwit.
A trip to Musselburgh Lagoons gave us Velvet Scoter, hundreds of Curlew and Oystercatcher, Bar-tailed Godwit, Knot, Lapwing, Redshank and Dunlin. In addition we had a possible American Wigeon (or hybrid) and a probable fly-by male Surf Scoter (all black body, with white on the head).
Year List update:
175 - Eider Duck
176 - Grey Plover
177 - Velvet Scoter
178 - Knot
179 - Common Scoter
Last Saturday, Jayne and I popped across to Carsington Water to see if we could see the Snow Bunting that had been reported. We found it, feeding on the weeds on the dam wall and performed beautifully for us. A great "Derbyshire tick".
Last week was the WeBS count at Linacre. I was on site for two hours, in grey, overcast conditions with frequent drizzle - lovely!!
The first hour and a half was pretty slow with the following recorded: Mallard (92), Moorhen (8, 5 adults and 3 juveniles), Coot (6), Grey Wagtail (5), Great-crested Grebe (6, 2 adults and 4 juveniles), Mandarin (9!!!!!- very low for this time of the year, where are they all???), Black-headed Gull (7) and Tufted Duck (24).
Just as I was heading back to the car, I took another look over the middle reservoir and spotted..... 6 Shoveler (1male and 5 females - my first Linacre record, the first since 2015, and only the second record that I'm aware of!!), 1 male Wigeon (2nd record of the year) and 1 female-type Teal (the first record since 2018). Presumably, they were flying over and got brought down by the rain and drizzle. What a way to end a WeBS count!!
This weekend, Jayne and I had a couple of days on the East Coast. We stayed in Scarborough, and saw Herring, Black-headed and Great Black-backed Gulls. There were also several Terns around, including this one (below), which I presume is either Common or Arctic.
On the weekend of 11th and 12th I was down at Linacre to carry out the month's WeBS walk and have a ringing session with Sorby Breck Ringing Group.
The WeBS count recorded the following results: Mallard (88), Mandarin Duck (91), Tufted Duck (17), Moorhen (18; 12 adults and 6 juveniles), Coot (7), Grey Wagtail (5), Grey Heron (2), Great-crested Grebe (5; 2 adults and 3 juveniles - two broods), Cormorant (1) and Black-headed Gull (1). Chiffchaff was also heard (wheeting), and c.20 House Martins were over the top reservoir.
The ringing session, on the 12th, resulted in 26 birds of 8 species, and included our first Jay and Treecreeper of the year (both juveniles), along with 4 juvenile Chiffchaffs, 11 Blue Tits (10 new and 1 retrap - the retrap having been ringed in box 23a on 3/6/21 by me), 5 Great Tits (3 new and 2 retraps- both trapped earlier in the year at Linacre), 1 juvenile Goldcrest, 2 juvenile Robins, and 1 juvenile Blackbird.
Last month (31st) I went across to RSPB Blacktoft Sands to see my fourth "lifer" of the year, a White-tailed Lapwing. It gave great views from Xerox Hide, and I managed some nice photos. A lovely bird!
The last new addition, Whinchat, was seen on Big Moor, Derbyshire, on 1st September.
Year List update:After a very cloudy, overcast August, with very few periods of sunshine, and lower than average temperatures, it was lovely to be down at Linacre this afternoon enjoying some bright sunshine and 23 degrees of heat!!
As always, the sun brought out the butterflies and I managed to record 2 Red Admirals, 1 Small Tortoiseshell, 1 Peacock, 6 Speckled Woods, 1 Meadow Brown, 1 Wall Brown (male), 1 Comma, 1 Purple Hairstreak and a very tatty looking Common Blue Butterfly.
As well as the butterflies, I also managed to find 1 Common Darter, 1 Migrant Hawker and 4 Brown Hawkers, including a very obliging individual.
Yesterday I had a drive over to RSPB Frampton Marsh to see a couple of nice birds: Pacific Golden Plover (lifer!) and Black Stork (British tick).
The Pacific Golden Plover was very easy to see, as it fed for the whole visit on a small piece of water on the marsh, about 20m from the sea wall. I got excellent views via the 'scope and even managed a half decent photo.
I had my forst visit to Linacre since betting back from Cornwall, on Tuesday. It was a very grey, overcast day, with a maximum of 16 degrees and frequent drizzly rain! Thankfully, there were a few breaks in the cloud, which allowed me to see a few insects, including a new species for me at Linacre - Volucella zonaria!
Volucella zonaria is a species of hoverfly that has been extending its range in Britain over the last few years. I've recorded it in Derbyshire before (at Hardwick Hall), but Tuesday's sighting was my first at Linacre. 2 individuals were seen, along with two other Volucella species; Volucella inanis and Volucella pellucens (no photo).
Whilst in Cornwall this summer I managed to see a few species of dragon and damselfly: Migrant and Southern Hawker and Beautiful Demoiselle.
The Southern Hawker was seen at several sites, including The Lost Gardens of Heligan, whilst the Migrant Hawker was seen in the grounds of our holiday let.
The Beautiful Demoiselle was seen at the National Trust's Cotehele.
Jayne and I have just had a couple of weeks in Cornwall. Whilst there, we managed to see a few birds, including a couple of old friends (Herring Gulls), one "year tick" and 2 new darvic-ringed Great Black-backed Gulls.
The familiar birds were two Herring Gulls that we saw in St Ives on 6th August. The gulls, W:186 and W:195, have both been seen in previous visits to Cornwall, having been ringed there in 17th June 2014 and 26th June 2014 respectively.
The new birds, two Great Black-backed Gulls, were both spotted in and around Looe. The first one, L:AY6, was seen on two occasions (30th July and 12th August) in the harbour area. It had been ringed, as a pullus, on Looe Island, on 20th July 2012, and had been reported in and around the harbour ever since. My sighting was the first since June 2020.
The second gull, L:BB6, was spotted on rocks on Hannafore Point, opposite Looe Island, on 9th August 2021. It too had been ringed on Looe Island, as a pullus, on 24th June 2013. This bird had travelled a little further than the harbour, having been seen in Dawlish Warren, Devon, in 2016 and 2017, before returning to Looe Island to breed. My record was the first since 2019.
I had my first trip to Bakewell today to see if there were any returning Black-headed Gulls. There were!
In total, there were about 30/40 birds, including a good number of juveniles. There were also lots of people (!), so it took me over two hours before I found my first ringed bird, a metal-ringed adult bird from Finland. Unfortunately, I only managed to get 4 digits of its ring, T321, so I won't be able to find out where or when it was ringed.
After yesterday's visit to Cemlyn Lagoon, I drove across to RSPB South Stack. The target species was Chough, and I was not disappointed!!
I parked in the first car park, and the first bid I saw and heard was.... Chough!! In total I saw a minimum of 16 birds, which flew over my head calling, before landing on the cliffs about 10m away. Wow!! Many of the birds were darvic-ringed, and I managed to get 6 numbers, so I'll update with details as soon as I get them back. Here are a few photos.
I was out "twitching" again yesterday! This time, I went to Cemlyn Lagoon, a North Wales Wildlife Trust site, to see an Elegant Tern. This North American species appeared in t tern colony earlier in the year, and has spent the last few months attempting to find a mate. It hasn't been successful, and was still presenting fish to the Sandwich Terns there when I saw it.
It was 22 degrees again today, so Jayne ad I had a walk around Linacre this afternoon. The top reservoir was closed off as the boardwalk is being repaired, so we just walked around the bottom and the middle reservoirs.
At first it was overcast, but then the sun came out, and we managed to record some insects, including the butterflies in the title! Both these species were seen at about 3pm on the pathway leading down from the toilet block to the bottom reservoir. There were at least two White-letter Hairstreaks - a lifer for me, and one Purple Hairstreak.
Jayne and I had a walk around the ponds at Hardwick Hall yesterday. It was 20 degrees, with a lot of cloud cover and a few sunny spells.
Whilst there we saw 6 species of odanata, the highlight being my first record of Small Red-eyed Damselfly for this site. Other species seen were: Red-eyed Damselfly, Common Blue Damselfly, Emperor, Brown Hawker and Black-tailed Skimmer.
I had my first visit to Rufford CP on Friday, to see if there were any returning Black-headed Gulls. There were 40 birds when I arrived, including a new bird for me, X25K.
On Monday I drove up to RSPB Bempton Cliffs to see the long-staying Black-browed Albatross "Albert"!
I arrived on site at 5.50am, and saw the bird straight away, perched on the cliffs below Staple Newark, with the Gannets. It was well tucked in, but did keep stretching, and had a brief fly around, before disappearing into the heavy sea fret! A fantastic sighting, and a "lifer" to boot.
Afterwards, I drove further up the coast to Newbiggin-by-the-Sea, a regular spot for Mediterranean Gulls. I saw a minimum of 9 on the beach, along with Black-headed Gulls, a fishing Shag and Arctic and Sandwich Terns.
My final stop of the day was St Mary's Island, where another 20+ Sandwich Terns were roosting. In amongst them were 3 darviced birds, UBB, UVN and KAL. UBB was originally ringed on Coquet Island, on 5th May 2015. It was seen here again in 2018. My sighting is the first since then, and the first away from the island. UVN was also ringed in 2015, on Inner Farne. It has nested on Coquet Island since, but has also been reported in Namibia, in October 2018. I haven't heard back from KAL yet.
