Linacre - 31st December 2022

 I hadn't got anything else on today, so I had my last visit of 2022 to Linacre this afternoon. I was there from 1.15pm to 2.45pm in grey, overcast conditions with rain on and off, and a temperature of 11 degrees.

As expected, it was quite quiet, but the following birds were seen: 148 Mallard, 30 Tufted Duck, 29 Mandarin Duck, 15 Moorhen, 10 Coot, 7 Black-headed Gulls, 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull (unusual December record), 1 Great-crested Grebe, 1 female Goosander, 3 Little Grebe ( a good count for December), 1 Cormorant and 1 Grey Wagtail.

Woodland birds were far and few between, the highlight being a single "wheeting" Chiffchaff! The total number of species recorded at Linacre this year has been 68.

This will be the last post of 2022, so Happy New Year to all my followers and here's to a bird-filled 2023.

Year List 2022

 Over the last few days I've added the (most likely) last two species to my Year List for 2022, Smew and Scaup.

The Smew, a redhead, was seen at Attenborough Gravel Pits on Wednesday. The Scaup, a male, was seen today at Thrybergh Country Park. These last two species take me to 163 for the year. Whilst in California, Jayne and I also recorded 101 species of bird, 70 of which were lifers!! In total the, my Year List for 2022 stands at 264 species.

Scaup

Whilst at Thrybergh, I had a look at the Mute Swans, and recorded 6 darvic rings (Y835, Y636, Y674, 061Y, 251Y and 252Y). There were 13 Mute Swans present, but the others had their legs covered up!

061Y and Y636

After Thrybergh, I drove across to Rother Valley to see if the Norwegian-ringed Black-headed Gull, JMT9, was still about - it was!!

JMT9

Also present were two darviced Mute Swans, Y178 and 439Y. Interestingly, 439Y had been seen at Rufford CP, in January 2020!

Rufford Gulls - 23rd December 2022

 It was raining very hard this afternoon, so today's visit to Rufford lasted just 1 hour. There were only 45 Black-headed Gulls present, but I did manage to see 5 colour-ringed birds: P519, 271B, 276B, V77K and a new one, 207C.

207C

207C was ringed just yesterday (22nd December), at Center Parcs, and, unsurprisingly, is the first re-sighting.

Other birds seen were: Mute Swan (2), Gadwall (1m and 1fm), 1 Herring Gull and 4 Goosander (3m and 1fm).

Linacre WeBS December 18th 2022

 After a week of ice and snowy conditions (maximum temperature of  3 degrees) I went down to Linacre yesterday morning (17th) to carry out this month's WeBS count. I had expected the reservoirs to be frozen, but, apart from a little ice ( c.10 %) on the bottom reservoir, the other two reservoirs were completely ice-free.

I walked around all three reservoirs and recorded the following numbers: 231 Mallard (highest count of the year), 114 Mandarin Duck, 72 Tufted Duck, 16 Moorhen, 8 Coot, c.50 Black-headed Gull, 5 Cormorant, 1 Grey Wagtail and 1 Little Grebe.

Black-headed Gulls

Other birds seen around the site included: 1 Tawny Owl, Siskin (3, the first of the winter), Magpie, Nuthatch, Blackbird, Wren, Blue, Great, Coal and Long-tailed Tit, Fieldfare (heard) and Redwing (10 over).

UPDATE: A report on Derbyshire Facebook Page from 18th recorded 119 Teal (!!!), 2 Gadwall, 1 male Shoveler, 104 Tufted Duck, 8 Goosander, 3 Cormorants and  19 Lapwing!!!

Rufford Gulls 4th and 10th December 2022

Last Sunday, 4th December, I had a quick, 1 hour, visit to Rufford. In the short time I was there, I spotted EL87245, EUM3, 271A, V77K (my first sighting this winter of this Danish-ringed bird) and a new Finnish metal-ringed bird, ST315.116 (ringing details to follow). Two other Finnish metal-ringed birds were also seen, but I couldn't get the full sequences.

Welcome back V77K

After the last few days' icy weather, I arrived at Rufford for today's visit (12.40pm - 15.10pm) to find the main lake with 95% ice cover. This meant that the gulls' legs were on show, as they perched on the ice. In total, there were approximately 2-300 Black-headed Gulls, 70(!) Common Gulls and 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls present, all bathing in the small piece of open water. 

Ringed birds seen were: 246A, 284A, 293A, 294A, 297A, 255B, 272B (my first sighting since being ringed on 12th November 2022 at Center Parcs), 276B, 278B (also my first sighting since ringing on 12th November 2022 at Center Parcs), V77K, EUM3, P519, EL87245 and last week's Finnish bird ST315.116.

272B

278B

Linacre Weekend

 Last weekend (26th and 27th November) I had a couple of visits to Linacre. On Saturday, I walked around all three reservoirs for this month's WeBS walk. On Sunday I was down again for a few hours ringing, with 3 members of Sorby Breck Ringing Group.

The WeBS walk was fantastic with the highest counts of the year for Mallard (201), Mandarin Duck (185) and Tufted Duck (87). Other species seen were: Moorhen (13; 12 adults and 1 juvenile), Coot (10 adults), Grey Wagtail (2), Pied Wagtail (1), Little Grebe (1) and Great-crested Grebe (2). Another highlight of the walk was the amazing sight of approximately 4-500 Jackdaws that were flying around the middle reservoir in a Starling-like murmuration just before dawn!

The ringing session on Sunday was very good as well, with 50 birds of 10 species ringed (new/re trap): Robin 0/2, Redwing 5/0, Great Tit 12/2, Blue Tit 9/6, Coal Tit 5/1, Goldcrest 1/1, Lesser Redpoll 2/0, Magpie 1/0, Dunnock 1/1 and Blackbird 0/1. 

The Blackbird was a great re trap, having been ringed, by me, in August 2016, as a 3 (born that year), making it 6 and a half years old! It was also really good to catch the first Redwing of the winter and the Lesser Redpolls.

Rufford Gulls - 20th November 2022

 After a morning session of gull ringing at Center Parcs on Saturday (6 new Black-headed Gulls ringed, numbers 280B - 285B), I was back down at Rufford on Sunday for a couple of hours to see who I could see.

In the two hours, I saw a total of 13 ringed birds (from c.300 Black-headed and 4 Common Gulls), 9 darviced Black-headed Gulls (246A, 293A, 296A, 249B, 255B, 271B - new for me, 276B - new for me, EUM3and P519), 1 darviced Common Gull (JN075 - first seen in January 2022) and 3 metal-ringed Black-headed Gulls.( EL87245 (regular wintering bird, EY30536 - a bird first ringed in March 2013, just 21km away at Daneshill Landfill Site, and my second sighting, after one in Clumber in December 2020; and a new one with a ring above the "knee" on the right leg. Unfortunately, I could only get a few digits 3.876, so no chance of finding out where it was ringed - yet!).

271B

276B and JN07

In addition to the gulls, there were also four un-ringed Mute Swans.  

Pied Wheatear!!

 A first winter male Pied Wheatear turned up in a skate park in Whitley Bay last week, so, after a week of umming and ahhing (!) Jayne and I drove up there today to have a look at this new species.

Pied Wheatear!!

When we arrived, the bird wasn't in the Skate Park, but was, instead, hopping about along the seawall opposite The Spanish City. At times, it hopped to within 2m!!! Luckily, the weather was decent, still and sunny, so we managed to get some decent shots.

Whilst there, we also had a walk up to St Mary's Island. The tide was out, so we spotted a few waders on the way up (Redshank, Curlew, Oystercatcher, Lapwing and Ringed Plover) as well as several Pied Wagtails and Rock Pipits. On the Island there were a dozen or so Grey Seals enjoying the sun, and two flocks of Pink-footed Geese flew overhead. A couple of Red-throated Divers also flew past, and Black-headed and Herring Gulls were seen.

Year List update: 

160 - Lesser Whitethroat (1 seen whilst ringing back in September) 

161 - Pied Wheatear

Rufford Gulls - 6th November 2022

Jayne and I had an hour at Rufford on Sunday and recorded a good number of darviced Black-headed Gulls. Those seen were: 281A, 293A, 296A, 249B, 255B, 258B, EL87245 (first ringed in 2013), EUM3 (Dutch bird).

255B and 258B were both new birds for me and had been ringed at Center Parcs over the last couple of weeks. 

255B

258B

Linacre Ringing - 5th November 2022

 Just two of us managed to get to Linacre for this week's ringing session with Sorby Breck Ringing Group, but we had a fantastic few hours with 46 birds, of 8 species, ringed.

As always, the majority of the birds were Blue and Great Tits, with 18 (15 new and 3 re-traps) of the former and 9 (8 new birds and 1 re-trap) of the latter caught. 2 Coal Tits (both new) were also caught, along with 11 Long-tailed Tits (all new), 1 Blackbird (new), 1 Chaffinch (new), 3 Goldcrests (2 new and 1 re-trap) and, best of all, a young Sparrowhawk - the first to be ringed at Linacre!!

Sparrowhawk!!

As well as the ringing, we also managed to see a flock of c.30 Redwings, c.20 Fieldfares and we also heard Tawny Owls calling.

Linacre - 30th October 2022

 Jayne and I had a couple of hours round Linacre this morning in grey, overcast, but very mild (15 degrees) conditions.

Birds recorded were:  36 Black-headed Gull, 65 Tufted Duck (the highest count since 56 in April), 83 Mallards, 12 Moorhens (9 adults and 3 juveniles), 4 Coots, 1 Kingfisher, 4 Cormorants, c52 Mandarin Ducks,( a low count for this time of the year, and many more were heard in the trees and overhanging vegetation), 1 Little Grebe, 2 Great-crested Grebes (both juveniles), 1 female Goosander (the second winter record after 2 females on 12th October and 1 Pied Wagtail.

Pied Wagtail

In addition, 3 Common Buzzards were together over the middle reservoir, a few Redwings were heard, and singles of Song Thrush and Jay were seen.

Welcome back EUM3 and P519

I had a couple of hours at Rufford yesterday (11.30 - 13.30) and was very pleased to welcome back two well-known Black-headed Gulls, EUM3 (Dutch bird) and P519 (Lithuanian bird). I was particularly pleased to see EUM3, as this bird is normally seen from August onwards, and I was beginning to worry that it had become a victim of this summer's avian flu epidemic. Thankfully, I was wrong!

EUM3

P519

In addition to these birds, I also spotted 273A (3rd sighting), 284A (4th sighting), 296A (my first sighting at Rufford, since ringing last winter at Center Parcs), 249B (the first sighting since being ringed at Center Parcs on 10th October 2022), S20B (a Croatian bird, first seen in December 2021) and ST301.091 (a Finnish bird - my first record at Rufford).

249B

S20B

ST301.091

UPDATE: The Finnish gull, ST301.091, was ringed, as a chick, on 16th June 2016, 1590km away!

Greylag Goose 4UT

 Jayne and I were in York yesterday. Whilst sat by the river I noticed a Greylag Goose with a darvic ring, 4UT. A quick search revealed that the bird in question had been ringed on 19th June 2017 at Wheldrake Ings Nature Reserve, by Waterbird Colour Marking Group.

4UT

Our sighting was the ninth since ringing, and it had spent time at Wheldrake, Rodley Nature Reserve in Leeds before setting in York city centre from July 2021.

Gull Ringing 22nd October 2022

Yesterday, I managed to get out gull ringing with Sorby Breck Ringing Group for the first time since late 2020. We spent the day at Center Parcs, just 2km away from Rufford CP, and ringed 7 new Black-headed Gulls, a mixture of 1st year and adult birds. We also added green darvic rings (251B - 257B).

251B (1st winter bird)

Fingers crossed now to get some re-sightings over the winter.

Clumber Mute Swans - 16th October 2022

Jayne and I had a lovely walk around the main lake at Clumber Park this afternoon. Gull numbers were beginning to build up (200+ Black-headed Gulls were seen, but, unfortunately, no rings as the gulls stayed in the water) and we also saw 100+ Mute Swans, including 9 cygnets.

The majority of the swans also stayed in the water, but we did spot two darvic-ringed birds, Y204 (a 3-year-old bird with metal ring W48404) and Y677 (a 2-year-old bird with metal ring W51077). Both birds had been seen by us there before (click on the labels to see their life histories). The best sighting of the day (or rather hearing??) was two Cetti's Warblers that we had, our first record for this site. Two Little Egrets were also seen.

Y204

Y677

It was sunny and quite warm today, around 13 degrees, so there were plenty of Common Darters flying about (10+), including several pairs egg-laying. a couple of Migrant Hawkers were also seen, as were three Hornets.

Mariposa Grove, Yosemite - August 2022

On our second day in Yosemite, we travelled a little bit further south to visit Mariposa Grove and the Giant Sequoias. To say the trees were unbelievable is an understatement! Their size and volume is indescribable and truly mind-blowing. The tree pictured below is called Grizzly Giant and stands at 63.7m (209ft) with a circumference of 29m (96 ft) at the base. A recent investigation estimated its age to be around 2900 years old!!!

Grizzly Giant (and me!)

Whilst there, we walked around a small area of the forest, seeing a single White-headed Woodpecker, Mountain Chickadee, a warbler sp that was most likely Yellow-rumped (Myrtle), Western Wood Pewee, Steller’s Jay and Northern Goshawk. Mammal species seen were: Mule (Black-tailed) Deer, Chickaree (Douglas Squirrel) and Lodgepole Chipmunk. 

Chickaree

A single Acmon Blue butterfly was also seen.

Acmon Blue

Yosemite Valley - August 2022

Whilst staying in California, Jayne and I got a 3-day pass to visit Yosemite National Park. 

The first day was spent in and around the Yosemite Valley area. Whilst there, we took a 2-hour guided tour, to take in the main sites, including El Capitan, Half Done, Yosemite Falls and Tunnel View.

Half Dome and Cook Meadow

Bird species seen included: Raven, American Robin, Red-winged Blackbird, Brewer’s Blackbird, Steller’s Jay, Acorn Woodpecker, Turkey Vulture, Black Phoebe, Common Merganser (adult and juveniles), and my best ever views of Hairy Woodpecker. In addition, we had very brief views of a Swift sp, flying around Yosemite Falls, that was most likely Black Swift.

Hairy Woodpecker

One evening, at around 7pm, we saw an American Black Bear feeding in Cook Meadow.

American Black Bear

Rufford CP - 9th October 2022

Gull numbers had increased since my last to Rufford a couple of weeks ago, and there were approximately 100 Black-headed Gulls and 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull present.

4 ringed birds were seen: 246A, 258A, 281A and 293A. All birds had been seen at Rufford in previous winters (click on the labels for details). 

246A

258A

293A

281A, however, was a particularly good record, as it the first record from this winter, and had last been in Oslo, Norway, on 22nd April 2022.

281A

Linacre Ringing - 2nd October 2022

 Last Saturday I was down at Linacre with two other members of Sorby Breck Ringing Group for our first ringing session there, since March!!!

The day started well, with a Goldcrest the first bird out of the nets. It continued right up to the end of the session, nearly 5 hours later, by which time we'd ringed 61 birds of 12 species!

Totals were (new/re trap): Goldcrest 4/0, Great Tit 10/0, Blue Tit 24/0, Long-tailed Tit 9/2, Coal Tit 1/0, Robin 2/0, Dunnock 2/0, Treecreeper 1/0, Song Thrush 1/0, Blackbird 1/0, Chiffchaff 3/0 and Bullfinch 1/0.

The two re trap Long-tailed Tits had been ringed together, at Linacre, on 14th November 2021.

Linacre WeBS Count - 8th October 2022

 This morning I carried out October's WeBS count at Linacre. It was a perfect autumnal morning, with dry, bright, still conditions and just 7 degrees - lovely!!

Waterfowl numbers have started to increase again, along with the first returning Black-headed Gulls (5). The highlight, however, was the sight of 7 Cormorants, all feeding together on the top reservoir! This was my third highest ever count, beaten only by 8 birds in September 2014 and January 2016.

Other records from today were: 93 Mallard, 14 Moorhens (8 adults and 6 juveniles), 35 Tufted Ducks, 63 Mandarin Ducks, 9 Coots (8 adults and 1 juvenile), 4 Grey Wagtails, 1 Kingfisher, 1 Little Grebe, 3 Great-crested Grebes (2 adults and 1 juvenile) and 1 Canada Goose. 

Groveland, California 6th - 13th August 2022

The third week of our California trip was spent in Groveland. We stayed in an AirBnB on Pine Mountain Lake. Our accommodation was a lodge, set in the woodlands, and we managed to record a good variety of wildlife whilst sitting on the porch area!

Most numerous were the California Scrub Jays that woke us up every day, but we also spotted Steller’s Jays, Acorn Woodpecker, Turkey Vulture (very common, with up to 15 seen together, and 1 seen feeding on a dead Western Grey Squirrel, by the road), California Quail, White-breasted Nuthatch, Nuttall’s Woodpecker, Red-breasted Sapsucker, Collared Dove, Mourning Dove, Barn Swallow, Anna’s Hummingbird, Oak Titmouse, Brewer’s Blackbird, Brown-headed Cowbird, Canada Goose, Mallard, Cliff Swallow, Red-tailed Hawk, Pied-billed Grebe, American Robin, Wild Turkey, Raven, California Thrasher, Northern Flicker (red-shafted), Bushtit, House Finch, House Sparrow and Eurasian Starling.  

California Quail

Turkey Vulture (and Grey Squirrel)

Red-breasted Woodpecker

Northern Flicker

Carmel and 17-Mile Drive

Just a few miles from Monterey lies the small seaside town of Carmel. We had a couple of visits here and the nearby 17 Mile Drive. Birdwise, we didn’t add much to the trip list, but I did have my one and only sighting of Berwick’s Wren here.  

Berwick's Wren (honestly!!)

Other birds seen in Carmel itself were: Mourning Dove, Heerman’s Gull and Pygmy Nuthatch. On the beach, we had great views of California Ground Squirrel.

California Ground Squirrel

During a drive around nearby 17 Mile Drive we visited Bird Rock where we saw our first Mule/Black-tailed Deer, along with Black Oystercatcher, Black Turnstone, Heerman’s Gulls, Brandt’s Cormorants, California Sealions (hundreds!) and Californian Ground Squirrels. 

Black Oystercatcher

Rufford CP - 25th September 2022

 Jayne and I had a couple of hours at Rufford today. There were c49 Black-headed Gulls present, and we saw a couple of ringed birds (258A and 293A) and a ringed Canada Goose (579019). 

Both the gulls were regulars at Rufford (click on the labels for details of previous sightings).

258A

293A

Canada Goose 579019was a bird I'd seen there previously (in October 2021) and had been ringed nearby on 12th May 2016.

5279019

Also present was a single Lesser Black-backed Gull.

Lesser Black-backed Gull