Linacre Ringing - 23rd January 2022

 I was back at Linacre on Sunday morning for the first ringing session with other members of Sorby Breck Ringing Group.

This first session was quite quiet, with just 20 birds of 3 species ringed (new/retrap): Blue Tit 11/2, Great Tit 5/1 and Coal Tit 1/0. 

One of the retrap Blue Tits had been ringed, as a pullus, in box 23a on 3rd June 2020 (by me). The other one was had first been ringed, at Linacre, as a juvenile (3) on 21st September 2021. The retrap Great Tit had been ringed, on 18th July 2021, as a juvenile (3J), at Linacre.

Linacre WeBS - 22nd January 2022

 This weekend is the set date for the year's first WeBS count of 2022. As I'm out ringing tomorrow, I decided to go to Linacre this morning to carry out the count. The weather was perfect, being cold (3 degrees), overcast and still. 

I was on site at first light and had approximately 100-150 Jackdaws coming out of roost. Other birds seen in and around the woods were: Blue, Great and Coal Tit, Blackbird, Nuthatch, Woodpigeon, Chaffinch, Siskin (appox.50 in the trees by the middle reservoir), Dunnock, Robin and my first sighting of Sparrowhawk for 2022.

Waterbirds seen were: Mallard (123), Mandarin (8), Tufted Duck (20), Coot (11), Moorhen (18; 15 adults and 3 juveniles), Grey Heron (1), Grey Wagtail (2), Little Grebe (2), Great-crested Grebe (1 breeding plumaged bird), Black-headed Gull (43) and Cormorant (1).

Year List update: 

101- Sparrowhawk

Linacre - 15th January 2022

 This morning the weather was zero degrees when I arrived at Linacre at 7.45am, and it didn't rise throughout the  two hour visit! Thankfully, the cold (but bright) weather seemed to have brought a few winter visitors in, with my first record of Pochard (2 males on the top reservoir), since 2013!!

Pochard

Also seen were: a pair of Wigeon on the middle reservoir, 109 Mallard, 24 Tufted Ducks, 11 Coots, 17 Moorhens (14 adults and 3 juveniles), 11 Mandarins,  3 Little Grebes, 1 Great-crested Grebe (in breeding plumage and calling on the middle reservoir), 1 Grey Heron, 3 Goosander (1 male and 3 females), 1 Cormorant, 63 Black-headed Gulls, 2 Grey Wagtails and 1 Pied Wagtail. Woodland birds were quite vocal with Blue, Great, Coal and Long-tailed Tit seen and heard. A Treecreeper was also seen (year tick) as was a single Bullfinch, Blackbird, Robin, Jay and my first drumming Great-spotted Woodpecker of the year.

After my walk around Linacre, Jayne and I had a drive to Monsal Dale. On the way over, we spotted a Little Owl (year tick), on a tree in Holmesfield, and 3 Dippers (year tick) on the river in Monsal.

Little Owl

Year List update:

97 - Pochard

98 - Treecreeper

99 - Little Owl

100 - Dipper

Year List Update

The Year List has continued to grow this week, with 9 new species added. Red-legged Partridge was seen whilst driving across to Rufford. Numbers 89 - 93 were added at Linacre on Friday. Brambling was seen at Shilito Woods, whilst Stock Dove was added at Attenborough Nature Reserve on Tuesday (I forgot to add it on then!) 

The last species, Snow Bunting, was seen today, feeding on Totley Moor, by the ventilation shaft for the Totley Tunnel. 

88 - Red-legged Partridge

89 - Goldcrest

90 - Kingfisher

91 - Nuthatch

92 - Mandarin Duck

93 - Grey Wagtail

94 - Brambling

95 - Stock Dove

96 - Snow Bunting

Snow Bunting

Linacre - 7th January 2022

 It was cold (3 degrees) and there were snow flurries as I arrived at Linacre on Friday for my first visit of 2022. I spent two hours on site and recorded 36 species.

Birds seen were: Magpie, Carrion Crow, Redwing (c.60 feeding in the field by the main drive, along with c.50 Starlings, 2 Mistle Thrushes and 1 Fieldfare), 30 Black-headed Gulls, Woodpigeon, Nuthatch, Bullfinch (1 pair by the bottom car park), Blue, Great, Coal and Long-tailed Tit, Jay, Goldcrest, Great-spotted Woodpecker, Robin, Blackbird, Siskin, 20 Tufted Duck, 119 Mallard, Pheasant, 17 Moorhen (15 adults and 2 juveniles), 10 Coots, 3 male Goosanders, 1 Kingfisher (on the middle reservoir), 1 Pied Wagtail, 2 Grey Wagtails, 1 Little Grebe, Dunnock, 3 Mandarin Duck (2 males and 1 female), Wren, Common Buzzard , 1 Kestrel and a male Teal (the first record of a male since April 2019 and the first record since October 2020, when a female was present).

Kestrel

Rufford Gulls - 6th January 2022

After a short visit to Rufford on Wednesday, I decided to go back again yesterday. It had been very cold overnight, and more than half of the lake was covered in ice - always a good sign when checking gulls' legs!!

As soon as I got there, I could see that there were 400+ gulls out on the ice! The vast majority were Black-headed Gulls, with a minimum of 10 Common Gulls, 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls and 1 Herring Gull. Over the course of 3 hours, I managed to spot 12 darvic-ringed Black-headed Gulls (217A, 258A, 273A, 279A, 281A, 293A, 295A, 297A, J0116, EUM3, P519 and V77K), 1 metal ringed Black-headed Gull (EL87245- a well known bird) and a new darvic ringed Common Gull (JN075 - an adult bird, ringed on 12th August 2020, near Oslo, Norway).

JN075

Of the 12 darviced birds, just 3 were new ones, I'd not seen before (279A, 295A and 297A). All are birds ringed at Center Parcs this winter.

279A

295A

297A

In addition, there were 13 Mute Swans ( 9 adults and 4 juveniles, born last year), including a 1 metal ringed bird (W17357 - a bird that had been ringed on 10th February 2016, as a 5 i.e. born in 2015) and a darvic-ringed bird (CPF3/W48296 - another new bird, originally ringed as a 3 male, i.e. born that year, in Cheshire, on 16th November 2019).

CPF3

Gulls - 5th January 2022

 Yesterday (5th) I spent the day at Center Parcs, near Rufford, trying to catch some new Black-headed Gulls for the darvic-ringing scheme being run by Sorby Breck Ringing Group. Unfortunately, the gulls weren't "playing ball", so none were ringed. I did, however, manage to read a Mute Swan ring, W17370, a bird, I'd previously seen at Rufford on 13th December 2020. I also added a few more "year ticks": Siskin, Coal Tit and Great-spotted Woodpecker. 

W17370

Afterwards, I went across to Rufford CP for half an hour, and managed to spot a few ringed birds, including a new (for me), Norwegian- ringed bird, JZ48. 

JZ48

Although a new bird for me (and Rufford), it had been reported a few times at Center Parcs (December 2020, November and December 2021), after being ringed, as an adult, in Norway, on 11th May 2016. Other birds seen were: EUM3, V77K and EL87245.

86 - Siskin

87 - Coal Tit

88 - Great-spotted Woodpecker

Attenborough Nature Reserve - 4th January 2022

On Tuesday, my nephew and I went down to Attenborough Nature Reserve. We had a walk around the reserve and added a few more species to the Year List.

The main species we were after was Caspian Gull, and we managed to spot an adult bird from Tower Hide. We also had a darvic- ringed Lesser Black-backed Gull, ND30. I'll add the details when I hear back from the scheme. Other new birds seen were numbers 68 - 82. Numbers 63 - 66 were seen in Alnmouth on 3rd, excluding the Red Kite, that was seen over the M1 around Leeds on the journey home.

After Attenborough, we drove across to Clifton Pastures, where Luke saw a Hen Harrier (I didn't!). We also added numbers 83 and 84 there. 

Our final stop was Alvaston Park, where we had a quick, half an hour, check of the gulls. We spotted Danish ringed Black-headed Gull, VA4073, Canada Goose U48 and a Mute Swan with ring number 862Y. This swan was ringed at Cusworth Hall, Doncaster, on 10th August 2018 as a bird born that year (3). Luke saw her at Attenborough NR on 25th January 2020, and a friend of his saw her at Alvaston Park on 7th November 2020. Our final "tick" of the day was number 85, Ring-necked Parakeet, with 3 birds seen.

U48

862Y (Attenborough, January 2020)

Year List update:

63 - Wren

64 - Jay

65 - Coot

66 - Red Kite

67 - Greenfinch

68 - Canada Goose

69 - Greylag Goose

70 - Egyptian Goose

71 - Goosander

72 - Gadwall

73 - Tufted Duck

74 - Cetti's Warbler

75 - Caspian Gull

76 - Lesser Black-backed Gull

77 - Reed Bunting

78 - Song Thrush

79 - Fieldfare

80 - Water Rail (heard)

81 - Moorhen

82 - Long-tailed Tit

83 - Linnet

84 - Kestrel

85 - Ring-necked Parakeet

Stag Rocks - 2nd January 2022

Jayne and I were still up in Northumberland on the 2nd, so we had a few hours at Stag Rocks aka Harkess Rocks, near Bamburgh. When we got there, it was nearly high tide, so we sat on the rocks and watched the Purple Sandpipers (100+), Sanderling (50+), Turnstone, Redshank  and Dunlin, feeding on the seaweed. 

Purple Sandpiper and Dunlin

One of the Purple Sandpipers was colour ringed. It was ringed on 20th September 2020 at Filey Brigg, and mine was the first sighting since.

Colour-ringed Purple Sandpiper

Year List update:

56 - Great Tit 

57 - Rook

58 - Common Buzzard

59 - Barnacle Goose

60 - Sanderling

61 - Purple Sandpiper

62 - Goldeneye

2022 Year List begins

 I was very lucky to start this year's birding with a few hours on Holy Island, Northumberland. My first species seen was Blackbird, followed closely by Robin, Curlew and Grey Heron. Whilst there, I managed a total of 35 species, including Pale-bellied Brent Goose, Red-throated Diver and Red-breasted Merganser.

After Holy Island, I drove to Budle Bay, where I added several new species to the list (numbers 36 - 42). The last two places visited were Warkworth Beach and Amble Harbour, where species 43 - 55 were seen.

Mediterranean Gull (Amble harbour)

Year List 2022:

1 - Blackbird 

2 - Robin 

3 - Curlew 

4 - Grey Heron 

5 - Oystercatcher 

6 - Herring Gull

7 - Black-headed Gull 

8 - Great Black-backed Gull 

9 - Skylark 

10- Rock Pipit 

11 - Pied Wagtail 

12 - Eider Duck 

13 - Starling 

14 - House Sparrow 

15 - Jackdaw 

16 - Carrion Crow 

17 - Redwing

18 - Ringed Plover 

19 - Dunlin 

20 - Redshank 21 - 

Brent Goose (Pale-bellied) 

22 - Shag

23 -  Red-breasted Merganser 

24- Red-throated Diver 

25- Blue Tit 

26- Dunnock 

27 - Little Grebe 

28 - Little Egret 

29 - Lapwing 

30 - Teal 

31 - Shoveler 

32 - Collared Dove 

33 - Pheasant 

34 - Goldfinch 

35 - Chaffinch 

36 - Magpie 

37 - Mistle Thrush 

38 - Mallard 

39 - Shelduck 

40 - Wigeon

41 - Knot 

42 - Lapwing 

43 - Guillemot 

44 - Great-crested Grebe 

45 - Stonechat 

46 - Common Scoter 

47 - Common Gull 

48 - Bullfinch 

49 - Woodpigeon 

50 - Cormorant

51 - Turnstone 

52 - Mediterranean Gull 

53 - Whooper Swan 

54 - Pink-footed Goose 

55 - Feral Pigeon