Clumber and Rufford - 25th February 2023

 Yesterday, I had a few hours visiting a few sites, looking for ringed Black-headed Gulls.

First stop was Clumber Park, where I managed to stop three new gulls. The first bird was an adult with darvic ring TV87. This bird had been ringed in August in Southport, and had spent the winter there.  My sighting was the first away from that site, so possibly on the move east again to breed? The second bird was a 1st winter bird (born in 2022) wearing a Polish ring, TV02. I'll update when I get the time and place of ringing back. The third bird was an another first winter bird, but this time from Finland, with metal ring ST339.818. Again, I'll update when details come back.

TV87

TV02

Finnish bird ST339818

After Clumber, I drove across to Rufford. It was quite quiet, with just c.150 Black-headed Gulls and c.20 Common Gulls present. In amongst them were the following green-ringed gulls: 206A, 258A, 255B, 293B, 202C, 207C and 215C. Danish-ringed V77K was also present, as was British-ringed EL87245.

UPDATE: Polish-ringed bird, TV02, was ringed, as a pullus, on 12th June 2022, 1043km away.

Year List Update

 This week, I've added a few new species to this year's Year List.

The first new addition was Reed Bunting (93), which I recorded on Sunday whilst out ringing. The next addition was Chough (94), a single bird seen and heard flying over the Premier Inn at Aberystwyth on Monday. A Dipper (95) was the next species. This was seen at Bodnant Gardens on Tuesday. The final new species was Barn Owl (96), one of which was seen near Chapel-en-le-Frith yesterday.

Whilst in Aberystwyth on Monday, Jayne and I spent some time watching the 50,000ish (!) Starlings coming in to roost on the pier. Unfortunately, they didn't "murmurate" when we were there, but it was amazing to see them coming in, and leaving next morning.

Starlings

Rufford Gulls - 18th February 2023

 I had an hour at Rufford yesterday. It was 12 degrees and overcast and there were c.200 gulls present.

In the hour, I saw 14 of "our" green-ringed gulls, including 254B, which I ringed, at Center Parcs, on 22nd October 2022, as an adult bird. My sighting was the first since then.

254B

Other gulls seen were: 246A, 258A, 281A, 293A, 295A, 296A, 249B, 255B, 276B, 280B, 293B, 202C and 215C. 

In addition Danish-ringed V77K, Norwegian-ringed Common Gull JN075 and metal-ringed Black-headed Gull, EL87245 were also seen.

Several of the gulls were starting to get their breeding plumage, including 293B.

293B

Linacre WeBS - 18th February 2023

This month's WeBS count was a very quiet affair. It was very mild (11 degrees), with a strong easterly wind.

Bird numbers were: 94 Mallard, 53 Tufted Duck, 13 Coot, 12 Moorhen, 10 Mandarin Duck, 11 Black-headed Gull, 1 female Goosander, 1 Little Grebe and 2 Great-crested Grebe (breeding plumage).

In the woodlands, several species were singing in the sunshine, including: Dunnock, Great Tit, Song and Mistle Thrush, Great-spotted Woodpecker and Nuthatch. A flock of Siskin was also heard by the middle reservoir.

Linacre Reservoirs - 5th February 2023

 A beautiful start at Linacre this morning, with bright, sunny conditions and zero degrees (rising to 3 degrees).

The highlights of a full circuit around all three reservoirs were my first Linacre Canada Goose records of the year (3 on the middle reservoir and another 3 flying along the valley), 1 male Teal on the middle reservoir, 3 Great-crested Grebes, including a pair in full breeding plumage on  the middle reservoir, 3 Little Grebes and my first singing Song Thrush and drumming Great-spotted Woodpecker of 2023.

Other sightings were: 92 Mallards, 25 Tufted Ducks, 21 Moorhens (highest count of the year), 11 Coots, 11 Mandarin Ducks, 2 Cormorants and 47 Black-headed Gulls.

Scarborough Med Gulls

 Most years at around this time, Jayne and I pop across to Scarborough for a day to spot a few birds, including one of my favourite birds, the Mediterranean Gull. This year, we saw four individual birds, an adult, a 3rd calendar year (dark primaries, born in 2021) and two first winters (2nd calendar years, born in 2022).

Adult Med Gull (all white wings)

2nd winter (3rd calendar year, born 2021)

1st winter, born in 2022

1st winter, born in 2022

As well as these beauties, we also saw 4 Purple Sandpipers, a single Redshank, Black-headed Gulls, a Peregrine Falcon, Fulmars (back on the cliffs), Rock Pipit, Shag, Cormorant, Red-throated Diver (off Marine Drive, along with several Harbour Porpoise) and Herring Gulls. One Herring Gull was ringed with darvic ring Y:H42. I saw this bird in exactly the same place (Marine Drive) back in 2019! It had been ringed in Scarborough in 2007. Unfortunately, no Turnstones were seen, so no chance to catch up with the ringed birds seen in previous years.

Y:H42

Year List update: (89) Red-legged Partridge - 4 seen on the drive over, (90) Red-throated Diver, (91) Peregrine Falcon and (92) Mediterranean Gull.

Cattle Egret at Linacre - nearly!!!

 Last week, news came through of a Cattle Egret at Linacre. As you can imagine, I got very excited, as this would be a "mega" tick for the site. On closer inspection, however, it transpired that the bird in question wasn't quite at Linacre, but it was approximately 1 mile away at nearby Old Brampton.

Unperturbed, I set off to have a look as this would only be my second Derbyshire record, and a "year tick". After a few wrong turns (!) I managed to find the bird "showing well" in a field just off Main Road.

Cattle Egret

Year List update: Cattle Egret (88).

The bird was last reported yesterday, so could, potentially, still find its way to Linacre - fingers crossed!