Rufford Gulls - 24th September 2023

 Despite being on "grandad duty" this weekend, I did manage to get a very quick (half an hour) trip to Rufford in. It was my first since the end of August, and it was very quiet, with just 26 Black-headed Gulls, 4 Canada Geese and 6 Mallards present! Despite this, I managed to spot a couple of green-ringed gulls.

The two gulls seen were 293A and 207C. Both birds are well known, and regular winter visitors to the area. 

293A was ringed, as an adult, in December 2021, and has been recorded 22 times at Rufford. 

293A

207C was ringed, also as an adult, in December 2022, and has been reported 8 times since then.

207C

Linacre WeBS - September 2023

 I was down at Linacre yesterday morning for this month's WeBS count. I had a good walk around all three reservoirs, and recorded some good numbers of returning waterbirds.

Birds seen were: Mallard (124 - my highest September count), Mandarin Duck (157 - also my highest ever September count), Tufted Duck (13 - still quite low numbers), Moorhen (23; 17 adults and 6 juveniles), Coot (9; 6 adults and 3 juveniles), Little Grebe (1 adult on the bottom reservoir), Great-crested Grebe (3; 2 adults and 1 juvenile on the middle reservoir), Kingfisher (2 on the bottom reservoir), Grey Heron (10) and Grey Wagtail (2).

Walking around, I also had 5 species of corvid (Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Jay, Magpie and Raven), along with 2 singing Chiffchaffs, 1 Mistle Thrush, Blue/Great and Long-tailed Tits, Robin, Dunnock, Wren, Great-spotted Woodpecker and Woodpigeon.

Brown Booby!!

 An adult female Brown Booby (species 187) has been present in and around South Gare, near Redcar for just over a week. This morning, I have a drive up there and added it to my "Life List". 

Brown Booby

It had just flown out to sea, when I arrived at about 8.45am, but it returned within a few minutes, and posed nicely on a small pier - excellent views!!

Twitchers and the Booby

Whilst there, I also saw a couple of Arctic Skuas (species 188) harassing the Sandwich Terns, which were, surprisingly, also a "lifer" for me!! Other species seen were: Guillemot, Razorbill, Oystercatcher, Redshank, Herring and Great Black-backed Gull.

Booby and Cormorant

Spotted Crake - 10th September 2023

 At the weekend, I decided to  go down to Ogston Reservoir to see a juvenile Spotted Crake (species number 184) that had been present for a few days. The bird was showing from the Members' Hide, so, after re-joining the club, I settled down to see this bird (my first since 2013!!). 

Thankfully, before I'd even sat down, it appeared out of the reedbed, and began to feed about 10m away. As I sat, it got closer and closer, until it was about 2m away, and then stayed out for about 1 1/4 hours! My best ever views of this fantastic little bird, and well worth the annual membership fee.

Spotted Crake

Whilst there, I also managed to add another two species to the "Year List", namely Greenshank (2 present and my 185th species of the year) and Osprey ( a juvenile female that had also been present for the best part of a week and my 186th species of the year).

Linacre - 10th September 2023

 After a week of high temperatures well into the high 20s, it was really nice to walk around Linacre this morning in a still-quite-warm 19 degrees. It was still quite quiet, but one sign of the coming autumn and winter was a lovely flock of 12 Mistle Thrushes feeding on the Rowan berries, and the first Teal (3) since February.

Teal

Other waterbirds seen were: Mallard (106), Mandarin (42), Tufted Duck (9), Coot (8; 7 adults and 1 juvenile), Moorhen (18; 11 adults and 7 juveniles), Grey Heron (2), Cormorant (2), Great Crested Grebe (6; 2 adults and 4 juveniles), Little Grebe (1 adult on the top reservoir) and Grey Wagtail (2).

Grey Heron

Other birds noted around the site were: Magpie (7, my highest ever count), Jay, Nuthatch, Stock Dove (heard), Woodpigeon, Great, Blue, Coal and Long-tailed Tit, Robin, Wren, Blackbird, Goldfinch, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Chiffchaff (2 singing and "wheeting" heard), Swallow (7 over the top reservoir), and House Martin (1 heard).

Just one butterfly, a Red Admiral, was seen, sunning itself on the dam wall.

Clumber Swans - 3rd September 2023

 Yesterday we went to Clumber Park to enjoy the 23 degree sunshine. Whilst there, we had a quick look at the 50+ Mute Swans that were on the lake. The vast majority stayed on the water, but we did manage to read four rings: Y204, Y857, 0Y22 and W47173.

All the birds had been ringed by members of Sorby Breck Ringing Group. W47173 was ringed 1836 days ago, on 24th August 2018 at Harold Park, West Yorkshire, as a 3 (born that year), and had moved 73km. 

W47173

Y204 had been ringed, 1476 days ago, on 19th August 2019, also as a 3, in Pontefract Park, West Yorkshire, 50km away.

I'll update the details of the other birds, when I receive them.

Linacre Ringing - 2nd September 2023

 Yesterday morning I was down at Linacre, from 05.45 - 10.00, for a ringing session, with 2 other members of  Sorby Breck Ringing Group. It was our first session there since February, and we were treated to a great session, with 26 birds, of 6 species, including our first ever adult Tawny Owl and 2 of this year's pulli, that had been ringed in the boxes in May and June.

Tawny Owl

Birds ringed were (new/retrap): Tawny Owl 1/0, Blackcap 3/0 (all juveniles), Chiffchaff 1/0 ( 1 juvenile), Robin 1/0,  Blue Tit 10/1, Great Tit 5/3, Coal Tit 1/0.

All the retraps had originally been ringed at Linacre. 2 as juveniles in October and November 2022. The other 2, one Blue Tit and one Great Tit, had been ringed in the boxes in May and June this year.

Linacre - 31st August 2023

 It was the last day of meteorological summer yesterday, and I had 3 hours down at Linacre. There were several species of butterfly and dragonfly around, a new record count of Lesser Black-backed Gulls and amazing views of a Common Lizard.

Butterflies seen were: Speckled Wood (7), Large White (1), Green-veined White (2), Red Admiral (1), and Small Copper (1). There were dozens of hoverflies, including a sing Myathropa florea ("Batman" hoverfly), Eristalis sp and Syrphus sp. Other insects seen were: Bronze Shieldbug (1, my first Linacre record), 3 Hornets (my highest ever count), a single male Common Blue Damselfly, Migrant Hawker (5; including a pair in tandem) and Brown Hawker (2).

Bronze Shieldbug

Holly Blue

Birdwise, it was quite quiet, but I did hear a single Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler (both singing), two Ravens, over the top reservoir, two Buzzards, again over the top reservoir, Moorhens, Coots, Mallards, Tufted Ducks, Mandarin Ducks, a juvenile Robin and Dunnock and, as previously mentioned, a record count of Lesser Black-backed Gulls (36, made up of 31 adults and 5 juveniles.)

Robin (juvenile)

The final sighting of the visit was a super Common Lizard that was basking on the wall by the boardwalk around the top reservoir. This is a species that is recorded annually at Linacre, and is my second record of 2023. The views that this individual, however, are my best ever! One of the defence mechanisms of this species, is to drop its tail if a predator attacks. As you can see from the picture, this individual has regrown its tail after such an encounter.

Common Lizard