Falmouth - 29th October 2024

 Today, we spent the day in and around the Falmouth area, with our nephew, Luke and family. We managed another couple of year ticks, Firecrest (195) and Common Scoter (196),   had amazing views of a winter-plumaged Red-throated Diver and saw another couple of ringed Herring Gulls.

We started the day with a walk around the Penryn Campus, where Luke found us at least half a dozen Firecrests.

Firecrest

Afterwards, we popped down to Falmouth, where we found Herring Gulls,W:073 (down on the water' edge) and W:120 (in town).

W:073

W:120

After a quick visit to Pendennis Point, where Luke found me a fly-by Common Scoter, we headed off to Swanpool. On arrival, we (Luke) spotted a Red-throated Diver fishing with a Cormorant and a Shag, about 5-10m off shore.

Red-throated Diver

St Ives - 26th - 27th October 2024

 Jayne and I arrived in St Ives on Saturday afternoon, and, after settling in to our accommodation, we had a walk around the town, enjoying the lovely sunshine and sunshine.

View from or apartment

As always, I had my eyes peeled for darvic-ringed Herring Gulls, and soon found two new birds; W916 and W918. I'll send off the details, but I'm sure they'll have been ringed in and around the harbour.

W916

W918

We spent the whole of Sunday in and around the town. We started off walking around the town, where we saw W916 and W918 again. A small group of c.40 Turnstones were also around the harbour, along with a single Black-headed Gull and a single Great Black-backed Gull. We then walked up onto The Island and spent a couple of hours in and around that area, adding Gannet (c.10), Red Admiral (1) and, best of all, a female-type Black Redstart (Year Tick 194).We found the bird feeding on rocks below the Coastguards' Lookout. Amazingly, another bird was found a couple of hours later, feeding around the rook of The Guildhall!!

Black Redstart

Walking back along the harbour, we spotted another ringed Herring Gull,W917. This was a new bird, seen on the railings around the harbour.

W917

Hayle Estuary and Ryan's Field - 26th October 2024

 Jayne and I arrived in Cornwall on Saturday, and, after some lovely food in the Birdies Bistro, headed straight to the RSPB's Hayle Estuary and Ryan's Field.

Walking into the hide, we were greeted by approximately 10 Redshank, a single Black-headed Gull and a Danish-ringed Spoonbill, that was feeding on the reserve.

Spoonbill V463

We then walked across to the estuary where there were several hundred Canada Geese, 1 Grey Heron, 1 Little Egret, Shelduck, Wigeon (200+), Teal (100+), Ringed Plover (2), Dunlin (2), Bar-tailed Godwit (5), Curlew (c.30), Herring, Black-headed, 1 Great Black-backed and at least 6 Mediterranean Gulls (4 1st winters and 2 adults).

Bar-tailed Godwit

Black-headed Gull and Mediterranean Gull

Mediterranean Gull (adult, left bird, and 1st winter)

Rufford Gulls - 6th October 2024

 On the way back from Norfolk on Sunday, we popped into Rufford for a short, 1 hour visit. There were a lot more birds present, up from c.40 to c.170, and included 6 or our darvic ringed birds.

The birds seen were: 206A, 258A, 293A, 295A, 207C and 258C. All, except 295A, had been reported already this autumn. 295A was last seen back in February (see here).

295A

258A and 258C

Norfolk - 5th and 6th October 2024

 This weekend, Jayne and I went down to Norfolk, where we had a lovely walk around Wells-next-the-Sea and around RSPB Snettisham.

We were at Wells yesterday, in a very warm and sunny 17 degrees. We walked down from the town to the beach and back. Species seen were: Redshank, Curlew, Ringed Plover, Oystercatcher, Turnstone, Dark-bellied Brent Goose (c300), Red-throated Diver (1 breeding plumaged bird fishing in the channel), a tern species, Little Egret, Great Egret (2 flying over), Black-headed and Herring Gull and a juvenile/1st winter Wheatear - great spot Jayne! We also saw a couple of Wall Brown butterflies at Old Hunstanton Golf Course later in the day - my first of the year.

Wheatear (juvenile/1st winter - almost in focus!)

This morning, we had a walk around RSPB Snettisham. Unfortunately, there wasn't a very high tide, so we didn't get the flyover from the birds, but we still saw thousands of waders. Species seen were: Oystercatcher, Curlew, Dunlin, Avocet, Redshank, Black-tailed Godwit, Turnstone, and Knot ( year tick 193). we also had 20+ Little Egrets and 12 Spoonbills, including a darvic ringed bird; NF1U. A report has been sent off, and it appears to be a Dutch-ringed bird (see here). I'll update with full details, when I receive them.

Spoonbill NF1U

UPDATE: The Spoonbill had been ringed, as a pullus, at Ventjagersplaten, Lebret, The Netherlands, 294km away, on 28th May 2024. Before my sighting, it had been reported at Besthorpe Nature Reserve, Nottinghamshire on 24th July 2024. It was next seen at Alkborough Flats, Lincolnshire, on 19th August, before spending the best part of September (1st to 29th) at Gibraltar Point, Lincolnshire. My sighting was the latest, so far.

Gibraltar Point Ringing - 28th September 2024

 A couple of weekends ago, I had a morning's bird ringing at the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust's Gibraltar Point NNR in Lincolnshire. It was the first time I'd ringed here, and it really came up trumps, with 2 fantastic species ringed (including a lifer!).

The first new bird, and the lifer, was a Barred Warbler!!! It was aged as a first winter (i.e. born this year), and was one of the first birds of the day. A fantastic start!

Barred Warbler

The second bird, and one that I got to extract from the nets, was a Yellow-browed Warbler. Although not a lifer, it was the very first time I'd seen one in the hand - another great bird!

Yellow-browed Warbler

Year List update: Bearded Tit (189 - seen at Minsmere in August), Reed Warbler (190 - ringed at Blackburn Meadows in August), 191 - Barred Warbler and 192 - Yellow-browed Warbler.