Welcome to my blog all about my birdwatching, wild bird ringing activities and moth recording at Linacre Reservoirs, Derbyshire; in Great Britain and abroad.
This afternoon, I popped down to Holmebrook Valley CP to have a look at the Black-headed Gulls down there. There were about 60 on the water, including a new Lithuanian-ringed bird HA51.792.
Storm Bert put pay to any ringing this weekend, so instead, I headed over to Rufford to check up on the gulls. I was there for just under two hours, and saw 16 ringed Black-headed Gulls.
Birds seen were: 273A , 293A, 280B (ringed by me, as an adult, in November 2022, and my first sighting since 20th January 2024), 207C, 264C, 270C, 273C, 298C (ringed in February 2024, as a 5, i.e. born in 2023, and my first siting this winter), 207F, 220F, 221F, 223F, 230F, 234F, 239F (a new bird) and 244F (a new bird).
On Saturday, I was out at Clumber Park, with the family. Whilst there, I had a quick check of the Black-headed Gulls and Mute Swans, finding a couple of ringed birds.
The first bird I saw was a Polish-ringed Black-headed Gull, TV02. I checked the number, and realised it was a bird I had first seen, at Clumber, back in February 2023. See the post here, for details, and a picture of this bird, as a 2nd year bird.
I carried out this month's WeBS count at Linacre this morning. It was 12 degrees, grey and overcast, and, not for the first time this year, very quiet!!. I also realised that I hadn't posted last month's totals either, so here they are too.
October 2024 - Mallard (57), Moorhen (9; 8 adults and 1 juvenile), Coot (3), Cormorant (5 juveniles), Grey Heron (2), Tufted Duck (17), Mandarin (80), Great-crested Grebe (1), Grey Wagtail (2) and Black-headed Gull (2).
November 2024 - Mallard (53), Moorhen (9; 7 adults and 2 juveniles), Coot (1), Cormorant (1), Grey Heron (2), Tufted Duck (0!), Mandarin (16!!), Little Grebe (1), Pied Wagtail (1) and Black-headed Gull (1).
Last weekend, we were ringing at Linacre and managed to catch 25 birds: Redwing (6/0), Blue Tit 7/0, Great Tit 1/2, Coal Tit 1/0, Long-tailed Tit 6/0 and Wren 1/1.
Jayne and I had a quick walk around Linacre this morning. It was pretty quiet, until we arrived at the middle reservoir, where we disturbed a pair of Gadwalls.
This sighting is my first at Linacre since 2022, and only the fifth record since I started watching the site on a regular basis!. The other sightings were: 2 in February 2012, 2 in October 2013, 2 in December 2022 and 2 in March 2023. I managed to grab a quick photograph, before the battery on my camera ran out of juice!!
I had my first visit to Rufford for a few weeks yesterday, and, in a couple of hours, I'd spotted 22 ringed birds; 21 of "ours" and a familiar face, P519.
P519 is a Lithuanian-ringed bird (ringed, as an adult, on 1st April 2010, 1,456km away). I first spotted this bird in February 2019, although it had been seen here, by other observers, in January and November 2018. It has been seen every winter since then. Yesterday's sighting was the first of the winter.
After Thursday's ringing session, Luke and I spent the rest of the day birding around the area. During the time, we added 4 new species to my Year List, going over the 200 mark for the first time in a few years.
Our first stop was Porthgwarra and Gwennap Head, where we had a lovely walk along the cliff tops, spotting Stonechat, a single Wheatear, Raven, Jackdaws, and 5 Chough (198).
Our next stop was Penzance. We walked down on the seashore, near the railway depot, picking up a single Swallow and this stunning, and, as always, very confiding, Snow Bunting (199).
Yesterday morning (31st), Luke and I were up early visiting a private ringing site in the Nanjizal Valley in West Cornwall (West Cornwall Ringing Group). Thanks for arranging Luke, and thanks to Kester and Jon for allowing me onto your site.
We arrived at 7am, and got straight on with the ringing. The first bird I ringed was a Chiffchaff (the first of 26 ringed by me that morning!). Other birds ringed were: Blackcap (12), Robin (6), Song Thrush (5), Redwing (3), Blackbird (3), Great-spotted Woodpecker (2;1 new and 1 retrap), Goldcrest (1), Firecrest (3), Cetti's Warbler (3; 1 retrap and 2 new) and, best of all, Yellow-browed Warbler (3 new birds) 67 birds from a total of 80!
The obvious stand out birds were, of course, the Yellow-browed Warblers, the Firecrests and the Cetti's Warblers - 3 new species for me. The Yellow-Browed Warblers were also colour-ringed, as part of a national scheme (see here), to try and find out a little more about their distribution and wintering sites. This site has colour-ringed just over 40, this winter alone!
