148 Great Black-backed Gull in the roost this evening. 6 Goldeneye also present. 

Great White Egret just flown SW over the Reservoir heading in direction of Affetside .....bit of a surprise.  2nd record here for me . 

1st winter Yellow-legged Gull roosted on the reservoir again this evening. 23 Goosander and 3 Goldeneye also on the reservoir 

Interesting reply re ringed Herring Gulls at the reservoir recently ,

Rob,

Thank you for reporting your sightings of colour ringed Gulls.

They are birds which were ringed at Harewood Whin landfill site, to the west of York, (53.960 -1.177). The birds were caught using a Cannon Net and are from the total of around 2500 Gulls which were caught and colour ringed over a 3year period from March 2015.

Harewood Whin was one of the decreasing number of Landfill sites in the UK where it was possible to operate for the catching and ringing of gulls. The landfill site has now closed and no longer attracts large number of Gulls. Whilst with us the Gulls used to feed on the Landfill site during the day and roost on the floods in Lower Derwent Valley National Nature Reserve or on the Humber Estuary.

One of the main reasons for carrying out this work was to examine if and how the movements of Gulls altered with the closure of the Landfill site which used to be a major food source throughout the year.

To date there have been over 1700 sightings reported from as far apart as the Barents Sea and Morocco.

Ringing details and subsequent sightings are given below

I hope you find this of interest and many thanks for taking the time to report your sightings.

Best Regards

Mike Jackson

Ringing details are as follows:-

Colour ring number Y:D07

BTO ring number GV54829

Age when rung BTO code 10

Site, Harewood Whin, York  (53.960 -1.177)

Date of ringing 31st May 2017

Previously sighted at Skelton Lake, West Yorkshire on 21st January 2018

Colour ring number Y:C82

BTO ring number GV54802

Age when rung BTO code

Site, Harewood Whin, York  (53.960 -1.177)

Date of ringing 31st May 2017

Previously sighted at Roker Beach, Sunderland on 9th February 2018

Another different Norwegian ringed Great Black-backed Gull on the north shore this evening.  (Could only get the J on black with 5 letters/numbers and that was it but thats enough to know its from Norway).

Regarding Sundays Caspian Gull X86A, Ian has scrutinised all the photo's I passed over and in his opinion it passes the criteria for a pure Caspian Gull rather than a hybrid.. No trace of the bird for me this evening though..

A good few hours in the cold today watching Gulls.. At least 5 colour ringed birds seen during the day. 3 could not be positively identified due to dirty black rings, but a Herring Gull had a Black 5 alpha numeric ring beginning J to show it was ringed in South Norway. Another Black ring on a 1st Winter Great Black-backed Gull was too far to read and a Yellow ringed Herring Gull just would not show its numbers..

The two others ( shown below) were  Herring Gull Y:D07 and Caspian Gull X86A, though again after checking details re the ring on crbirding the possibility of a hybrid, (even though I have a ring number) cannot be eliminated as some birds are ringed as chicks and even the ringers do not know the parentage of the birds. The X86A ring number whatever the combination of Gulls comes back to Germany.. Will forward details and await reply.. 

Fewer Gulls around the reservoir today, though managed to pick out 4 that were ringed.. 3T0B was a Great Black-backed Gull from 11th November returning ( still awaiting History) and two other Great Black-backed Gull had Black Darvic rings that are nigh on impossible to read when dirty on a black background.. The last was an adult Herring Gull A:B59 and will await history.

4 Goldeneye, 5 Teal, 3 Cormorant and 26 Goosander were on the reservoir and a Golden Plover flew NE towards Knowl Hill.. 2 Skylarks also flew over heading South.

c100 mixed flock of Fieldfare and Redwing on the bushes below Ashworth View

Another ringed Great Black-backed Gull last night but struggled getting all the numbers/letters off the Darvic , which looked dark green/black..Hopefully it will reappear in the future.

Single Brambling flew over south this morning  as did a Greenfinch ..

4 Goldeneye and 2 Teal on the reservoir.  There has been a Lesser Black-backed Gull stationary on the island that is obviously ill .. It's still alive after 5 days now having eaten nothing and now half in the water  but I can't get to it to sort it out .. Tough as old boots .. 

Also 2 Stonechat and a Kestrel on Ashworth Road, 100+ Fieldfare and at least 1 Redwing to the South of the reservoir. Curiously also my first site record of a single Chaffinch!

4 Teal, 3 Tufted Duck. 2 Goldeneye and only 9 Goosander on the reservoir this evening.

44 Great Black-backed Gull but nothing else notable in the roost.

1 adult Peregrine, female from the size and bulk, perched on a fence post to the south west of the reservoir until dusk.

Good sized flock of Fieldfare to the south, possibly 100-200 in size.

Dipper in the overflow 1st thing this morning and 2 Skylarks over south.

Goldeneye numbers now up to 6 ( 3 male) and a single Tufted Duck also present.

Single Whooper Swan flew in at 0955 but did not stay long and 2 Snipe were hiding amongst rocks on the north shore.

An interesting ringed Gull flew onto the reservoir at around 0950 which seemed to tick quite a few boxes for a Caspian Gull..Photos forwarded to Ian for perusal.. 

 ( Speedy reply from Ian to confirm the bird is a Caspian Gull though the possibility of a hybrid cannot be eliminated by these photos)

Merlin this evening flew directly above me whilst sat on north bank and perched up on the same post as a few weeks ago above Croston Close so possibly the same bird ..

5 Goldeneye on the res .. 

Big increase in roosting gull numbers since my last visit, most notably Herring Gull with c380 present. Also 22 Great Black-back Gull and 16 Common Gull.

4 Goldeneye and only 3 Goosander on the reservoir, and 3 Teal on the small pond to the west of the dam.

23 Great Black-backed Gull , 2 Wigeon; 5 Teal and 5 Tufted Duck on the reservoir at last light with a single Wheatear also present along the South wall ..

The Yellow-legged Gull was present again early doors this morning and flew off east at 0815...as did a nice male Hen Harrier coming in from Harden Moor and crossing south of the res and down towards Norden at 0930....7 Great Black-backed Gull present on the shrinking island..

A Coal Tit sheltering behind a wall in the pool by the overflow channel was the best for me this morning and a 1st for me up here ..

Adult Yellow-legged Gull flew in with other large gulls at 0800. 5 Fieldfare flew over west and 3 Cormorant also present.. ( 2 Pintail, 5 Teal and a single Wigeon on Buckhurst Lodge in Lancs just over border)

Red-breasted Merganser on the reservoir briefly this morning amongst c40 Goosander.  Great Crested Grebe, the Goldeneye and 26 Tufted Duck also present. 28 Pink-footed Geese over NW and 4 Great Black-backed Gull on the island

39 Tufted duck this evening along with the single Goldeneye. Also 100 Lapwing and 27 Pink-footed geese flew SW.

5 Great Black-backed Gull and 4 Herring Gull among c200 Lesser Black-backed and c150 Black-headed Gull.