Many Lesser Black-backed Gulls passing west again this afternoon including a colour ringed bird (F732) which is from a Wildlife rehabilitation centre in Southern Portugal. Also present Dunlin, 2 Oystercatcher and a juv Mediterranean Gull
Steady passage of Lesser Black-backed Gulls again this afternoon, nearly all adults and all heading west after washing off. A colour ringed bird (NOUP) was photographed and is from a project in Malaga, Spain and will await its history
Fewer Lesser Black-backed Gulls moving through today but another Yellow-legged Gull dropped in with a small group of them c1315. Was still present on the North side at 1400.
Big numbers of Lesser Black-backed Gulls again today all heading west. A Yellow-legged Gull arrived at 1350 and swiftly departed west as did 2 Mediterranean Gulls. An adult Lesser Black-backed Gull arrived yesterday pm covered in some sort of slime and has somehow managed to preen the majority of it off and is non the worse for wear today.
-- Edited by rob archer on Thursday 4th of July 2019 02:41:07 PM
Possible Yellow-legged Gull has been at the reservoir the last two evenings before flying off east both times. Not certain but managed a photo that show a few salient points.
Grey Wagtails have bred successfully here again with at least 2 fledged young . Two Curlew sites have not fared so well . One was ransacked by a Fox yesterday and the second has also failed and is now deserted too .
Pair of Dunlin still here and 3 Common Sandpiper also present .
Sad to see a very impressive but very sick Great Black-backed Gull barely alive on the south shore this afternoon. Managed to get hold of it and do the right thing.
2 Dunlin and 2 Common Sandpiper also on the reservoir
3 Ringed Plover, 3 Dunlin, 3 Common Sandpiper, 2 Curlew, 2 Oystercatcher, 2 Wheatear and 4 Great Black-backed Gulls amongst the other large gulls on the reservoir.
-- Edited by rob archer on Monday 13th of May 2019 12:53:13 PM
3 Dunlin, 4 Common Sandpiper, Greylag Goose, 2 Oystercatcher, 2 Curlew, 2 Wheatear, 2 Grasshopper Warbler and 3 Great Black-backed Gulls in with c100 other large gulls.
One of the better visiits to the Reservoir this afternoon.
2 Turnstone, Sanderling, 2 Ringed Plover and 14 Dunlin all appeared to arrive together around 1400 ish feeding amongst the surf on the South shore spit.
2 Common Sandpiper, Oystercatcher, Curlew and 2 Wheatear also present.
Big numbers of Hirundines also present and a constant passage of large Gulls ( mainly Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gull with occasional Great Black-backed Gull too) all heading Eastwards across the res.
-- Edited by rob archer on Thursday 9th of May 2019 06:44:21 PM
3 Common Sandpiper and a Dunlin this morning. No trace of the Goldeneye for me today. They had been present at the reservoir for over 6 months and may finally have departed.
Mallard 1 male Canada goose pair on nest Cormorant 2 flew in Goldeneye m&f Curlew 3 on res and at least 3 others bubbling over territory Lapwing 9 L Bb gull 10s in on then off Herring gull singles accompanying Lessers
Pied wagtail 10s on walls and embankment
Wheatear 2 males on rocky grassy outcrop at SW end Sand Martin 3 in and out over res
Nice sight of 33 Whooper Swans flying onto the Reservoir early doors this morning. Still there when I left at 0940. ( Brian Kirkwood and Paul Gorton present) Single Sand Martin also flew over West.
No sign of any Wheatears for me this morning. Lots of activity from the Skylarks and Meadow Pipits though and I counted 7 Curlew in total. 3 Reed Bunting 6 Pied Wagtail. (Some looked suspiciously like White Wagtail, but I struggle to nail the ID with these.) 3 Lapwing on the shoreline 3 Goldeneye 6 Goosander dropped in 1 Cormorant on the pylon Plus the usual gulls on the reservoir, but nothing out of the ordinary.
Had a call on Monday from a local Farmer ( very pro birds and wildlife ) to say he had picked a female Kestrel up out of the mud in one of his Cattle Sheds and put it into a Cat Cage. I called over and ended up taking the bird to Greenmount Animal Hospital. After 4 days of R & R and plenty of food the bird had improved dramatically. I collected the bird today and took it back and released it in its normal territory.
Fantastic to see it flying off strongly. The Sanctuary is all run by volunteers who do a brilliant job and funded by donations so if anybody is interested in chipping in to help out I'm sure it would be appreciated.
Fri 15/2 15:00-16:15 lovely afternoon walk with cool SE breeze ( hoping for a harbinger of Spring but no meadow pipits skylark curlew oystercatcher nor redshank seen nor heard)
As I got out of my car c 50 lapwings and 70 starling erupted out of Bird in' th Field ( second filed east of re) probably caused by a bop possibly a peregrine braise of the panic?
Res
Lapwing 105 on rocky north shore by road wall Goosander 5 fem Goldeneye 2 males and 2 ad females Herring gull 11 mostly juvs Common gull 1 imm L Bb gull 1 ad B hd gull over 120 when I left
Stonechat, Grey Wagtail and a Meadow Pipit in the overflow channel this morning. Also seen around Cheesden Bar ( Lancs) Woodcock, Jack Snipe and several Snipe..4 Goldeneye on the Reservoir.
Had a reply re colour ringed Herring Gull . Another Norwegian bird .. there were at least 8 black ringed Gulls at the reservoir last Autumn that were more than likely all from Norway judging by the info from the one's I could read..CR-Code Black ring with white code: JCN08 LBM;RBNW(JCN08)
Ringing Centre Stavanger Museum (Norway) Ring number FA42196
Species Herring Gull Larus argentatus
Sex Unknown Age Pullus
Date Place Coordinates Observers Days/km/°
02.07 2015 Vorakletten, Sandsøya, Sande, Møre og
Romsdal, Norway
62°14'41"N 005°29'17"E Støyle Bringsvor,
Ingar
-
04.08 2015 Sandshamn, Sandsøya, Sande, Møre og
Romsdal, Norway
62°15'08"N 005°28'58"E Støyle Bringsvor,
Ingar
33/1/341
14.08 2015 Sandshamn, Sandsøya, Sande, Møre og
Romsdal, Norway
62°15'08"N 005°28'58"E Støyle Bringsvor,
Ingar
43/1/341
17.08 2015 Sandshamn, Sandsøya, Sande, Møre og
Romsdal, Norway
62°15'08"N 005°28'58"E Støyle Bringsvor,
Ingar
46/1/341
25.01 2018 Sandshamn, Sandsøya, Sande, Møre og
Romsdal, Norway
62°15'08"N 005°28'58"E Støyle Bringsvor,
Ingar
938/1/341
26.03 2018 Sandshamn, Sandsøya, Sande, Møre og
Romsdal, Norway
62°15'08"N 005°28'58"E Støyle Bringsvor,
Ingar
998/1/341
03.04 2018 Sandshamn, Sandsøya, Sande, Møre og
Romsdal, Norway
62°15'08"N 005°28'58"E Støyle Bringsvor,
Ingar
1006/1/341
25.11 2018 Ashworth Moor, Manchester (Greater), Great
Britain
53°38'22"N 002°15'32"W Archer, Robert 1242/1059/208
-- Edited by rob archer on Monday 14th of January 2019 10:16:24 PM
-- Edited by rob archer on Tuesday 15th of January 2019 03:10:53 AM
A few more duck around this afternoon with 6 Goldeneye, 6 Tufted Duck, 42 Goosander and 12 Teal. Couldnt find anything noteworthy in the modest Gull roost.
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.
Not a huge amount of interest this morning. 4 Goldeneye and 13 Teal on the water and small numbers of the common 5 species of Gull. 125 Lapwing roosting on the north side.
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..
Had a speedy reply from Dr Ronald Klein re Sundays ringed Caspian Gull.X86A..( copy of report and location below). The bird is listed as a Caspian Gull ringed on 3rd June 2018 on Hiddensee, Northern Germany and travelled 1107km to Rochdale of all places..! There are many hybrids and its true purity is a matter of debate..
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..
Two more ringed Great Black-backed Gull's again today, though frustratingly could not get the first letter of one of them to identify it positively.. It was either from Finland or Norway ( 2 letters/3 numbers on Black) but it refused to show me the crux letter. The other was yesterdays JX106..
The Gull with the deformed beak was on the north shore again today and is a regular visitor.
-- Edited by rob archer on Wednesday 21st of November 2018 06:33:24 PM
Funnily enough just had this reply .. it was A:B59...
Thanks for the report of A:B59 (GR66177). This bird was ringed as a chick on Lady Isle, near Troon, south Ayrshire, south-west Scotland on 8/7/13. Strangely enough this is the first sighting of this bird since it was ringed as a chick, so it is good to see that it is still alive. It is unusual that Herring Gulls move so far from their natal so this is an interesting observation.
Thanks again for your report, without help from people like yourself colour ringing schemes like this would not be as successful.