Wednesday 25 February 2015

Black-headed Gull Resighting

Got a great email from the friendly Nils Helge Lorentzen this evening with the information regarding the ringed Black-headed Gull I found up at Townhill Loch, Fife area on the 15th February whilst dropping in on the Ring-billed Gull (see here).

According to the data the bird was 3cy+ when ringed in June 2012 in Stavanger, Norway. It has been seen several times within Norway over the intervening period, venturing a huge 12 km from its ringing location! However, this year it decided to go a little further and travel 348 km to Townhill Loch - no doubt enticed by the locals bread supply! My sighting was 964 days after the bird was ringed. The details are below:

Date
Place


Days/km/°
26.06 2012
Breiavatnet, Stavanger, Rogaland, Norway


-
18.07 2012
Breiavatnet, Stavanger, Rogaland, Norway

22/0/0
06.03 2013
Breiavatnet, Stavanger, Rogaland, Norway


253/0/0
29.03 2013
Mosvatnet, østsiden, Stavanger, Rogaland, Norway


276/2/213
20.03 2014
Breiavatnet, Stavanger, Rogaland, Norway


632/0/0
27.03 2014
Litla Stokkavatnet, Stavanger, Rogaland, Norway

639/2/273
11.06 2014
Domkirkeplassen, Stavanger, Rogaland, Norway


715/0/322
30.06 2014
Slettnesvik, Høgsfjorden, Sandnes, Rogaland, Norway 


734/12/97
15.02 2015
Townhill Loch, Fife Region, Great Britain


964/348/204

I got a few record shots of the bird - just trying to get the ring sorted, these are below.

Black-headed Gull Record Shot (Andy Walker 2015)

Black-headed Gull Record Shot (Andy Walker 2015)

Sunday 22 February 2015

Waxwing and York Birding

Had a few short birding trips this weekend in the York area.

Some time was spent in my Patchwork Challenge area - where I added Red Kite to my year list. There was a also a small group (5) Lesser Redpolls showing nicely in front of the hide. There was also a young Peregrine Falcon chasing the ducks around. Otherwise it was the usual suspects - Whooper Swans, Black Swan, Shoveler, Wigeon, Teal, Pintail, Lapwing, Golden Plover, Redshank, Ruff, Dunlin, Curlew (substantial increase in numbers). Also a cool partially ermine Stoat! Several Barn Owl gave good entertainment as usual.

Further afield (from my patch) I had good views of a Waxwing in Acomb (record shot below), York and then in the pouring rain at Rufforth Airfield a first-winter Mediterranean Gull was the pick of the bunch.

Waxwing Andy Walker 2015

Chaffinch Andy Walker 2015

Lesser Redpoll 2015

Friday 20 February 2015

Duck Dynasty

I love ducks and gulls... as you know.

After the Ring-billed Gull cleared off last Sunday morning I was left waiting for it to come back with little else to look at other than ducks and black-headed gulls...

It wasn't so bad, I found a Darvic-ringed Black-headed Gull (separate blog post when I get details - if you're unlucky), and also had a couple of Mallard come nice and close. I made sure no-one was watching me and then tried getting a photo of them. I've put a couple below, and another one of the Ring-billed Gull.

Mallard, Andy Walker 2015 (bored)

Two Mallards, Andy Walker 2015 (still bored)

Ring-billed Gull, Andy Walker 2015 (via Instagram)

Sunday 15 February 2015

Ring-billed Gull and some Rugby

Had corking views of an adult Ring-billed Gull at Townhill Loch, Dunfermline this morning.

Ring-billed Gull Andy Walker 2015

Ring-billed Gull Andy Walker 2015

Ring-billed Gull Andy Walker 2015

Also made a brief appearance on TV this afternoon!

AWBirder and Lewis enjoying a Welsh try - as seen on BBC Sport!

Saturday 14 February 2015

Harlequin Duck Twitch

Me and my old mate Lewis went up to Aberdeen this morning to chase after the Harlequin Duck that's been there for a while this winter.

There's been less than 20 records of Harlequin in the UK. Although not as flashy as the last one (North Uist 2013), this was at least very approachable. It showed very nicely down to about 20ft! Got a couple of record shots below (will check through my other photos when I get home!).

Harlequin Duck Andy Walker 2015

Harlequin Duck Andy Walker 2015

Harlequin Duck Andy Walker 2015

Harlequin Duck Andy Walker 2015

Harlequin Duck Andy Walker 2015

The Harlequin Duck - good views!

Harlequin Duck - phone-scoped Andy Walker 2015

Also had a really smart couple of Dipper on the river that came nice and close.

Dipper Andy Walker 2015

Dipper Andy Walker 2015
Dipper Andy Walker 2015

Dipper Andy Walker 2015

Sunday 1 February 2015

Patchwork Challenge January Summary

Well January is over. I put some details of my North Duffield patch area up at the beginning of the month here and have enjoyed seeing some good birds.

I finished January on 82 species, 89 points. The best birds have included:

Green-winged Teal - gutted to have not found this (if only for the extra 3 points I would have scored!), was found by Jono while I was away for the weekend - the only day I didn't spend some time on the patch all month! Luckily it was there the next day but hasn't been seen by anyone else subsequently. Details/photos here.

Raven - although only worth the 1 point on the PWC score system, Raven was probably statistically one of the rarest birds I saw in the patch in January. My first local, and only second or third record in six plus years in the York recording area.

Hen Harrier - difficult to catch up with in the local area - some years they just don't happen, other years you can have a few knocking about. It's just a case of being in the right place at the right time - luckily I was this time.

Bewick's Swan - although the LDV is a Special Protection Area (SPA) designated specifically for Bewick's Swans, among a range of other species. They are far from regular these days. I've had the one family group a couple of times over recent years but for a few years before that nothing. The SPA citation is for 47 individuals - these days we're happy to get one bird! Conversely - Whooper Swans have gone the other way and are now here in large numbers and the site should be an SPA for them!

Other notable species seen in January include: Marsh Harrier, Peregrine Falcon, Stonechat, Black-tailed Godwit, Barn Owl and Corn Bunting. Pochard and Tufted Duck were pleasing too given the water levels.

Birds I've not seen so far, but should have done include: Little Owl, Red-legged Partridge, Grey Partridge, Treecreeper, Jack Snipe, Green Woodpecker, Pink-footed Geese (or any of the other more unusual geese that usually turn up in January).

Birds reported locally that I've missed include: Rough-legged Buzzard, Short-eared Owl and Oystercatcher.

Barn Owl from the LDV Andy Walker.