Colour-ringed Black-headed Gull

I had forgotten about this colour-ringed Black-headed Gull - well it was nearly a year ago!  I was reminded of it when the below document dropped into my inbox. Polish-ringed small Gulls aren't unusual for us, but check out the time between ringing and re-sighting...

Had the moth trap out last night, and it gave me 49 moths of 22 species. More details (and photos) to follow in another post when I've a bit more time...

Sunshine At Last!

Just as the natural world thinks autumn is upon us, the sun comes out! Lovely it is though - finally the shorts are out!

Looking up the Estuary late last night

I've kept an eye on Black Hole Marsh over the last few days, eagerly waiting for a rare wader to drop in! No luck so far, but there is some wader passage going on.

On Saturday evening there were six Blackwits, three Dunlin, two Greenshank and this Ringed Plover on Black Hole Marsh...

A juv - it should have been a little ringed really!

And this morning, the same counts of Blackwits and Dunlin, one less Greenshank, but two Green Sands and this Whimbrel...

Dropped in all on its tod

Two of the three Dunlin

Before I start boring you with photos of dragonflies, I'll mention the colour-ringed first-winter Med Gull I saw at Black Hole Marsh last week. This one...

E325

It was ringed as a pullus near Terneuzen, Netherlands on 20/6/2011, then spent the winter in France, in the far north west of the county. It was last seen in France at Plonévez-Porzay on 25/1/2012 and there were no more sightings until mine the other day.

Ok, now for a few dragonfly pictures that I've taken today. I just had to take some photos because I have seen so few so far this year...

Southern Hawker

Four-spotted Chaser

Black-tailed Skimmer

And to end this post, a bit of 'natural art', taken this morning at Black Hole Marsh...

Ringing At Radipole

I was late leaving home this morning, and as I turned in to Weymouth, these three shapes that I spied from behind the wheel on a road side tree made me even later...

Waxwings!

I knew there were three in the Weymouth area somewhere, but didn't know where. So quite jammy really :-)

Anyway, I finally rolled in at Radipole half an hour late, where this was waiting for me...

First-winter Black-headed Gull

We spent the next hour and a bit catching birds, and by the end of the morning I'd ringed two of these...

Coot - this was an adult male

I am starting to 'warm' to Coots, but their sharp claws can be surprisingly painful! I was wearing thick jeans, and I wondered what was stopping me from lifting this Coot away from me...

So powerful!

I processed (meaning they were re-traps which just needed measuring and weighing) two of these...

Drake Tufted Duck :-)

And last but not least, I ringed one of these...

First-winter Herring Gull

So, I hear you ask, how did we (and regularly do) catch this nice array of birds?

Well there's three things you need; bread, grain and Luke Phillips - it is that simple! Mind you, I think the fact the birds here are used to being hand fed is a rather important factor too!

This is Luke baiting the catch area...

And you just gotta watch this - this is Luke in action....

Impressive or what!?

Though not everything always plays ball, like this greedy Mute Swan...


And these two Gadwall that just didn't come close enough...

Just 'too wild!'

The drive home was enlivened by a couple of Black-necked Grebes and 40 Med Gulls in a surprisingly choppy Portland Harbour, and several Scaup - including a couple of stunning adult drakes - viewed from a distance at Abbotsbury Swannery.

What a cracking day :-)