Colour ringed Black-headed Gulls - Nov 2016

A long long time ago, back in November 2016 (seems an age ago!) I spent a couple of days in Hamburg, Germany as I was driving back from the autumn in Denmark.   In the city parks I managed to read a selection of colour ringed Black-headed Gulls and I'm just getting round to collate the life histories of the individuals I saw; so here they are!

AF251 was ringed in Hamburg in January 2010 and has been seen in every subsequent winter back in Hamburg, arriving back in Aug/Sep and leaving in February.   There have been a couple of sightings during the other months indicating where it goes in the breeding season as it was seen in Minsk, Belarus in March 2016 and in Poland in March 2015 (where it was probably on passage as it headed further east).

AF395 was ringed in Hamburg in Feb 2014 and apart from a sighting in Poznan, Poland in Jan 2015 has been regularly re-sighted in Hamburg

AF288 was ringed in Hamburg in Dec 2010 and has been re-sighted back in Hamburg every winter since but has never been spotted anywhere else during the breeding season.

A980 was ringed in Wedel in Feb 2013 (just west of Hamburg) and has been seen in Latvia in Apr 2013 and Mar 2016.

AF611 was ringed in Hamburg in October 2015 and has not been seen anywhere else.

AF377 was ringed in Hamburg in Jan 2014 and apart from a sighting in Poland in March 2016 has not been seen anywhere else.

A314 was ringed in Hamburg in Dec 2012and has been regularly re-sighted each winter apart from sightings in Gdansk, Poland in Mar 2014 and Kaunas, Lithuania in Mar 2016.

T64H was seen by me in Bremen and is from Poland but no further details have been received.

30th January

Had a day birding in North Wales but it was pretty quiet despite it being a lovely sunny, flat calm day with a Merlin and a Peregrine the highlight in Foryd Bay at high tide where there was the regular small flock of Pale-bellied Brent Geese along with Pintail, Wigeon, Teal, Goldeneye, Red-breasted Mergansers etc.

                A few other things were seen during a few stops on the way back along the coast including a single Slavonian Grebe off Aber Ogwen where the was also a Greenshank and a Spotted Redshank roosting during the still high tide before a look off Penmaenmawr produced small numbers of Red-throated Divers, Common Scoters, Razorbills and Fulmars along with 2 Kittiwakes and a Black Guillemot.

Pale-bellied Brent Geese

Dunlin

Rock Pipit

Curlew

28th January

A walk round Bury Ditches late morning after the rain had moved through just produced 5-6 Crossbills flying around the fort; a walk along the River Teme at Leintwardine then produced all the usual species for the year list including a Kingfisher at Buckton Bridge, a single Dipper, a Green Sandpiper, a Little Egret, several Grey Wagtails and a couple of Red Kites.

Red Kite

27th January

Woke up early due to the time differences so went to Venus Pool before dawn where there were 4 Bewick’s Swans (three adults and a juvenile) and 4 Whooper Swans (all adults) roosting with 81 Mute Swans – my highest ever count here.   Other counts included 7 Shelduck, 34 Shoveler and 5+ Corn Buntings in the top field but most other species were present in small numbers – although most of the pools were frozen.

                There was still a wintering Common Sandpiper on the River Severn at Leighton before a look at the Gull roost at Chelmarsh produced a 3rd winter Caspian Gull, a 2nd winter Yellow-legged Gull and 5+ Common Gulls in amongst good numbers of Black-headed, Herring and Lesser Black-backs while c70 Goosander also came in to roost.

AUSTRALIA; 4th - 26th January, Adelaide

A few hours wandering round the parks and river in Adelaide produced the following pictures of common birds.

Crested Pigeon

Welcome Swallow

Juvenile Willie Wagtail

Noisy Miner

Masked Lapwing

White-faced Heron

Magpie-lark feeding fledglings

AUSTRALIA; 4th - 26th January, more pictures

My camera was hardly glued to my shoulder during the trip but it did come out every so often and there was rarely a lack of things to point it at!

Male (adult and immature) and female Superb Fairy-wrens - Grampians

White-throated Treecreeper - Grampians

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo - Grampians

Laughing Kookaburra - Flinders Ranges and Perth

Galahs were everywhere!

AUSTRALIA; 4th - 26th January, mammals

I didn't see too many mammals through the trip but there were a few nice ones including Koala, Wombat, Western Grey Kangaroo, Euro Kangaroo, New Zealand Fur Seal and Sea Lions.

Grumpy Koalas

and fighting Roo's

AUSTRALIA; 4th - 26th January, Pelicans and Gulls

A few pictures of Australian White Pelicans and Pacific Gulls from an afternoon at Baird's Bay.

Pelicans!

Adult, third year and first year Pacific Gulls