Darvic Herring Gull

Highlight of this morning at Passage House was a darvic ringed Herring Gull - white 8HP1...

It was ringed on Guernsey on the 24th May 2013 as a 2nd summer, and my recovery is the first one since then.

Other than this, there was slightly more wader action with the first three returning Redshank, an Oystercatcher and 28 Curlew, with 24 Little Egret and 55 Black-headed Gulls. There seems to be two broods (2 and 5) of Shelduck at the moment, so not as successful as last year.

Now, get ready for your daily dose of cuteness...

I wonder how recently it fledged? It's nest is only a few metres away.

And one of the Comb Duck

RSPCA Swans

There are good numbers of Mute Swan at Passage House at the moment, around 45. I only saw the legs of about 15 birds, but out of them, three had rings. Two I've seen before - lime green NY9 and yellow YYN. The other was new in - lime green WI9. It's an RSPCA bird rescued in Somerset last autumn where it was found trapped on a bridge over a weir. It was released near Honiton in the winter.

Yellow YYH has also been around recently (another new one) - ringed at Abbotsbury as an adult in 2005.

The Curlew flock has increased to 20, and Black-headed Gull numbers are steadily building - c30 on the estuary yesterday from the train. The female Comb Duck has also reappeared at Newton Abbot Quay. I wonder where it went?

Red Kite

Before this evening's Great White Egret over Teignmouth, the bird of the day was a Red Kite that circled high over the farmland north of the estuary then drifted west towards Kingsteignton at 10:05. Counts from the estuary were unsurprisingly disappointing but did include 12 Curlew, presumably the first returning birds.

Red Kite