Back for the winter

Having been immersed in my own little citizen science project of ring reading for a few years now, I'm starting to record birds more than once and over successive years. The last posting is a case in point. Black-headed gull colour ringed white REY was first noted last winter (year) and has returned for another spell eking out a living among the highly productive mud of the River Usk.

This intertidal substrate is also an attractant to the now familiar multi ringed Redshank that's back on its patch at Riverfront, Newport, for at least the fourth year. Away from the colour ringed birds an adult Black-headed gull carrying just the bog standard aluminium ring proved a challenge to photograph at Tredegar House Lake last Sunday 25 October. A Dutch inscription with number 3728.630 rang a bell. And so it was, this bird was noted from the same location on 10 November 2013.

Away from the ringed birds a very confiding one footed Rock Pipit was very much at home on the concrete walkway/cycleway in front of the Riverfront Theatre. Dropping down to the muddy margins of the River Usk when disturbed by a cyclist or jogger it was more than happy to return to hopping around when the relevant fitness fanatic was a safe distance away.