More Rings

More rings, but not on the bills this time. Patchwork was slow this morning, so I resorted to doing a few slow donuts around the roosting BHGs in Tesco car park as I spotted a couple of ringed individuals. Since getting my DSLR earlier this year, one of its main uses is looking at detail you just can't pick up in the field. And for metal ringed BHGs, it comes into its own.

The bad boy above shows a nice piece of bling on its right ankle. So, in the past, I'd have put in my notebook something such as 'including an individual metal ringed on its lower right tarsus'. Well, with a bit of papping at all angles it's now possible to get these sly old dogs nailed. The tell tale 'SW7' tells you that it's a British-ringed bird (the British Natural History Museum is located in Kensington SW7). I managed to get the full ring number off it too.

However, one of the other BHGs has had me head scratching. Again a metal ringed bird, this time on its lower left tarsus. I've got its complete ring number and after a bit of sleuthing, think it's a Belgian-ringed bird (check out this one for a comparison).

you can just make out 'SSELS'; presumably the BRU are just out of show

And I did break things up a bit on the gull front, well sort of. There was no sign of the Med Gull at Burgess Park and, on the way to Cross Ness, I took in a drake Mandarin en-route at Brookmill Park, Lewisham. Cross Ness was dead, apart from the usuals including a load of Teal and Dunlin. And there were few gulls at Crayford.

Mandarin with no bling

So I turned back to Rotherhithe and spent the last couple of hours mooching around Russia Dock Woodland, where I recorded my first Kingfisher of the winter on the patch. Normally there is just one around so I was pretty made up with a 2nd bird at Norway Dock late afternoon. Little else apart from a couple of Goldcrests and a flock of c.50 House Sparrows.