Calybites

Another stealth gull has arrived back in Otley today after a probable trip to Scandinavia. We know BHG 237H was seen in Norway in April 2024 but there are no sightings for this year’s breeding season yet.
#GullOfTheDay #GullsOfOtley
#Chroicocephalus #ridibundus
#NWBHGs #VC64 🇳🇴

BHG 234H is back in Otley today having probably flown to Finland and back without being spotted!
We know it goes to Finland because it was recorded there in 2023 and these gulls are creatures of habit! 🇫🇮
#GullOfTheDay #GullsOfOtley
#Chroicocephalus #ridibundus
#NWBHGs 🇫🇮

Norwegian bird BHG J52X was spotted in Otley today. It has been recorded in previous years but the green colour ring is now damaged and may not be readable for much longer!
#GullOfTheDay #GullsOfOtley #Chroicocephalus #ridibundus
#NWBHGs #VC64

Hooray! 🎉
BHG 246J is safely back in Otley after another trip to Belarus! 🇧🇾

#GullOfTheDay #GullsOfOtley
#Chroicocephalus #ridibundus
#NWBHGs #VC64

BHG 277K is back at Yeadon Tarn.
I feel like I have watched this one grow up! 😀
#GullOfTheDay #GullsOfYeadon
#Chroicocephalus #ridibundus
#NWBHGs

Three colour-ringed Black-headed Gulls were seen at Yeadon Tarn this morning and all three had originally been ringed at Otley.
Still waiting for the more exciting continental travellers!
#GullsOfYeadon #Chroicocephalus #ridibundus
#NWBHGs #GullOfTheDay #VC64

More gulls returning to Otley now but nothing too exciting yet.
Having said that, 299L did make it as far as Ilkley 🤣
#GullOfTheDay
#GullsOfOtley
#Chroicocephalus #ridibundus
#NWBHGs

The first 2025 sighting of a rather scruffy Black-headed Gull 232J in Roundhay Park today.
No clues as to where it has been since December.
#GullOfTheDay #GullsOfRoundhay
#Chroicocephalus #ridibundus
#NWBHGs

Hooray!
Otley’s favourite Black-headed Gull 235H is back! 🎉🥳
Possibly slightly bemused by the new footbridge but happily eating chips with 256J, 276J, 2E72 and 2E84
The boys are back in town!

#GullOfTheDay #GullsOfOtley
#Chroicocephalus #ridibundus
#NWBHGs

“Salty” the 12 year old BHG is back in Guiseley McDonalds car-park 😀

EY37615 was ringed by Tees Ringing Group as a nestling, sex unknown on 21-Jun-2013 at Saltholme, near Teesmouth, Stockton-on-Tees, UK

#GullOfTheDay #GullsOfGuiseley
#Chroicocephalus #ridibundus

Small Copper butterfly on the Otley flood alleviation meadow today.
At least three young Black-headed Gulls on the river.
#GullsOfOtley #OtleyButterflies
#Chroicocephalus #ridibundus
#NWBHGs #VC64

HBHM on the Buddleia this evening 😀
#VC64

Tiny Comma caterpillar on Wych Elm today 😀
#Polygonia #VC64

Hooray! 264J is back in Otley 😀
26 BHGs on the river today and at least six of them have colour rings.
We are still waiting for our favourite 235H 🤔
#GullOfTheDay #GullsOfOtley
#Chroicocephalus #ridibundus
#NWBHGs

Super photo!

The next generation of Comma butterflies has started with a female laying eggs on hop and elm in our front garden today 😀
#Polygonia #VC64

Two weeks after its near-death experience the Otley cygnet is looking more robust and has hopefully learned to stay away from the weir! 😀

A Beautiful Plume (Amblyptilia acanthadactyla) came into the house
#VC64

Pyrausta aurata flying around the marjoram in today’s sunshine 😀

Comma butterflies are now emerging in the garden where hop and Wych Elm grow in abundance 😀
#VC64 #Baildon #Polygonia

Young Sand Martin peering out of a drainage pipe over the Leeds-Liverpool Canal at Shipley today 😀
#riparia

Difficult to photograph but it appears that a small Luffia lapidella case has appeared on the trunk of a sycamore at Hollins Hall, Baildon #VC64
@eggboxenvy.bsky.social

Otley swan family today 😀
🦢 🦢 🦢

Now staying safely upstream 🤞

BHG 285S (a 2cy bird) is back in Otley after apparently migrating in the wrong direction and visiting Bolton! 🌺

#GullOfTheDay #GullsOfOtley
#Chroicocephalus #ridibundus
#NWBHGs

Not all heroes wear capes!
My heart sank when I arrived at Otley today and saw the resident swan pair had lost their last remaining cygnet
What a relief to see Al Smith climbing back up the weir with the missing youngster that he had rescued
The cygnet was returned to its parents & swam upstream 👏

Otley today. BHG 297S is back and demonstrating its smart 2cy plumage.
Also couldn’t resist taking a photo of this ugly duckling.

We have now had five successful years of Nuthatch broods in the garden nest box 😀
This year was the earliest date of fledging.
#Sittidae #VC64 #Nuthatches

Tree bumblebees have occupied one of our bird boxes which probably explains why the blue tits decamped to a different box! 🐝 🐝 🐝

Hooray! There was a transformation this morning and we now have a pupa.
Comma chrysalids last 10-20 days so the adult will hopefully emerge in the first half of June 😀