Linacre WeBS Walk - 11th February 2012

Brrrrrrrrrr, what a cold morning, again. The temperature at the start of this month' s WeBS walk was minus 7 degrees! Despite the cold weather, however, the sky was clear with beautiful blue skies and the 3 members had a lovely 2 hour walk around all three reservoirs.

Despite the fact that there was 98% ice cover with only the top reservoir having any open water, we still managed some decent counts: Mallard (78), Coot (14, the highest count of the year so far), Black-headed Gull (31), Goldeneye (1 male), Mandarin (20), Tufted Duck (19) Pochard (3 males) and Moorhen (3).

As well as these waterbirds we also saw a couple of Redwing, several Siskin and heard a pair of calling Tawny Owls.

Driving back through Cutthorpe I stopped off to look at a berry bush that was covered in a large flock of 50+ Fieldfare and half a dozen Redwings.

Redwing and Fieldfare

Redwing

The Year List moved on today with the following species:

82 - Tawny Owl