Today's visit to Linacre was slightly later than usual thanks to last night's snow and, after some help from a very kind 4x4 driver and a length of rope, Jayne and I arrived in the top car park at 12 noon. The bottom reservoir was 100% frozen over, the middle was approximately 90% frozen over and the top reservoir was just 5% frozen over. We spent a lovely 2 hours walking around all three reservoirs in the sun and managed to add a new species to the Linacre list,
Gadwall,(1 pair on the top reservoir), as well as our first
Mute Swan since December 2010. I didn't manage to get any photos of the Gadwall, but the swan was very confiding and swam over to me for some tasty sunflower hearts. I presume it's one of the birds from nearby Holmebrook Valley Park.
Mute Swan
As well as the above two species there were three male Pochard on the top reservoir, my highest count ever, 2 Goldeneyes, 65 Mallard, 14 Black-headed Gulls, 1 Great-crested Grebe, 1 Grey Heron, 12 Coot, 3 Moorhen, and 13 Mandarin Ducks. The usual woodland birds were around with Coal, Blue and Great Tit all singing in the sunshine.
Here are a few snowy shots:
Bottom reservoir
Middle Reservoir
Top reservoir
The Year List moved on one more species today:
81 - Pochard
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