Monday 27 August 2012

Linacre WeBS Walks - July and August 2012

I was just looking at the blog when I suddenly realised I hadn't put on the results of the July and August WeBS walks. I was away for the walk itself, but other members of the Chesterfield RSPB group carried it out with the following results: Mallard (40), Coot (13), Moorhen (4), Little Grebe (1 adult and 2 juveniles), Great crested Grebe (2 adults and 3 juveniles), Grey Wagtail (1 adult and 1 juvenile), Tufted Duck (12) and Mandarin Duck (7).

The juvenile Grey Wagtail and Little and Great-crested Grebes was the best records for July. As the weather was really good on the day of the count a good number of butterflies were also recorded: Ringlet, Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper and Small Skipper.

Small Skipper

I was back for the August walk so here are the results: Mallard (30), Coot (7 adults and 2 juveniles), Moorhen (2 juveniles), Little Grebe (1 adult), Great crested Grebe ( 2 adults and 3 juveniles), Grey Wagtail (1 adult and 2 juveniles), Mandarin Duck (5), Tufted Duck (28), Grey Heron (1 flying up the valley), Cormorant (4 juveniles), Kingfisher (1 carrying a fish) and Little Owl (1).

The Cormorant, Little Owl and Kingfisher sightings were the highlights of the morning. There have been a lot of Kingfisher sightings this year and the fact that one was seen with a fish could well mean it has a nest nearby! Similarly, the Little Owl has been seen in the same spot three times now, so the chances of this being the nest site seem pretty high. Hopefully I'll be able to give you some good news on both these sightings in the future. 4 Cormorants is the highest count we've ever had at Linacre, so it'll be interesting to see if they all hang around for the winter.

Away from the water things were quite quiet with the only summer migrant seen being a Willow Warbler in the trees around the top reservoir.

1 comment:

  1. hi peter im a trainee ranger at linacre and just wanted to no if i could have some more information about the little owl and kingfisher? i posted a comment but it seems to have vanished.

    regards

    scottwallage@mail.com

    ReplyDelete