Storm damage and duck counting at Linacre

Following the heavy winds last week I was interested to see whether the woods at Linacre had suffered much damage. Luckily, the answer was "no", with just a couple of branches down and this tree by the bottom reservoir.

Storm-damaged tree

 

New stump!

 

I walked around all three reservoirs this morning, hoping to see last week's colour-ringed  Black-headed Gull (TC30), but the birds that were there today (just 31), were being fed by some kindly dog walkers, which meant they were flying around and not perching on the walls, so I couldn't see if s/he was there.

Luckily for me, however, the reservoirs were very busy with other birds today and I managed to count 135 Mallards and 60 Mandarins, which were both the highest counts of the year so far. Also present were: 12 Coots, 8 Moorhens, 1 Little Grebe, 1 Grey Wagtail, 55 Tufted Ducks, 1 Kingfisher (on the middle reservoir), 1 Grey Heron, 3 Cormorants and a great flock of c60 Lapwings, that were flying over the top reservoir for about fifteen minutes (only the second record of 2013).

Lapwings (63 I think. Please feel free to count)

 

 Other sightings were Starling (7 flew over the top reservoir), a hunting Kestrel over fields by the top reservoir, Redwings and Fieldfares, Siskins and a small group of Crossbills (c12), which were feeding in the larches by the middle reservoir.