After getting my daughter to band, and my wife reunited with her newly-mended car I popped down to Linacre this morning for a couple of hours in the very spring-like conditions. The sun was shining, the sky was very blue, there was no wind and, after the frost had gone, the temperature raced up to 5 degrees!
After refilling the feeders in the ringing area, I walked around all 3 reservoirs, surrounded by a lot of birds singing their hearts out. I heard Green and Great-spotted Woodpeckers, but unfortunately, no Lesser Pecker - yet! The settled weather brought out the birds of prey as well, and 2 Buzzards, 1 Sparrowhawk and 1 Kestrel were all seen. A Skylark was singing in the fields above the top reservoir (the first Linacre record of the year, and the 42nd species of bird seen at Linacre this year), and 2 Magpies were visiting last year's nest.
Out on the water the Little Grebes were still together and displaying to each other, while Great-crested Grebe numbers had risen to 3; 2 on the middle reservoir and 1 on the bottom reservoir. There were also 4 Cormorants; 3 in breeding plumage, on the bottom reservoir along with 34 Tufted Duck, 45 Mallards, 2 Grey Wagtails, 6 Moorhens and 9 Coots. 2 Goosanders (1m and 1fm) were around with 106 Black-headed Gulls (the highest count of the year).
Just to prove that winter isn't over yet though, I did spot a flock of 10 Redwings and heard the Siskins.
Out ringing again in the morning, so tune in tomorrow for an update.
Welcome to my blog all about my birdwatching, wild bird ringing activities and moth recording at Linacre Reservoirs, Derbyshire; in Great Britain and abroad.
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