Linacre WeBS - December 2014

This morning saw me down at Linacre for this month's WeBS walk. The temperature when I arrived was minus 3, only the second time we've had a frost so far this winter, but the sun was out and it was gorgeous!!

Waterbird numbers were pretty good too for the last WeBS walk of 2014. Mallard topped 100 for the first time this winter (101 to be precise), 26 Mandarin Ducks were on the middle reservoir, 29 Tufted Ducks were also present, along with 71 Black-headed Gulls, 3 Moorhens, 3 Coots, 1 Grey Wagtail, 1 Pied Wagtail and 1 Kingfisher.

Away from the water, there were good numbers of Blue, Great, Coal and Long-tailed Tits, as well as a couple of Jays, a female Sparrowhawk (that flew the entire length of the top reservoir carrying a prey item), Robins, Dunnocks, Blackbirds and Crows. The highlight for me, however, was this Fieldfare that was feeding in a Holly bush by the top reservoir. Not only is it only my second sighting at Linacre this winter, but it also posed very nicely for a picture.

Fieldfare

 

As the sun was shining this morning I decided to take the camera with me, and, on the way out, I found the ringed Little Owl again, and managed to get a photo with a bit of blue sky behind her!

 

Little Owl