Linacre WeBS- November and December 2015

No ringing this weekend due to high winds, but instead I was down at Linacre with my nephew, to carry out this month's WeBS walk. It was a balmy 9 degrees, the sun was out and, out of a cool, stiff wind, it was quite pleasant. We were on site as it was getting light, for  just over 2 hours and recorded the following birds: Shag (3 juveniles on the middle reservoir), Cormorant (2), Mallard (87), Tufted Duck (20), Moorhen (9), Coot (3), Grey Wagtail (1), Little Grebe (1 on the middle reservoir), Grey Heron (1 sunning itself on the bottom reservoir), Black-headed Gull (45) and Kingfisher ( 1 heard on the middle reservoir, and 1 seen on the top reservoir- same bird?). 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls flew over the car park as we were going.

Shags

As well as the wildfowl, we also spotted this very confiding Kestrel that was perched and hunting from trees at the bottom of the bank by the middle reservoir. We got to within 5m of the bird, and saw it fly down, catch and eat  a couple of earthworms. The wing appears quite "droopy" in this picture, which could mean its damaged, and could possibly explain the bird's apparent "tameness". It did, however, fly down to the ground to catch the earthworms and then flew back to the tree, so hopefully it'll be okay.

Kestrel

Other birds seen or heard around site this morning were: Treecreeper, Nuthatch, Jay, Wren (singing), Robin (singing), Tawny Owl (heard), Mistle Thrush (1), Redwing (12), Common Buzzard (2), Dunnock, Blackbird, Crow, Jackdaw, Jay, Great-spotted Woodpecker, Bullfinch (1 male, by the top reservoir), Goldcrest, Blue, Great, Coal and Long-tailed Tit.There were also several of these fungi growing on the dam wall, which I think may be Scarlet Waxcaps.

Scarlet Waxcap?

November's results are a combination of 2 walks, 1 that was carried out by Paul from the Chesterfield RSPB Group, and one from me and Luke.The following birds were reported: Coot (5), Great-crested Grebe (3), Grey Heron (1), Kingfisher (2), Little Grebe (1), Mallard (132- the second highest count of the year), Mandarin Duck (77), Moorhen (15), Teal (3 males), Tufted Duck (83), Wigeon (1 juvenile type), Black-headed Gull (80) and Grey Wagtail (1).